RARITAN VALLEY LINE

The 'Raritan Valley Line' is a commuter rail service operated by New Jersey Transit, running out of Newark Penn Station, with most trains terminating at the Raritan station and some trains continuing further west and terminating at High Bridge during peak periods (rush hour). On weekends, alternating trains offer through service to Hoboken Terminal. Even-hour trains run from Hoboken and to Hoboken, while odd-hour trains begin and end in Newark.
On weekends, trains from Hoboken arrive in Newark Penn Station immediately after the Jersey Coast and Northeast Corridor Lines, all of which arrive on Track 4, while odd-hour trains to Raritan depart from Track 5. Plans are in the works to allow more Raritan Valley Line trains to leave passengers off on Track 1 when arriving in Newark Penn Station, allowing easier transfers to trains bound for Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan; currently, passengers must descend into the station, cross the width of the station, and then ascend to Track 1.
Peak trains arrive on weekdays at Newark's Penn Station between 6:59 am and 9:01 am; peak trains leave Newark Penn on weekdays between 4:45 pm and 7:17 pm. [1]

Contents

Route description

Rolling Stock

Service to Phillipsburg

Service to West Trenton

Proposed Station Stops

Closed stations

Route description

From Cranford west, the line follows the former Main Line of the former Central Railroad of New Jersey. The main line originally ran through Elizabeth and Bayonne to Jersey City, leading to Communipaw Terminal in what is today Liberty State Park. This station, which served Reading, Jersey Central, and former B & O Washington-Jersey City service, had direct connections, either by chartered bus, or by ferry, into Manhattan, the latter serving the financial district. Under the 1967 Aldene Plan, however, the Aldene Connection was built to the former Lehigh Valley Railroad right-of-way, rerouting trains to proceed to Newark Penn Station via a second preexisting connection (Hunter Connection), to the Northeast Corridor.
On Sunday, April 30, 1967, enthusiasts James T. Ryan and Al Holtz in their individual ventures, captured and recorded the first train operating over the Aldene Plan. In a full fledged dress rehearsal for the next day's rush hour commutes, CNJ FM Trainmaster #2411 powered a 15 car push-pull consist with cab car 1321, WABCO equipped and rebuilt from a 1300 series arched-roof coach, leading Eastbound. The operation is nearly identical today to how it was in the very beginning. Passengers bound for New York must disembark at Newark and change either to a Northeast Corridor or North Jersey Coast Line train operated by New Jersey Transit to New York Penn Station or PATH trains to the World Trade Center. This is due to an unfortunate combination of factors. First, the CNJ never electrified the line when it was still in business (although there is evidence that the idea was played with on paper), and its subsequent owners including Conrail and New Jersey Transit have never undertaken such a project. The second is a 1900's New York City ordinance allowing only electric-powered trains to operate into Manhattan below 96th Street. The end result is that a trip between New York and the Raritan Valley Line necessarily requires the use of two trains.

Rolling Stock

Since the entire line (except between Hunter Interlocking and Newark Penn Station) is unelectricfied, all Raritan Valley service is diesel. Currently F40PH-2CATs, GP40PH-2s and GP40FH-2s haul Comet IIMs, Comet IIIs, Comet IVs and Comet Vs. The Comet I-B (former Arrow I MU car) was a mainstay on this line until recently shifted to the Hoboken Division. GP40Ps (built in 1968 for the CNJ) also once were regular here, since being been rebuilt they have been common on the Hoboken side.

Service to Phillipsburg

Service beyond High Bridge to Phillipsburg was discontinued in 1984 to permit Interstate 78 to be constructed over the former CNJ main line (service ended ostensibly due to "low ridership"; ridership figures were most likely aggravated due to low service frequency west of Raritan, there being a mere three trains in each direction during weekday schedules at that time). There are plans to eventually restore service to Phillipsburg (and also some demand to extend rail service back into the Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton area, although it is not clear what form this will take). Between Bloomsbury and Phillipsburg, Norfolk Southern's Lehigh Line will have to be used since Conrail (the previous freight operator) reconfigured its tracks in the Easton-Phillipsburg area, abandoning the ex-Lehigh Valley main between Easton and Alpha and the ex-CNJ main between Alpha and Bloomsbury. This was done so that all trains would cross the Delaware on the ex-CNJ bridge, because the ex-LV bridge was found to be structurally unsound.
When service ran to Phillipsburg prior to 1984, there were separate passenger and freight main lines, Conrail freights using the former Lehigh Valley Railroad main line, and Conrail/NJ DOT/NJ Transit commuter trains using the ex-CNJ main line. This is no longer possible today, barring massive investment to either elevate the CNJ main line over I-78 or to tunnel under I-78 in order to reconnect the two halves of the main. Between Easton PA and Bloomsbury NJ, the main of the Lehigh Line is currently single-track; if Phillipsburg commuter service returns, if either a passing siding within the Phillipsburg Union Station area, or an additional main track from Bloomsbury westward, or both, were not installed, it would tie up the single main track of the Lehigh Line, one of Norfolk Southern's busiest freight mains. (The ex-LV main is no longer available at that point, although the right of way is still extant.)

Service to West Trenton

Another plan that has been proposed is to restore service on the former Reading Railroad's Jersey City branch track between Trenton and Bound Brook. Prior to 1983, Conrail commuter trains, using Budd Rail Diesel Cars, used what is now the SEPTA R3 West Trenton line between the former Reading Terminal and Newark (Jersey City prior to 1967 – this allowed the Reading to compete with the Pennsylvania Railroad with Philadelphia/New York service, especially with service to the Financial District). Restoration of this line, which is now owned by CSX Transportation, will allow an alternate Philadelphia/New York connection route, with electrified SEPTA trains using the West Trenton line to Trenton, with passengers switching over to NJT service to Newark.

Proposed Station Stops

★ West Trenton with transfers to the West Trenton SEPTA Commuter Line

★ Route I-95

★ Hopewell

★ Belle Mead

★ Hillsborough

★ Bridgewater

★ Bound Brook

★ Dunellen

★ Plainfield

★ Netherwood

★ Fanwood-Scotch Plains

★ Westfield

★ Garwood

★ Cranford

★ Roselle Park

★ Union

★ Newark Penn Station

Closed stations

★ Grant Avenue (Plainfield)

★ Finderne

★ Glen Gardner

★ Hampton

★ Ludlow

★ Bloomsbury

★ Phillipsburg