The
New Jersey Transit Corporation (usually shortened to
New Jersey Transit,
NJ Transit or
NJT) is a statewide
public transportation system serving the
state of
New Jersey,
United States, and
Orange and
Rockland counties in
New York. It operates bus,
light rail, and
commuter rail services throughout the state, notably connecting to major commercial and employment centers both within the state and in the adjacent cities of
New York,
Philadelphia and
Wilmington, Delaware.
Covering a service area of , NJ Transit is the nation's largest public transit system by service area and the nation's third largest provider of bus, rail and light rail transit by ridership, linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.
New Jersey Transit also acts as a purchasing agency for many private operators in New Jersey, with numerous private operators receiving equipment from New Jersey Transit (primarily buses) for route service within the state not controlled by New Jersey Transit.
History
NJ Transit, founded in 1979, was an offspring of the
New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), mandated by the state government to address the many transportation issues that had developed at the time. NJ Transit came into being with the passage of the Public Transportation Act of 1979 to "acquire, operate and contract for transportation service in the public interest." NJ Transit originally acquired and managed a number of private bus services.
Conrail (or Consolidated Rail Corporation) had been formed in 1976 through the merging of a number of financially troubled railroads, and operated commuter railroad service under contract from the NJDOT.
In 1983, NJ Transit assumed operation of all commuter rail service in New Jersey from Conrail. It now operates every passenger and commuter rail line in the state except for Amtrak; the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH), which is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; the PATCO Hi-Speedline, which is owned by the Delaware River Port Authority; and a handful of tourist trains in the southern and northwestern parts of New Jersey. New Jersey Transit also runs most of the state's bus lines. In northern New Jersey, many of the bus routes are arranged in a web. In southern New Jersey, most routes are arranged in a "spoke-and-hub" fashion, with routes emanating from Trenton, Camden, and Atlantic City. In addition to routes run by New Jersey Transit, NJ Transit also subsidizes and provides buses for most of the state's private operators, such as Coach USA, Decamp, Lakeland, and Academy, providing fixed route or commuter service.
In the 1990s, the system expanded, with new Midtown Direct service to New York City and new equipment. On October 21, 2001 it opened a new station at Newark Liberty International Airport. On December 15, 2003, NJ Transit opened the Secaucus Junction transfer station, connecting two major portions of the system, allowing passengers on Hoboken-bound trains to switch trains to get to Midtown Manhattan more conveniently. The transfer saves passengers headed into Midtown Manhattan an estimated 15 minutes of travel time. On October 31, 2005, NJT took over Clocker (NY-Philadelphia) service from Amtrak. Four new trains were added to the schedule, but service was cut back to Trenton.
Current operations
New Jersey Transit's operations are divided into three classes: bus,
rail, and
light rail, operated under three legal businesses:
NJ Transit Bus Operations, Inc, for bus and
Newark Light Rail operations, subsidiary
NJ Transit Mercer, Inc. for
bus operations around Trenton, and
NJ Transit Rail Operations, Inc., for commuter rail operations.
Bus
New Jersey Transit operates service on 247 bus routes and the Newark Light Rail using 2,477 buses (leasing out the remainder to private operators) and 20 light rail vehicles (with numerous other line runs being subsidized by New Jersey Transit), The complete bus fleet, including buses purchased by New Jersey Transit for other New Jersey operators above the 2,477, can be viewed
here.
Light Rail
New Jersey Transit operates three separate
light rail lines:
Rail
NJ Transit has 11 commuter rail lines:
NJ Transit operates over 100 diesel locomotives, of which 11 are leased from Metro-North Railroad, and 61 electric locomotives. Its fleet consists of over 650 push-pull cars, of which 65 are leased from Metro-North, and 6 are leased from SEPTA, and 230 electric multiple unit cars.
Police Department
The New Jersey Transit Police Department (NJTPD) is a transit police force for the New Jersey Transit Corporation in the state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with state wide jurisdiction with the primary focus on policing the numerous bus depots, rail and light-rail stations throughout New Jersey.
Future
Trans Hudson Express Tunnel
NJ Transit is preparing to construct a new two-track Hudson River tunnel adjacent to the two existing single-track Northeast Corridor tunnels (built in the early 20th century by the
Pennsylvania Railroad). NJ Transit is billing this project as
THE Tunnel or
Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel, which will use Dual-Mode Locomotives and allow for the first time a 1-seat ride between the
Port Jervis,
Main,
Bergen County,
Pascack Valley, and
Raritan Valley lines and Penn Station New York.
Governor Jon Corzine has announced that groundwork may begin in 2009 with the tunnels finished in 2016. Engineering has recently commenced on this tunnel, following recent approval of $2 billion of funding by the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link
Construction has been completed on a section of the
Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link, a
light rail project in 3 stages that will eventually link the downtowns of
Newark and
Elizabeth via the
Newark Light Rail and the proposed
Union County Light Rail. The first stage of construction, which links
Newark Broad Street and
Newark Penn Station via the Newark Light Rail, opened in July 2006. The remaining two stages of this project were removed from the list of NJ Transit's capital improvement projects on
May 10,
2006, making it unlikely that they will be constructed.
Bergen-Passaic Rail Line
The
Bergen-Passaic Passenger Rail Project is a project being conducted by
New Jersey Transit to reintroduce passenger service on the
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. As of September 2008, plans call for service to run between
Hawthorne and
Hackensack using newly built
Diesel Multiple Unit rail cars.
Lackawanna Cutoff
In May 2001, New Jersey Transit purchased the property of the
Lackawanna Cutoff. This line, constructed by the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad between 1908 and 1911 provided a direct, level-graded route between the
Delaware River (
Slateford, Pennsylvania), two miles (3.25 km) below the
Delaware Water Gap, to the crest of the
watershed at
Lake Hopatcong (
Port Morris, New Jersey). The
DL&W had a penchant for extensive concrete construction, and as a result, most of the structures, including stations, bridges, and vast viaducts are still in operational or near-operational condition, despite the abandonment by
Conrail in 1979. A 2004 study conducted by New Jersey Transit estimates that bringing the line back into operation would cost approximately $350 million. The proposed rehabilitation project, which still lacks funding, if completed, would provide commuter rail service between
Scranton, Pennsylvania and
Hoboken Terminal on the Hudson River waterfront in New Jersey (with connecting service to trains serving
New York's Penn Station). Service to
Midtown Manhattan would be made available to the growing
exurban communities in
Monroe County in
the Poconos, and in upper
Warren County and lower
Sussex County.
NYC-Atlantic City service
On
June 20,
2006, the board of New Jersey Transit approved a three-year trial of express train service between
New York Penn Station and
Atlantic City Rail Terminal. The estimated travel time will be 2½ hours with a few stops along the way and is part of the casinos' multi-million dollar investments in
Atlantic City. Most of the funding for the new transit line will be provided by
Harrah's Entertainment (owners of the
Showboat,
Ballys Park Place,
Harrah's Atlantic City and
Caesars Atlantic City) and the
Borgata. The tentative start date for the service is fall 2008.
The Atlantic City-New York train trip would take about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Although fares have not been announced yet, early estimates suggest riders would pay about $100, a rate competitive with one-way ticket prices for Amtrak's high-speed
Acela service between New York and Philadelphia.
Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM)
The Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex (MOM) line is a proposed south and central New Jersey commuter rail route offering those county's residents access to
New Brunswick, Newark and New York's Penn Station. The line was originally proposed by the
Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders in March 1980. This route would run on a 40.1-mile rail corridor and would provide diesel commuter rail service from
Monmouth Junction (
South Brunswick), where the Jamesburg Branch partially joins the
Northeast Corridor (NEC), to
Lakehurst. As of 2006, the line was opposed by Jamesburg and Monroe Township
From Monmouth Junction, the line would continue southeast to Jamesburg, Monroe, Englishtown, Manalapan, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Howell and Farmingdale. A new rail connection would be required in Farmingdale. It would proceed southward from Farmingdale to Lakehurst, passing through Howell, Lakewood, Jackson, Toms River Township, and Lakehurst/Manchester. Trains on this line would also operate on the NEC between Monmouth Junction and Newark. Passengers destined for New York would transfer at Newark. Eight new stations and a train storage yard would be constructed.
In mid-February 2008, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine withdrew the Monmouth Junction alignment from the MOM Plan. Corzine opted to endorse the 2 remaining alternate alignments (Red Bank Alignment and the Matawan Alignment). NJ Transit is still planning to go forward with the study of all the routes as to not delay action further on the EIS, and says all three routes are still up for evaluation, although they will take the Governor's comments into consideration.
Northern Branch
The Northern Branch is being developed as part of a plan to bring commuter rail service to eastern Bergen County. Initial plans were for this to be a
light rail system, but NJ Transit is exploring options to use
diesel multiple unit vehicles on the line instead.
See also
References
External links
