Top left: Train 3945 on the Northeast Corridor Line enters New Brunswick. Top right: MCI D4500CT No. 7103, a unit built for MTA New York City Transit but never operated by them, waits at a light on US 9 in Old Bridge on the 139. Center left: Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Kinkisharyo 2034 stopped at Bergenline Avenue station, the only underground station in the system. Center right: River Line Stadler DMU 3505 enters the Trenton Rail Station. Bottom left: Nova Bus RTS 82VN hybrid No. 4002 operates in Trenton. Bottom right: Train 4216 waits to depart Atlantic City Rail Terminal. (AEMoreira042281, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

NJ TRANSIT

New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit or NJTransit and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey and portions of the state of New York and Pennsylvania. It operates bus, light rail, and commuter rail services throughout the state, connecting to major commercial and employment centers both within the state and in its two adjacent major cities, New York City and Philadelphia. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 175,960,600.

Covering a service area of 5,325 square miles (13,790 km2), NJT is the largest statewide public transit system and the third-largest provider of bus, rail, and light rail transit by ridership in the United States.

NJT also acts as a purchasing agency for many private operators in the state; in particular, buses to serve routes not served by the transit agency.

Former PRR GG-1 No. 921 was the only NJ DOT GG-1 to wear the big white U.S. Savings Bond seal.

The GG-1s operated from 1939 until 1983.

(© www.Railcards.com, Alameda, CA, Fair Use, Title 17, Section 107, via the W. Lenheim Collection)

Former PRR GG-1 No. 4877 was beautifully restored in Pennsylvania livery and rededicated by NJ Transit in 1981.

At the time it was one of only 13 remaining active units. Photo by Don Wood.

(Audio-Visual Designs, Earlton, NY, Public domain, via W. Lenheim Collection)

History

NJT was founded on July 17, 1979, an offspring of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), mandated by the state government to address many then-pressing transportation problems. It 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." NJT originally acquired and managed a number of private bus services, one of the largest being those operated by the state's largest electric company, Public Service Electric and Gas Company. It gradually acquired most of the state's bus services. 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 NJT, it funds and provides buses for most of the state's private operators providing fixed route or commuter service, such as Coach USA, DeCamp, Lakeland, and Academy.

In 1983, NJT assumed operation of all commuter rail service in New Jersey from Conrail, which had been formed in 1976 through the merging of a number of financially troubled railroads. Conrail had operated two extensive commuter railroad networks in northern New Jersey under contract to NJDOT; in turn, these lines were the successors of numerous commuter routes dating from the mid-19th century. NJT 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 Speedline, which is owned by the Delaware River Port Authority; two SEPTA Regional Rail lines, the West Trenton Line and the Trenton Line; and a handful of tourist trains in the southern and northwestern parts of New Jersey. Since inception, rail ridership has quadrupled.

In the 1990s the rail 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, it opened the Secaucus Junction transfer station, connecting its two commuter networks in northern New Jersey for the first time. The new station allowed passengers on trains to Hoboken Terminal to transfer to trains to New York Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan, saving an estimated 15 minutes over connecting with PATH trains at Hoboken. On October 31, 2005, NJT took over Clocker (NY–Philadelphia) service from Amtrak. Four new trains were added to the schedule, but cut back to Trenton.

During Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the rail operations center of NJ Transit was flooded by 8 feet (2.4 m) of water and an emergency generator submerged. Floodwater damaged at least 65 locomotive engines and 257 rail cars.

NJ Transit's headquarters at Penn Plaza East in Newark.

(Ob436525, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Governance

The Governor of New Jersey appoints a seven-member Board of Directors, four members from the general public and three State officials. The Governor has veto power on decisions made by the board.

Current operations

NJT's operations are divided into three classes: bus, rail, and light rail, operated by three legal businesses: NJ Transit Bus Operations, Inc, for buses and Newark Light Rail, subsidiary NJ Transit Mercer, Inc. for buses around Trenton and Monmouth County, and NJ Transit Rail Operations, Inc., for commuter rail.

Light rail

NJT operates three light rail systems:

• Hudson–Bergen Light Rail – a 24-stop 20.6 miles (33.2 km) multi-branch line along the Gold Coast from Bayonne to North Bergen, with a major stop at Hoboken Terminal, all in Hudson County. The fleet consists of 52 Kinki Sharyo electric light rail vehicles owned by NJT and operated under contract by 21st Century Rail.
• Newark Light Rail – two segments serving Newark and the surrounding area. The Newark City Subway has 12 stops, is 4.3 miles (6.9 km) long, connecting Newark Penn Station to North Newark and Bloomfield. The Broad Street Extension has five stops, is 1.0 mile (1.6 km) long, and connects Newark Penn Station to Newark Broad Street Station.
• River Line – a 21-stop 34 miles (55 km) line from Trenton to Camden along the Delaware River, mostly along the Bordentown Secondary line formerly owned by Conrail. The fleet consists of 20 Stadler GTW diesel light rail vehicles owned by NJT and operated under contract by Bombardier Transportation.

Newark Light Rail Rolling stock

The fleet consists of 21 Kinki Sharyo electric light rail vehicles owned and operated by the Central Division of NJT Bus Operations.

White House station on the Raritan Valley Line.

(Jared Kofsky/PlaceNJ.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Commuter rail

NJT has 12 commuter rail lines:

• Atlantic City Line
• Bergen County Line
• Main Line
• Meadowlands Rail Line (for special events at the Meadowlands Sports Complex only)
• Montclair-Boonton Line
• Morris & Essex Lines, consisting of:

       •  Morristown Line

       •  Gladstone Branch

• North Jersey Coast Line
• Northeast Corridor Line (includes the Princeton Branch)
• Pascack Valley Line
• Raritan Valley Line

Rolling stock
NJT operates over 100 diesel locomotives, of which 11 are supplied by Metro-North Railroad as part of an operating agreement for the Port Jervis Line, and 61 electric locomotives. It has over 650 push-pull cars, of which 65 are supplied by Metro-North, and 230 electric multiple unit cars.

NJ Transit Rail Operations

NJ Transit Rail Operations (reporting mark NJTR) is the rail division of NJ Transit. It operates commuter rail service in New Jersey, with most service centered on transportation to and from New York City, Hoboken, and Newark. NJ Transit also operates rail service in Orange and Rockland counties in New York under contract to Metro-North Railroad. The commuter rail lines saw 45,838,200 riders in 2022, making it the third-busiest commuter railroad in North America and the longest commuter rail system in North America by route length.

Network and infrastructure

The lines operated by NJ Transit were formerly operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Central Railroad of New Jersey, New York and Long Branch Railroad, and Erie Lackawanna Railroad, most of which date from the mid-19th century. From the 1960s onward, the New Jersey Department of Transportation began funding the commuter lines. By 1976, the lines were all operated by Conrail under contract to NJDOT. The system took its current form in 1983, when NJ Transit took over all commuter service in New Jersey. NJ Transit Rail Operations is divided into the Hoboken Division and the Newark Division. The two networks were not integrated until the opening of Secaucus Junction in 2003, which enabled passengers to transfer between lines bound for New York and Hoboken.

Lines

As of 2022, NJ Transit's commuter rail network consists of 12 lines and 165 stations, primarily concentrated in northern New Jersey, with one line running between Atlantic City and Philadelphia.

Current lines
Operations are in two divisions:

• Hoboken Division, formerly operated by the Erie Lackawanna Railroad, runs from Hoboken Terminal or through Newark – Broad Street and includes Midtown Direct service via the Kearny Connection. Most station platforms are low-level.
• Newark Division, formerly operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Central Railroad of New Jersey and New York and Long Branch Railroad, operates through Newark Penn Station via the Northeast Corridor, with most trains continuing to New York Penn Station. This division also includes the Atlantic City Line formerly operated by the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. Most station platforms are high-level.

Morristown and Erie Railroad, one of the freight operators authorized to operate on the NJ Transit system, crossing the Passaic River in Roseland.

(Jag9889, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Freight usage

Although NJ Transit itself does not carry freight, NJTR allows freight service to be operated over its lines via trackage rights agreements with several railroads. Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO), CSX, Norfolk Southern (NS) and several short lines (Cape May Seashore Lines (CMSL), Dover and Delaware River Railroad (DD), Morristown & Erie Railway (M&E), and Southern Railroad of New Jersey (SRNJ) currently have trackage rights contracts to operate freight service on NJ Transit lines. The Morristown & Erie Railway can only use NJT trackage to get between its owned trackage; it cannot serve customers on NJ Transit trackage. A similar situation exists for Conrail on the Atlantic City Line.

Below is a list of NJ Transit lines and freight lines that operate on them:

• Morristown Line: DD, M&E
• Montclair-Boonton Line: DD, M&E
• Main Line: NS, M&E
• Bergen County Line: NS, M&E
• Pascack Valley Line: NS
• Raritan Valley Line: CSAO
• North Jersey Coast Line: CSAO
• Atlantic City Line: CSAO, SRNJ

Non-passenger lines

NJTR also owns several lines not used for regular passenger service. These lines were purchased by the New Jersey Department of Transportation in the late 1970s for railbanking purposes, with ownership transferring to NJ Transit upon its creation in 1979. These lines are either leased for freight/tourist service, interim rail trail use, or remain derelict:

• Harrison-Kingsland Branch: derelict
• Raritan Valley Line:
      • High Bridge-Bloomsbury: NS
      • Bloomsbury-Phillipsburg: trackage removed due to construction of Interstate 78 in 1989
• Red Bank -South Lakewood: Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO), Delaware and Raritan River Railroad
• Woodmansie-Winslow Junction: derelict
• Beesley's Point Secondary:
      • Winslow Junction-Palermo/Beesley's Point: CSAO, Cape May Seashore Lines
      • Palermo-Ocean City: leased to city of Ocean City in 1999 for use as interim Ocean City Bike Path rail trail
• Tuckahoe-Cape May: Cape May Seashore Lines, Southern Railroad of New Jersey
• HX Interlocking (Hackensack River)-Croxton Yard: realigned for Secaucus Junction, used as yard lead by NS
• Freehold-Farmingdale: derelict
• Freehold-Matawan: leased to Monmouth County Park System until 2020 as interim section of Henry Hudson Trail

Ownership

NJT owns most of its tracks, infrastructure, bridges, tunnels and signals. The exceptions are:

• Atlantic City Line – Philadelphia 30th Street Station to Frankford Junction (owned by Amtrak) and Frankford Junction to Pennsauken Delair Junction (owned by Conrail)
• Northeast Corridor Line – entire line except Morrisville Yard (owned by Amtrak)
• Port Jervis Line – Suffern to Port Jervis (owned by Norfolk Southern and leased by Metro-North)
• Raritan Valley Line – Aldene to Hunter (owned by Conrail)

Yards and maintenance

NJ Transit's main storage and maintenance facility is the Meadows Maintenance Complex in Kearny, New Jersey. Other major yard facilities are located at Hoboken Terminal. Amtrak's Sunnyside Yard in Queens, New York serves as a layover facility for trains to New York Penn Station. Additional yards are located at outlying points along the lines. These include:

• Main and Bergen County Lines:

    • Waldwick Yard

    • Suffern Yard

• Montclair-Boonton Line:

    • Great Notch Yard, Little Falls

• Morris and Essex Lines:

    • Gladstone Yard

    • Summit Yard

    • Dover Yard

    • Port Morris Yard

• North Jersey Coast Line:

    • Long Branch Yard

    • Bay Head Yard

• Northeast Corridor:

    • Morrisville Yard, Morrisville, PA (near the Trenton Transit Center)

    • County Yard, New Brunswick (near Jersey Avenue)

    • Hudson Yard, Harrison (Serves mostly Raritan Valley Line trains)

• Pascack Valley Line:

    • Woodbine Yard, Spring Valley, NY

• Port Jervis Line:

    • Port Jervis Yard, Port Jervis, NY

• Raritan Valley Line:

    • Raritan Yard

    • Hudson Yard, Harrison (Shared with Northeast Corridor)

NJT has a fleet of maintenance crews and vehicles that repair tracks, spread ballast, deliver supplies and inspect infrastructure. There are eight non-revenue work diesels used for these purposes.

Rolling stock

NJ Transit, operates a fleet of 175 locomotives and over 1,200 passenger cars.

Locomotives

Passenger cars

NJ Transit has a fleet of over 1,100 passenger cars. The fleet and examples are described below.

Hoboken Terminal, the terminus for all trains headed east on the Hoboken Division.

(King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Stations

NJ Transit provides passenger service on 12 lines at total of 165 stations, some of which are operated in conjunction with Amtrak and Metro-North (MNCW).

To see a List of New Jersey Transit stations click HERE.

Projects

Ongoing projects

Gateway Program
The Gateway Program is a major rail infrastructure improvement project designed to improve current services and create new capacity that will allow the doubling of passenger trains running under the Hudson River. The program will increase track, tunnel, bridge, and station capacity, eventually creating four mainline tracks between Newark, NJ, and Penn Station, New York, including a new, two-track Hudson River tunnel. It is being undertaken in partnership with Amtrak, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the State of New Jersey, and the State of New York.

Portal Bridge Replacement Project

The project would replace the existing century-old bridge swing-span bridge with a new, fixed-span bridge over the Hackensack River. The current bridge causes train traffic and delays due to maritime traffic, as well as malfunctions occurring from opening and closing. The new bridge's goal is to eliminate the movable span, improve reliability, increase train speeds, and remove conflict with maritime traffic. The project is partnered with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, NJ Transit, Amtrak, and United States Department of Transportation, with funding provided by NJ Transit, Amtrak, and the Federal Railroad Administration.

Hudson Tunnel Project

The project is the design and construction of a new Hudson River rail tunnel serving Penn Station, New York, and the rehabilitation and modernization of the existing North River Tunnels, which incurred serious and ongoing damage during Hurricane Sandy. The tunnel was flooded with millions of gallons of saltwater during Hurricane Sandy, causing corrosion that continues to damage the century-old tunnel. It plans to build a new tunnel, rather than close and renovate the existing tunnel, as doing so would leave only one of the North River Tunnels in service, which would cause a massive reduction in rail service. As of 2018, the final design was completed and it is being advanced through the U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER grant. The project is partnered with the FRA, PANYNJ, NJ Transit and Amtrak, all of which have provided a total funding of $86.5 million.

Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) Northern Branch Extension
The project will extend Hudson–Bergen Light Rail service from North Bergen, Hudson County to Englewood, Bergen County. The goal of the project is to meet the needs of travelers in the area, advance cost-effective transit solutions, attract growth and development in Bergen and Hudson counties, including the Hudson River Waterfront, improve regional mobility and access, reduce roadway congestion, and enhance the transit network. There have been several public hearings so far, and have received the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement from the Environmental Protection Agency. The final EIS was expected to be completed by the end of 2019. As of December 2022, the project is still in its design phase, and NJT was given a $600K federal grant to study transit-oriented development along the proposed extension.

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) Route 440 Extension (Bayonne Flyer)
The project will expand Hudson-Bergen Light Rail access in Jersey City. It will extend service from West Side Avenue Station by 0.7 miles (1.1 km) of new rail to a new terminus on the west side of Route 440. An environmental assessment has been prepared by NJ Transit, and the Federal Transit Administration has issued a Finding of No Significance Impact (FONSI). Preliminary engineering began in 2018. The new station will be a contributing factor to the $180 million urban renewal project of Bayfront. There is also a project to improve Route 440 itself near the rail extension. As of 2020, the project is still ongoing after upgrades were made to West Side Avenue Station.

Lackawanna Cut-Off
In May 2001, New Jersey acquired the right-of-way of the Lackawanna Cut-Off. Constructed by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad between 1908 and 1911, this provided a direct route with minimal curves and grades between Slateford Junction, two miles (3.25 km) below the Delaware Water Gap, and the crest of the watershed at Lake Hopatcong (Port Morris Junction), the connection with NJT's Montclair-Boonton Line. This would restore long-distance service that the Erie Lackawanna last provided with the Lake Cities in 1970.

At the time of the Cut-Off's construction, the DL&W had extensive experience with concrete construction, but not on the scale that would be employed on the Cut-Off. All structures, including stations, bridges, interlocking towers and two large viaducts and thousands of fence posts, were made of concrete. Despite the lack of maintenance on these structures over the past four decades (and in some cases much longer), most are still in operational or near-operational condition. A 2009 study by NJT estimated that bringing the line back into operation to Scranton, Pennsylvania, would cost approximately $551 million, although service may be extended in several interim phases before reaching Scranton.

In 2011, the re-tracking of the Cut-Off from Port Morris to Andover, a distance of 7.3 miles (11.7 km), began. The project was delayed by a lack of environmental permits to clear the roadbed between Lake Lackawanna and Andover. Based on projections from NJ Transit, the restart of construction, including extensive work on Roseville Tunnel, was to occur in mid- to late-2016, with the re-opening of service to Andover projected to occur in 2020. The proposed rehabilitation west of Andover, which has not yet been funded, would provide commuter rail service between Hoboken Terminal and New York's Penn Station, and would serve the growing exurban communities in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and the Poconos, as well as northern Warren County and southern Sussex County in New Jersey. In October 2015, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requested that a preliminary engineering study be performed in order to update the cost figures on the previous study. Funding for this study is currently being sought.

As of 2023, the projected completion date for Andover service is 2027, with work at Roseville Tunnel and Andover, NJ ongoing. There is a possibility of Amtrak extending service from New York City to Scranton, PA via the Cut-Off, but no official commitment for that service has been made to date.

Glassboro–Camden Line
The Glassboro–Camden Line is an 18-mile (28.97 km) diesel multiple unit (DMU) light rail system planned for southwestern part of New Jersey in the United States. At its northern end in Camden, it will connect with the River Line, with which its infrastructure and vehicles will be compatible. At the northern terminus, the Walter Rand Transportation Center, paid transfers will be possible to the PATCO Speedline. The project's goal is to improve mobility and connect towns in Gloucester and Camden counties. An environmental assessment was published in February 2021. The project is projected to be operational by 2028.

Incidents

• In December 1985, a train crashed into a concrete bumper in Hoboken Terminal, injuring 54 people. The cause was a lubricant that was applied into the tracks to test the train wheels.
• At around 8:40 a.m. on February 9, 1996, two trains collided nearly head-on near Secaucus. Both trains' engineers and a passenger were killed. The accident was caused when the eastbound train ran a red signal.
• On July 14, 2003, a Northeast Corridor train derailed just east of the Portal Bridge in Secaucus during the morning rush hour disrupting service on the Northeast Corridor for nearly 12 hours. Amtrak service was terminated at Newark during this time. All of NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast and Morris and Essex trains were diverted to Hoboken Terminal. The cause of the derailment was a lost wheel on one of the Arrow III cars causing NJ Transit to temporarily take all 230 Arrow III cars out of service for inspection. They were all deemed safe and returned to service days later.
• On February 21, 2007, a Bergen County Line train suffered a minor derailment after passing over an improperly repaired switch at Ridgewood Junction.
• On the morning of September 29, 2016, a Pascack Valley Line train failed to slow down as it approached Hoboken Terminal and crashed into the passenger concourse. One person died, with around 100 people being injured.
• On August 19, 2016, two New Jersey Transit buses collided in Newark on Broad St & Raymond Blvd during the morning commute. Bus 5612, operating on route no. 59 with no passengers, ran a red light, colliding with bus 5784, running was on route 13, which was crossing the road safely. Two people died and 18 were injured in the accident. The driver of 5612 died at the scene. A passenger onboard bus 5784 was also pronounced dead at the scene.
• On the morning of December 14, 2023, a Texas Longhorn bull wandered onto the train tracks at Newark Penn Station. Onlookers notified officials, leading to paused service and train delays of up to 45 minutes. Newark Police Emergency Services and the Port Authority Police Department contained the animal, later named Ricardo after one of the police officers who helped corral him to safety. On December 19, 2023, NJ Transit released an official Ricardo the Bull 6-inch plushie to commemorate the incident. The plushie was available for pre-order on the NJ Transit Shoppe for $20 and sold out shortly after release. A portion of the proceeds for the plushie will go to Skylands Animal Sanctuary & Rescue in Sussex County, where Ricardo now resides.

Overview

Locale: New Jersey (statewide), New York, Rockland and Orange counties in New York State, and Philadelphia County in Pennsylvania.
Transit type: Commuter rail, Light rail, Bus
Number of lines: 12 (commuter rail); 3 (light rail); 253 (bus)
Number of stations: 165 (rail); 86 (light rail); 26 (bus terminals); 15,991 (bus stops)
Annual ridership: 175,960,600 (2022)
Chief executive: Kevin Corbett
Headquarters: 1 Penn Plaza East, Newark, New Jersey
Website: njtransit.com
Operation
Began operation: July 17, 1979
Number of vehicles: 1,231 (commuter rail); 93 (light rail); 2,221 (bus)
Technical
System length: 1,000.8 mi (1,610.6 km) (rail)
System length: 116.2 mi (187.0 km) (light rail)

See Also:

Bayonne Flyer

Railroads A-Z