Morristown Line

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The Morristown Line is one of New Jersey Transit's commuter lines. Out of 60 inbound and 58 outbound daily weekday trains, 28 inbound and 26 outbound trains (about 45%) use the Kearny Connection (opened June 10, 1996) to Secaucus Junction and New York Penn Station; the rest go to Hoboken Terminal. Passengers can transfer at Newark Broad Street or Summit to reach the other destination if necessary.

The line east of Dover Station is electrified, using 25kV AC overhead catenary wire (formerly 3kV DC). There is frequent service weekdays, with hourly service to/from New York (none going beyond Dover) on weekends. Until August 13, 2006, there was also hourly service to Hoboken. On that date, service between Hoboken and Summit was cut back to once every two hours on weekends. The reason was probably the construction in Newark along with cut-back Federal funding.

Recently the portions of the line between Millburn and Summit underwent extensive rehabilitation. This included the replacement of the creosote crossties on the eastbound track with cement crossties, the replacement of all crossties on the double trestle over Short Hills Avenue, and the replacement of several sections of rail. Work crews also installed a drainage system at the pedestrian tunnel at the Short Hills station to catch rain runoff.

[edit] Route guide

The Morristown Line begins at Hoboken terminal. Morristown line trains departing for points west of Dover, NJ require diesel locomotives. Trains that terminate at Dover utilize electric powered locomotives. Immediately after leaving Hoboken, the route passes the coach and diesel yards before entering the 1908 Bergen Tunnel under the New Jersey Palisades. At the west portal of the Bergen Tunnel is West End interlocking, where the Main Line and Bergen County Line branch off to the north. The Morristown line then crosses over Lower Hack Lift, a vertical lift bridge built in 1927 over the Hackensack River. The line crosses under Route 7 and then approaches the Meadows Maintenance Complex.

Amtrak's Northeast Corridor main line and the New Jersey Turnpike cross overhead. This location is where the Midtown Direct trains join the Morristown line from New York. The Morristown line parallels the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and PATH lines and Interstate 280. The Waterfront Connection is also at this location and allows selected North Jersey Coast Line and Raritan Valley Line trains to access Hoboken.

After following Interstate 280, the line crosses over a swing bridge spanning the Passaic River into Newark. Within the city limits the line crosses under many streets and the Newark City Subway in a cut and at Roseville Avenue, the Montclair-Boonton Line spilts off. After passing an abandoned station at Grove Street and over the Garden State Parkway, East Orange is the next stop, on an elevated viaduct. Brick Church and Orange follow, also elevated stations. The line curves south, over Interstate 280 and stops at Highland Avenue and Mountain Station. South Orange is next, an elevated station with two platforms and three tracks. Seton Hall University is located here. Maplewood follows, with a similar arrangement, after which the line narrows to two tracks. Millburn and Short Hills have two side platforms, with two tracks.

Summit, a major station is next with high platforms. There are two platforms, and the station building above the tracks. A glass crossover is located above the platforms. Some weekday locals terminate here. Many of the area's private schools are located in Summit and commuting high school students are a major source of traffic for this station. Schedules are timed for most Morristown trains to have a convienent transfer to a Gladstone branch train across the platform.

Just west of Summit, the Gladstone Branch separates and we cross over the Passaic River (the second time) into Chatham. Chatham station is on an elevated enbankment with two side platforms. Madison, on an elevated viaduct is similar, with a recently refurbished 1916 station house on the eastbound side.

The line reaches its first grade crossing at Convent Station, located on the College of Saint Elizabeth campus. This station has two side platforms. After the station, there are several grade crossings.

Crossing Interstate 287, the line enters Morristown. The Morristown station has two low side platforms and a large station building. West of the station, the Morristown & Erie Railway's main office are located. The Morristown & Erie's main line diverges at this point.

The line curves through wooded areas, under Route 10, and past several crossings before stopping at Mount Tabor, a small stop in Parsippany located at a grade crossing. This stop is served by selected weekday and limited weekend trains and lacks an eastbound platform.

Denville station is a short distance from Mt. Tabor and is where the Morristown Line rejoins the Montclair-Boonton Line.

Dover, the final stop in electric territory, is next, and has a high center platform. All electric Midtown Direct and Hoboken service terminates here, however some weekday trains continue to Hackettstown (see Montclair-Boonton Line). However there are plans to extend the electric service to Lake Hopatcong as the Dover Yard is at capacity.

[edit] Station listing

Milepost	City	Station	Oper	Connections
0	Hoboken	Hoboken Terminal	NJT	PATH and New York Waterways to New York City, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to local points, NJT 22, 23, 64, 68, 85, 87, 89, 126 buses
		Meadows Maintenance Complex	NJT	Main Overhaul and Maintenance Shop, employee stop
Midtown Direct trains join
5	Kearny	Kearny Junction		Midtown Direct trains from New York Penn Station and Secaucus Junction join the line via the Kearny Connection
7.8	Newark	Newark Broad Street	NJT	Newark Light Rail service, NJT 11, 13, 27, 28, 29, 39, 41, 43, 72, 76, 78, 108 buses, Ticket Vending Machines
		Roseville Avenue		NJT Montclair-Boonton Line splits, abandoned station
	East Orange	Grove Street		abandoned
10		East Orange	NJT	NJT 21, 71, 73, 79, 94, 97 buses
10.6		Brick Church	NJT	NJT 21, 71, 73, 79, 94 buses
11.5	Orange	Orange	NJT	NJT 21, 41, 71, 73, 79, 92 buses
12.2		Highland Avenue	NJT	NJT 92 bus
13.1	South Orange	Mountain Station	NJT	NJT 92 bus
13.9		South Orange	NJT	NJT 92, 107 buses
15.2	Maplewood	Maplewood	NJT
16.8	Millburn	Millburn	NJT	NJT 70 bus
17.8		Short Hills	NJT	Springfield Jitney, an NJT-owned community bus service
20.1	Summit	Summit	NJT	NJT Gladstone Branch splits, NJT 70 bus, Ticket Vending Machines
23.5	Chatham	Chatham	NJT	MCM 3 bus
25.5	Madison	Madison	NJT	MCM 3 bus
27.7	Morris	Convent Station	NJT	MCM 3 bus
29.8	Morristown	Morristown	NJT	MCM 1, 2, 3 10 buses
32	Morris Plains	Morris Plains	NJT	MCM 2, 10 buses, Ticket Vending Machines on eastbound side
35.7	Parsippany-Troy Hills	Mount Tabor	NJT	MCM 10 bus
36.7	Denville	Denville	NJT	NJT Montclair-Boonton Line joins, MCM 10 bus
40.5	Dover	Dover	NJT	MCM 2, 10 buses. Only diesel trains are permitted beyond this point. Train Storage Yard
	Mount Arlington	Mount Arlington	NJT	Future I-80 Park and Ride Opening in 2007
45.9	Roxbury	Lake Hopatcong	NJT
46		Port Morris	NJT	Diesel Train Storage Yard and future Lackawanna Cutoff split
48.4	Netcong	Netcong	NJT
50.1	Mount Olive	Mount Olive	NJT	International Trade Center
57.4	Hackettstown	Hackettstown	NJT
Midtown Direct service
0	New York City	New York Penn Station	NJT	Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak, New York City Subway, New York City Bus, MTA Bus
	Secaucus	Secaucus Junction	NJT	All NJT Rail lines except the Atlantic City Line and Raritan Valley Line, NJT 2, 129, 172 buses

	This box: view • talk • edit New Jersey Transit Rail (system map) (website)
Hoboken Division	Erie Lines: Bergen County Line – Main Line – Pascack Valley Line – Port Jervis Line Morris & Essex Lines: Gladstone Branch– Morristown Line Montclair-Boonton Line
Newark Division	North Jersey Coast Line – Northeast Corridor Line – Princeton Branch – Raritan Valley Line – Atlantic City Line
Light Rail	Hudson-Bergen Light Rail – Newark Light Rail – River Line
Connections	Aldene Connection – Hunter Connection – Kearny Connection – Montclair Connection – Secaucus Junction – Waterfront Connection
Other	List of New Jersey Transit stations – Retired New Jersey Transit rail fleet

v • d • e New Jersey Transit Corporation (official website)
Bus	Bus operations • Bus fleet • Routes: 1-99, 100-199, 300-399, 400-449, 450-499, 500-549, 550-599, 600-699, 700-799, 800-849, Wheels, Morris County Metro
Rail	Hoboken Division: Main and Bergen County Lines, including the Port Jervis Line • Pascack Valley Line • Montclair-Boonton Line • Morris and Essex Lines (Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch) Newark Division: North Jersey Coast Line • Northeast Corridor Line (including Princeton Branch) • Raritan Valley Line Atlantic City Line
Light rail	Hudson-Bergen Light Rail • Newark Light Rail • River Line