Bergen County Line

  Bergen County Line

Train #1253 departs Glen Rock-Boro Hall.
Overview
Type Commuter rail
System New Jersey Transit and Metro-North Railroad
Locale Northern New Jersey and Hudson Valley, New York, United States
Termini South: Hoboken Terminal in Hudson County, New Jersey
North: Suffern in Rockland County, New York; or Waldwick in Bergen County, New Jersey
Stations 17, or 12
Daily ridership 4,305[1]
Operation
Owner New Jersey Transit
(Hoboken Terminal to Suffern)
Norfolk Southern Railway
(Suffern to Port Jervis, leased to and maintained by Metro-North Railroad)
Operator(s) New Jersey Transit
Rolling stock F40PH-3C/GP40PH-2/ALP-45DP/PL42AC locomotives
Comet/Multilevel coaches
Technical
Track length 152.9 km (95.0 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Route map
Legend
 Port Jervis Line to Port Jervis
 30.6 Hillburn Yard
Former Erie Piermont Branch
 30.5 Suffern
 New York–New Jersey border
 29.1 Mahwah
 NJ 17
 27.9 Ramsey Route 17
 26.5 Ramsey
 24.6 Allendale
 23.5 Waldwick Yard
 23.2 Waldwick
 22.1 Ho-Ho-Kus
 20.9 Ridgewood
20.2 Main Line rejoins at Ridgewood Junction
 Main Line mileposts above here
 18.2 Glen Rock (Boro Hall)
 16.5 Radburn (Fair Lawn)
 NJ 208
 15.3 Broadway (Fair Lawn)
 NJ 4
 Garden State Parkway
 I-80
 Warren Point (closed)
14.2 NYS&W at Passaic Junction (rail yard)
 US 46
 12.7 Plauderville
NY&GL/Erie Dundee spur
 11.3 Garfield
 Saddle River
 10.4 Wesmont
former Erie Main Line (closed 1963)
Carlton Hill (closed 1966)
Carlton Hill Branch at Bergen Junction
 8.4 Rutherford
 NJ 17
7.6 Pascack Valley Line diverges
 NJ 3
 New Jersey Turnpike
 5.6 Hackensack River via HX Draw
original alignment
Harmon Cove-Secaucus (closed 2003)
Main Line diverges
NJ Turnpike

3.5 Secaucus Junction(Northeast Corridor)
original alignment
Morris & Essex Lines
former Boonton Line/NY&GL
 Bergen Tunnels
0.0 Hoboken TerminalPort Authority Trans-Hudson
Hudson River

The Bergen County Line (or Bergen Line) is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The line loops off the Main Line between the Meadowlands and Glen Rock, New Jersey, with trains continuing in either direction along the Main Line. It is colored on NJT system maps in pale blue, and its symbol is a cattail.

Some trains of Metro-North Railroad's Port Jervis Line also operate over the line. The Norfolk Southern Railway provides freight service along the line via trackage rights.

As on the Main Line, trains are powered by diesel locomotives operated push-pull.

History

From a point in Secaucus, just south of the Hackensack River bridge near the former Harmon Cove station, to a point in East Rutherford north of the Rutherford station, the Bergen County Line uses the former Erie Railroad Main Line. This portion was opened in 1833 by the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad[2] and leased by the New York and Erie Rail Road in 1852.[3] The rest of the line, from East Rutherford north to Glen Rock, opened in 1881 as the Bergen County Railroad.

Until the late 1950s, the main function of the Erie's Bergen County Cutoff was as a freight bypass of the at-grade Main Line through Passaic. Commuter service was relatively minor. In 1963 the Lackawanna Boonton Line up to Paterson became the new Erie Main Line. This was due to the abandonment of the Main Line section through downtown Passaic and also due to the fact that Interstate 80 construction used the old Boonton Line right-way in Paterson. The old Main Line up to Rutherford was now exclusively part of the Bergen Line.

Prior to the opening of Secaucus Junction in 2003, Bergen County Line trains used a longer stretch of the old Erie Main Line in Secaucus, extending south to Croxton Yard and a merge with the former Lackawanna Boonton Line. A curving track was built between the HX Draw at Hackensack River and the Main Line north of Secaucus Junction to allow Bergen County Line trains to use Secaucus Junction.

Service

For the route description of the Bergen County Line north of Ridgewood, see Main Line (NJ Transit) § Service, and Port Jervis Line § Service.
Map of the Main and Bergen County lines
Rutherford station

Approaching Secaucus Junction, a westbound train headed for the Bergen County Line will use the more northerly pair of tracks, designated G and H at the transfer. West of the transfer, these tracks diverge from the Main Line over a new right-of-way opened in 2003, connecting the Main Line with the Bergen County Line. During this stretch, the Hackensack River is to the left, while industrial plants on Meadowlands Parkway are to the right. A former station, Harmon Cove was located nearby along the old Erie right-of-way and opened between 1978 and 2003 to serve the high-rise apartments nearby.

Soon the train joins the old Erie Main Line right-of-way and crosses the Hackensack over HX Bridge, a two-track bascule draw. For the next two miles, the train crosses the Meadowlands, under the New Jersey Turnpike western spur with the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford visible in the distance to the right and a new development beginning to take shape in Rutherford, to the left. Here, the track parallels Berrys Creek and eventually crosses it just before passing below Route 3.

Beyond Route 3, the landscape changes to industrial. Office buildings line the side of the track, some serviced by sidings. The Pascack Valley Line soon splits off to the right at Pascack Junction, and the train then crosses Route 17 and approaches the Rutherford station.

For a half-mile the train passes residences on either side, then swings right, abandoning the old Erie Main Line at 40°50′10″N 74°06′15″W / 40.836°N 74.1042°W / 40.836; -74.1042, and passes through industrial areas with several grade crossings. Soon, the tracks form the border of Carlstadt and Wallington. Presently the train passes Wood-Ridge and South Hackensack before crossing the Saddle River into Garfield reaching the Garfield station.

The train continues northward through Garfield, passing homes, businesses, and Dahnerts Lake County Park before reaching the Plauderville station at Midland Avenue, the border between Garfield and neighboring Saddle Brook. Shortly after passing beneath U.S. Highway 46 the track becomes the border of Saddle Brook and Elmwood Park, once again crossing Midland Avenue. Interstate 80 passes above the train, which then crosses the Garden State Parkway. The Broadway station in Fair Lawn straddles a border formed by the track and Route 4.

In Fair Lawn, the line is paralleled by Plaza Road, named for Radburn Plaza, the commercial area serving the Radburn development for which the borough's more northerly station is named. The line crosses below Route 208 before reaching Radburn. Beyond the station, the train passes housing to the right and industry to the left, with a spur to a Nabisco plant. Next is the Glen Rock-Boro Hall station which like its Main Line counterpart is on Rock Road. The lines merge a short distance north of this point at Ridgewood Junction.

Stations

Zone
[4]		 Station[4] Miles (km)
from HOB		 Date
opened		 Date
closed		 Connections / notes[4]
1 Hoboken Terminal 0.0 (0.0) 1903 NJ Transit: Gladstone, Main, Meadowlands, Montclair-Boonton, Morristown, North Jersey Coast, Pascack Valley, and Raritan Valley Lines
Metro-North: Port Jervis Line
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: 8th Street-Hoboken, Hoboken-Tonnelle
PATH: HOB-WTC, HOB-33, JSQ-33 (via HOB)
NJT Bus: 22, 22X, 23, 54, 68, 85, 87, 89, 126
New York Waterway to Battery Park City
Morris & Essex Lines (Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch) diverge
Secaucus Junction 3.5 (5.6) 2003 NJ Transit: Gladstone, Main, Meadowlands, Montclair-Boonton, Morristown, North Jersey Coast, Northeast Corridor, Pascack Valley, and Raritan Valley Lines
Metro-North: Port Jervis Line
NJT Bus: 2, 78, 129, 329, 353
Main Line diverges
3
Harmon Cove – Secaucus 1978 2003 Station closed when line was rerouted to serve Secaucus Junction
Meadowlands and Pascack Valley Lines diverge
Rutherford 8.4 (13.5) 1862 NJT Bus: 76, 190
Originally called Rutherford – East Rutherford
4
Wesmont 10.4 (16.7) May 15, 2016[5]
Garfield 11.3 (18.2) NJT Bus: 160, 161, 702, 707, 709, 758
5 Plauderville 12.7 (20.4) 1913 NJT Bus: 160, 758
6 Broadway 15.3 (24.6) NJT Bus: 144, 166, 770
Also known as Broadway Fair Lawn
Radburn 16.5 (26.6) 1930 NJT Bus: 145, 171
8 Glen Rock – Boro Hall 18.2 (29.3) NJT Bus: 164, 175, 746
Main Line converges
9 Ridgewood 20.9 (33.6) 1916 NJ Transit: Main Line
NJT Bus: 163, 164, 175, 722, 746, 752
10 Ho-Ho-Kus 22.1 (35.6) 1860[6] NJ Transit: Main Line
Waldwick 23.2 (37.3) 1886 NJ Transit: Main Line
11 Allendale
(limited service)		 24.6 (39.6) 1870 NJ Transit: Main Line
12 Ramsey – Main Street
(limited service)		 26.5 (42.6) NJ Transit: Main Line
13 Ramsey – Route 17
(limited service)		 27.9 (44.9) 1868 NJ Transit: Main Line
Metro-North: Port Jervis Line
14 Mahwah
(limited service)		 29.1 (46.8) 1871 NJ Transit: Main Line
Short Line Bus: 17
Suffern
(limited service)		 30.5 (49.1) NJ Transit: Main Line
Metro-North: Port Jervis Line
Transport of Rockland: 59, 93, Monsey Loop 3, Tappan ZEExpress
Short Line Bus: 17M/MD/SF
Port Jervis Line continues north

References

  1. ↑ NJT boarding data Berkeley Retrieved 2008-07-13
  2. ↑ "PRR Chronology, 1833" (PDF). (61.1 KiB), June 2004 Edition
  3. ↑ "PRR Chronology, 1852" (PDF). (83.5 KiB), March 2005 Edition
  4. 1 2 3 "Main / Bergen County Lines Timetables - November 19, 2014 edition" (PDF). New York, New York: New Jersey Transit Rail Operations. 2014. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Main-Bergen County Line Timetable - Effective May 15, 2016" (PDF). njtransit.com. New Jersey Transit. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  6. ↑ "11.0 - Historic Preservation Element". Ho-Ho-Kus Borough Master Plan. Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
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