River Line (New Jersey Transit)


River Line

A vehicle used on the River Line system.
Overview
Type Tram-train
System New Jersey Transit
Locale Delaware Valley
Termini Trenton
Entertainment Center
Stations 20
Operation
Opened March 14, 2004
Owner New Jersey Transit
Operator(s) Southern New Jersey Rail Group
Rolling stock 20 Stadler GTW diesel multiple units
Technical
Line length 34 miles (55 km)[1]
Track gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm)
Route map
Northeast Corridor Line, Amtrak North
0:00 Trenton Transit Center
SEPTA Trenton Line, Amtrak South
0:02 Hamilton Avenue
0:04 Cass Street
0:11 Bordentown
0:16 Roebling
NJ Turnpike PA Turnpike extension
0:19 Florence
0:24 Burlington Towne Centre
0:26 Burlington South
0:30 Beverly-Edgewater Park
0:34 Delanco
0:36 Riverside
0:41 Cinnaminson
0:43 Riverton
0:45 Palmyra
0:48 Pennsauken-Route 73
Pennsauken Transit ctr. Atlantic City Line
0:53 36th Street
PATCO towards Philadelphia
0:58 Walter Rand Transportation ctr.
PATCO towards Lindenwold
1:01 Cooper St-Rutgers Univ.
1:03 Aquarium
1:05 Entertainment Center

The River Line (styled River LINE by NJ Transit) is a diesel light rail system in New Jersey, United States, that connects the cities of Camden and Trenton, New Jersey's capital. It is operated for New Jersey Transit by the Southern New Jersey Rail Group (SNJRG), which originally included Bechtel Group and Bombardier. Now that the project is in its operational phase, Bombardier is the only member of SNJRG. The River Line is so named because the path between those two cities runs more or less parallel to the Delaware River.

The River Line stops at the PATCO Speedline's Broadway Station (Walter Rand Transportation Center), allowing passengers to transfer to and from this connection to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Contents

Ridership

The River Line is currently exceeding final ridership estimates of 5,500 passengers per day, with an average of 7,350 weekday, 5,550 Saturday, and 3,600 Sunday average passenger trips during FY 2006. As of the fourth quarter of 2007, the daily weekday ridership has grown to an average of 7900 trips.[2] As of the end of 2008, weekday ridership was 9,000, the current capacity of the system.[3]

History

Alignment

The River Line was constructed on what originally was the Camden - Bordentown section and the Bordentown - Trenton Branch of the Camden and Amboy Railroad. The lines ran under the C&A name between 1830 and 1871, when the line was absorbed into the Pennsylvania Railroad. Ownership proceeded under Penn Central and Conrail until June 1, 1999, but the original passenger service had been abandoned in 1963.[4]

Planning

The planning for NJ Transit's RiverLINE spanned at least three decades and over multiple planning agencies. Early planning for NJ Transit's River LINE began under the auspices of PATCO's 1960 plan for all-rail service to Moorestown/Mount Holly, Lindenwold, and Woodbury Heights/Glassboro, utilizing three existing railroad corridors. This plan was considered unrealistically expensive. PATCO elected to focus its resources on the most promising corridor, the Philadelphia-Lindenwold. The PATCO high-speed line was first to enter construction, completed in 1969, re-using parts of the 1926 Philadelphia-Camden Bridge Line subway, and constructing a grade-separated line within the Atlantic City Rail Line right-of-way. Interestingly, PATCO's initial proposal did not include the alignment that became the River LINE corridor, but planned to serve Burlington County via the Mount Holly alignment.

NJ Transit's planning for the Burlington-Gloucester Transit System (later the RiverLINE) began in the early 1990s. The primary goals of the BGTS were:

A Major Investment Study (MIS) published in 1996 concluded that a Gloucester route was more suitable than a Burlington route based on travel demand and citizen support.[5] This study included substantial public participation: fourteen open houses, three advisory committees, and other public outreach. The process found substantial neighborhood opposition to the Mount Holly alignment through Burlington county - in fact, the county freeholders publicly opposed the possibility.[6] Opposition was particularly strong in Moorestown Township, partly because of a potential street-running section. Meanwhile, Gloucester county leaders were largely ambivalent towards the project.[5]

Dissatisfied with this analysis, Senator C. William Haines passed legislation in the New Jersey State Senate requiring NJ Transit to study rail transit service along the Delaware River between Trenton, Camden, and Glassboro.[7] Haines, a native of Moorestown, sought the benefits of rail for Burlington county without the disruption to his hometown.[7]

Two special studies were commissioned to supplement the alternatives identified in the MIS. The second of these special studies examined the Bordentown Secondary, another Conrail corridor through Burlington County, the alignment of today’s RiverLINE. The parallel NJ Transit local bus on U.S. Route 130 was heavily patronized, and the corridor was ripe for economic development. Since the original intent of the Mount Holly service was to provide transit to the people of Burlington County, it was felt that the new alignment would achieve a similar objective.

Although the MIS focused on providing connectivity from South Jersey counties to PATCO service via a transfer point in Camden, an equally important goal was to provide the economic impetus to spark the redevelopment of the Camden waterfront and serving the city itself.

In November 1996, NJ Transit's board of directors approved a light rail transit alignment from Glassboro to Trenton with diesel light rail transit cars based on the findings of the Special Study. The entire alignment constitutes the SNJLRTS project. The Board also established the Initial Operating Corridor (IOC) to be the Trenton-Camden Corridor. The draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) was completed in 1998, and the contract with SNJRG was finalized in 1999, permitting the system to open to the public in 2004.

Much of the political impetus that led to the funding and construction of the River LINE was, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, State Senator C. William Haines. He was in effect the father of the River LINE. The entire line was 100% funded by the State of New Jersey from its Transportation Trust Fund. No federal capital was expended for this diesel light rail project. Former NJ Transit executive director George Warrington has described the River Line as "the poster child for how not to plan and make decisions about a transit investment."[8]

Ownership and Time Sharing Agreement

Except at its ends, the River Line was Conrail's Bordentown Secondary until June 1, 1999, when NJ Transit bought it for $67.5 million.[9] NJ Transit has exclusive access to run light rail passenger service on the line from 05:30 to 22:10 Sunday through Friday, and all of Saturday night and Sunday morning. Conrail has exclusive access for freight at other times. Either agency may request to use the line at abnormal times in case of a special event or emergency.

The relatively early shutdown of the line has been a frequently raised concern of the River LINE, as it is unattractive to those wishing to attend late evening events in Camden or Philadelphia. The concern stems from the inability to serve several important markets: events at Camden’s waterfront entertainment center often conclude after 10 p.m.; service to second shift workers whose shift change occurs at 11 p.m. is impossible under time separation; service prior to 6 a.m. is needed to serve early morning commuter demands making connections to Philadelphia at Camden and at Trenton for the Northeast Corridor. All these aspects of the service are critically important to improving transit-oriented development within the corridor.

Within a year of the River LINE's launch, the FRA granted permission to adjust timesharing agreement (more technically, "temporal separation") terms. NJ Transit and Conrail agreed to divide the line into two segments, from Camden to Bordentown (south), and from Bordentown to Trenton (north). In the northern section, the passenger period starts at 5:45 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. Initially, these new periods allowed NJ Transit to deadhead equipment from Trenton to Bordentown and Florence at 5.45 a.m., to form the 6:08 a.m. and 6:23 a.m. northbound departures. These early morning trains provide attractive connections at Trenton for NJ Transit's Northeast Corridor services to Newark and New York City.

Service Improvements

NJ Transit is continuing to improve service within the constraints of the timesharing agreement, with the construction of a mid-line yard in 2005 to permit later Burlington arrivals in the evening, and earlier departures after 6 a.m. Since the River LINE opened, NJ Transit has made the following service enhancements:[10]

The late-night bus shuttle was a temporary arrangement, started in the summer of 2006, and offered riders a guaranteed bus connection from 36th Street station, the last station not subject to the timesharing agreement, to the Pennsauken/Route 73 park and ride station. This arrangement operated until late 2006 when NJ Transit upgraded signals on the line to allow full late-night light rail operation to the Pennsauken/Route 73 station.[12][13]

Operations and Signalling

As detailed previously, NJ Transit purchased the Bordentown Secondary freight line from Conrail to develop light rail service between Camden and Trenton in 2000. Almost the entire length of the project, except for street-running portion at either end, is shared between non-FRA compliant light rail DMUs and heavy mainline freight trains. The 32-mile shared-track segment contains a mixture of single and double track sections.

The River LINE was initially designed for commingled operations (i.e., where freight trains and light rail trains may operate on the same line controlled only by the signal systems) to provide maximum flexibility both for the freight and transit operators. The line, rebuilt under a design-build-operate-maintain (DBOM) contract, features mainline railroad signals with full centralized traffic control (CTC). River LINE operating personnel use a modified version of the NORAC Rules, a standard set of railroad operating rules used by mainline railroads operating in the Northeastern U.S., including Amtrak and Conrail. Signals set to stop for the diesel light rail cars are positively enforced via an inductive loop trip-stop system. The system is similar (but not identical) to the German Indusi system, where signal aspects are transmitted to moving trains via electro-magnetic fields transmitted by wayside devices. The "magnetic train stop" devices, affectionately known as "upside down canoes", are placed about 1 foot away from the running rails, and in advance of the signal. Train's emergency brakes are automatically engaged if a stop signal overrun occurs.

Payment and Ticketing

The River Line operates on a proof-of-payment system, as typical of most light rail systems throughout the United States. Passengers can buy the tickets at ticket vending machines (TVM) present at all stations, with the base fare being $1.50.[14] The tickets then must be validated at separate ticket validation machines, where machine will print an expiration time/date stamp on the ticket; tickets are valid for two hours from the time of validation. Passengers must hold a valid ticket before boarding the train, and can face fines if a ticket inspector finds them on-board without proper proof of payment. Passengers holding valid New Jersey Transit bus passes or weekly or monthly rail tickets can present any of those as they are honored on the River Line. Unused Newark City Subway (same $1.50 fare) and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail ($2.10) tickets can be used after validation at a River Line station. As of 2004, rider fares only covered 7% of costs (not including debt service).[15]

Rolling stock

The River LINE fleet composes 20 articulated Stadler GTW 2/6 DMU (diesel multiple unit) cars. The River LINE is the first light rail system in the United States to use these instead of more typical electric vehicles.

The diesel LRV offers a tighter turning radius than typical main line light rail vehicles and thus is capable of street running. The basic GTW is the 2/6 which indicates that two of the six axles are powered. The vehicle is more than 65% low floor. The River LINE uses the diesel-electric version of the GTW. 551 GTW units have been sold to date and are in use in Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece ,Slovakia, Germany and Switzerland to serve at 30 different LRV Operators.

Stations

All service along the River Line is fully ADA compliant, as the stations and rolling stock were built after 1990.

Municipality Station /
Location
Opened Transfers and notes
Trenton Trenton
South Clinton Avenue
March 15, 2004 Northern terminus
NJT Northeast Corridor Line/SEPTA Trenton Line, SEPTA 127 bus/Amtrak Northeast Corridor
New Jersey Transit buses: 409, 418, 600, 601, 604, 608, 609, 611

Note: The Light Rail stop is West of the Rail Station.

Hamilton Avenue
Hamilton Avenue
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 409, 601, 603, 609
Cass Street
Cass Street at Route 129
March 15, 2004
Bordentown Bordentown
West Park Avenue
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 409
Florence Township Roebling
Hornberger Avenue near Railroad Avenue
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 409
Florence
U.S. Route 130
March 15, 2004 BurLink B5
Park and ride
Burlington Burlington Towne Centre
West Broad Street at Locust Avenue
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 409, 413, and 419
Burlington South
West Broad Street near Reed Street
March 15, 2004 Park and ride
Beverly Beverly/Edgewater Park
Railroad Avenue and Elizabeth Street
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 419
Delanco Township Delanco
Pennsylvania Avenue at Spruce Street
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 419
Riverside Riverside
Franklin Street near Pavilion Avenue
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 419
BurLink B8 Burlink Shuttle Schedule Link
Cinnaminson Township Cinnaminson
River Road near Cinnaminson Harbour Boulevard
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 419
BurLink B10 Burlink Shuttle Schedule Link
Riverton Riverton
Main Street at Broad Street
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 419
Palmyra Palmyra
East Broad Street at Cinnaminson Avenue
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 419
BurLink B9 Burlink Shuttle Schedule Link
Pennsauken Township Pennsauken/Route 73
River Road
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 419
SJTA Pennsauken/Moorestown Industrial Park shuttle
Park and ride
Camden 36th Street
36th Street near River Road
March 15, 2004 New Jersey Transit buses: 452
Walter Rand Transportation Center
Martin Luther King Boulevard and Broadway
March 15, 2004 PATCO Speedline
New Jersey Transit buses: 313/315, 317, 318, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 412, 413, 418, 419, 450, 451, 452, 453, 457, and 551
SJTA Pureland shuttle
Cooper Street/Rutgers University
Cooper Street at N. 2nd Street
March 15, 2004 None
Aquarium
Delaware Avenue between Market and Federal.
March 15, 2004 Adventure Aquarium
New Jersey Transit buses: 452, 453, 457
Entertainment Center
Delaware Avenue south of Harbor Boulevard.
March 15, 2004 Southern terminus
Susquehanna Bank Center

Future service, stations and extensions

New Jersey Transit has proposed several possible extensions and stations to the River Line, either as parts of the initial construction plan which were deferred, or as potential future projects.

Pennsauken transfer station

The lack of a direct transfer between the River Line and New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line, which crosses directly over the River Line in Pennsauken,[16] was highly criticized at the time of the River Line's opening. NJT subsequently reconsidered; in March 2009, NJT announced that an intermodal station linking the River Line and the Atlantic City Line is to be constructed in Pennsauken, New Jersey.[17] The new intermodal station will include one low-level platform for River Line trains, two high-level platforms for Atlantic City line commuter trains, and 280 parking spaces.[18] A ground breaking ceremony was held for the Pennsauken transfer station on October 19, 2009. The second and final phase of construction was approved by the New Jersey Transit Board of Directors on July 13, 2011. Construction is expected to be completed in late 2012, but service will not begin until 2013.[19]

New Jersey State House extension

The New Jersey State House lies approximately 1.3 miles to the northwest of the River Line's northern terminal at Trenton Transit Center. While the line was being constructed, NJT studied an extension that would bridge this gap via a shared right-of-way on city streets.[20] Such an extension would provide direct service to the workplaces of state employees and other workers in downtown Trenton. While the project is supported by City of Trenton officials, NJT did not elect to expand the already over-budget construction effort, but instead operates a branded "Capitol Connection" bus service, requiring River Line riders to transfer at Trenton Transit Center.

West Trenton extension

A third proposed extension would take the River Line beyond the State House through Trenton, to West Trenton station in Ewing Township, New Jersey, connecting with SEPTA's West Trenton Line service to Center City Philadelphia via Bucks and Montgomery counties. NJ Transit listed this extension on its 2020 Transit wish list map,[21] but has not taken further action.

Glassboro extension

On 12 May 2009, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine and the Delaware River Port Authority, the agency which manages the PATCO Hi-Speed Line, announced plans to introduce a diesel light rail line operating between Camden and Glassboro, with construction to tentatively start in 2010 and last for five years as part of a comprehensive transportation plan for South Jersey.[22] The plan includes express bus service along the NJ 42 and NJ 55 freeways, improvements to the Atlantic City Rail Line, and enhanced connections to the Atlantic City International Airport. It is not known whether this will be operated by NJ Transit as an extension of the existing River Line or as a stand-alone operation by the DRPA.[23] The project is currently at the Environmental Analysis stage.[24] However, the current plan shows the line starting at the Walter Rand Transportation Center, not the end of the line, Entertainment Center Station.

Additional double-track service

Much of the River Line utilizes single track. In some places there is no room for double-track service, such as Burlington (where streets flank the lone track on either side), Palmyra and Bordentown. Increasing headways from the current peak level of 15 minutes would require building more passing sidings or a full double track. NJT has shown no interest so far in doing so.

See also

References

  1. ^ Light Rail Now: Camden-Trenton: River Line Light Railway Gains Riders, Spurs Economic Development
  2. ^ NJ Transit Press Release, December 12, 2007
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ Chen, David W. " ROAD AND RAIL;Trolley Urged for a Limping Old Freight Line", The New York Times, April 28, 1996. Accessed October 23, 2007. "In 1963, passenger service ended, and as factories moved to the outer-ring suburbs or closed (Roebling in 1974), freight service decreased to only a few times a day."
  5. ^ a b NJ Transit. Burlington - Camden - Gloucester Transit Project: Major Investment Study. 1996.
  6. ^ Olsen, Eddie. "Transit Corridor Proposed." The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 29, 1993.
  7. ^ a b Kummer, Frank. "Senator Engineered Change in Rail Route - A Political Maneuver Shifted the Trains from Gloucester to Burlington." The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 28, 2003.
  8. ^ Michaels, David A. "Deal is Reached in Rail Lawsuit." New Jersey Record, March 11, 2007.
  9. ^ RAILROAD.NET :: View topic - Who owns the River Line?
  10. ^ New Jersey Transit
  11. ^ NJ Transit River LINE schedule
  12. ^ The article requested can not be found! Please refresh your browser or go back. (BZ,20060612,NEWS01,606120356,AR)
  13. ^ NJ TRANSIT EXTENDS LATE-NIGHT RIVER LINE OPTION: Free, guaranteed bus connection continues through September 30, New Jersey Transit press release dated August 11, 2006
  14. ^ NJ Transit – Light Rail fares
  15. ^ Mansnerus, Laura. "Light Rail, with the Emphasis on Light." The New York Times, March 13, 2004.
  16. ^ Google Maps
  17. ^ [2]
  18. ^ Pennsauken Transit Center Construction, NJ Transit website
  19. ^ "NJT advances Pennsauken Transit Center project", RailwayAge, July 13, 2011, accessed July 14, 2011.
  20. ^ Free Congress Foundation Online
  21. ^ The 2020 Transit Map, accessed December 26, 2006
  22. ^ [3]>"Delaware River Port Authority - Regional Transportation & Economic Development Initiative"
  23. ^ [4] DRPA Press Release - "Light Rail Extension Moves Forward - Gov Corzine Supports Multimodal Regional Initiative To Boost Mobility & Economic Development" - 12 May 2009
  24. ^ http://www.glassborocamdenline.com/

External links