The Raritan Valley Line is a diesel-engine-powered commuter rail service operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT), originating out of Pennsylvania Station, located in Newark, New Jersey, with most trains terminating at the Raritan station, located in Raritan, New Jersey.
Some weekday trains continue further west and terminate at the High Bridge station, located in High Bridge, New Jersey. Connections to Pennsylvania Station, located in New York City, New York, via the Northeast Corridor Line or North Jersey Coast Line can be made at Newark.
One weekday morning inbound train continues to Hoboken Terminal, located Hoboken, New Jersey. At other times, passengers can reach Hoboken as well as New York City's lower Manhattan and the Financial District via the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) system.
The Raritan Valley Line is colored orange on New Jersey Transit's system map. Its symbol is the Statue of Liberty, a homage to the Central Railroad of New Jersey whose logo was also the Statue of Liberty.[2]
Trains are numbered in the 5,000s with the exception of an early morning weekday train to Hoboken train #2406 and an early morning weekend train that only runs July 5, train #8512.[3]
Unlike the Northeast Corridor, the majority of station stops on the Raritan Valley Line are not wheelchair accessible. Newark Penn Station, Union, Cranford, Westfield, Plainfield and Somerville are accessible, high-platform stations. Roselle Park has a high platform but does not have a ramp or elevator to the street.[3]
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From Cranford west, the line follows the former Main Line of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The main line service originally ran through Elizabeth and Bayonne to Jersey City, and terminated at Communipaw Terminal in what is today Liberty State Park. This station, which was also served by Reading Company trains to Philadelphia and B & O service to Washington, D.C., had connections, either by chartered bus or ferry, into Manhattan (the latter serving the financial district).
At the end of April 1967 the Aldene Connection opened to the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and trains were re-routed to Newark Penn Station on the Northeast Corridor via Hunter Connection. This allowed CNJ to end the ferry service between Jersey City and Manhattan, which was losing money.[4] Operation has changed little since 1967.
On the Raritan Valley Line, F40PH-2CAT, GP40PH-2(A and B) GP40FH-2, Alstom PL42AC, and GE P40DC diesel locomotives haul Comet series coaches and, since late 2008, Bombardier Multilevel Coaches. Most trains now consist of an Alstom PL42AC and a 6 car set of multilevels.
The Raritan Yard, located in Raritan, is the line's only rail yard; the yard is located just west of the station. All eastbound trains change crews here and trains are normally stored here overnight. This is also one of two fueling facilities for NJT locomotives (the other is at Hoboken Terminal). All trains terminating in Newark head to the Meadows Maintenance Complex in Kearny, New Jersey, to be stored.
Service beyond High Bridge to Phillipsburg was discontinued in December 1983 ostensibly due to low ridership coupled with infrequent service west of High Bridge. Then, in November 1989, New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJ DOT) severed the rail line between Alpha and Phillipsburg during construction of I-78. This was done in order to avoid having to build an overpass over the out-of-service trackage.[5] Trackage was later dismantled between Phillipsburg and Bloomsbury, where the line connects with Norfolk Southern's parallel Lehigh Line. New Jersey Transit could build the stations along the existing Norfolk Southern Lehigh Valley Line.
Since 1984, there have been repeated calls for resumption of service to Phillipsburg to relieve traffic congestion on the parallel I-78 and U.S. Route 22. The Raritan Valley Rail Coalition, formed in 1998 by former U.S. Congressman Bob Franks, is currently looking for cost-effective ways to improve mobility, reduce highway congestion, and increase transit ridership along the Raritan Valley Line. Their study is slated for completion in January 2010.[6] In addition, real estate developers have touted former industrial hub Phillipsburg as an excellent candidate for restored commuter rail service, saying "P'burg. . .a good candidate for rail service..."[7]
NJT has been responsive to the idea, and initiated an environmental impact statement. It was determined that service restoration will take approximately four years and cost $90 million.
Raritan Valley Line trains terminate at Newark due to capacity issues in the North River Tunnels and the non-electrification of the line (diesel locomotives are banned in the tunnels for safety reasons). The Access to the Region's Core project tunnel would have allowed Raritan Valley Line trains to terminate at New York Penn Station by way of dual mode locomotives, but the project was canceled in October 2010 by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie over funding issues.
Another plan that has been proposed is to restore service on the former Reading Railroad's Jersey City branch track between Ewing and Bound Brook to be called the West Trenton Line. To date, no funding for the proposal has been secured.[8]
These stations have closed since the Aldene Plan was implemented in 1967. They are listed from east to west.
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