NJ Transit Rail Operations 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 riders in , 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. 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
, NJ Transit's commuter rail network consists of 11 lines and 164 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.
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