Pascack Valley Line

Infobox rail line
name = rail color box|system=NJT|line=Pascack Valley

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image_width = 250px
caption = #4109 pushes Train #1628 out of njt-sta|Hackensack-Essex Street, en route to Hoboken Terminal.
type = Commuter rail line
system = New Jersey Transit and Metro-North Railroad
status =
locale = North Jersey, Hudson Valley
start = Hoboken Terminal
end = Spring Valley
stations = 18
routes =
ridership =
open =
close =
owner = New Jersey Transit
operator = New Jersey Transit
character =
stock = F40PH-2CAT/GP40PH-2/GP40FH-2/PL42AC locomotives
Comet coaches
linelength =
tracklength =
notrack =
gauge = RailGauge|sg
el =
speed =
elevation =

infobox rdt|NJTransit-Pascack-infobox|The Pascack Valley Line is a commuter rail line operated by the Hoboken Division of New Jersey Transit. The line runs north from Caketown, New Jersey through Bergen County and into Rockland County, New York, terminating at Spring Valley. Service within New York is operated under contract with Metro-North Railroad. The line is named for the Pascack Valley region that it passes through in northern Bergen County. The line parallels the Pascack Brook for some distance.

Current operations

The Pascack Valley Line is 31 miles (50 km), of which the northernmost six miles (10 km) are in New York. The entire line is owned by NJ Transit, but the Pearl River and Nanuet Stations, as well as the right-of-way from the New York border to Spring Valley, are leased to Metro-North Railroad. Metro-North Railroad owns the Spring Valley station. The line is single tracked, but sidings at points along the line, including the Meadowlands, Hackensack and Nanuet permit bidirectional service on the line. [ [http://www.njtransit.com/an_cp_project003.shtml Pascack Valley Line Right-of-Way Improvement Project] ] [ [http://www.njtransit.com/nn_press_release.jsp?PRESS_RELEASE_ID=1818 NJ TRANSIT RAMPS UP PROJECT TO PROVIDE BI-DIRECTIONAL, OFF-PEAK SERVICE ON PASCACK VALLEY LINE: Project also makes way for rail service to the Meadowlands] , press release dated May 11, 2005] Service on this line operates seven days a week. [ [http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=PressReleaseTo&PRESS_RELEASE_ID=2350 PASCACK VALLEY LINE CUSTOMERS TO GET IMPROVED SERVICE THIS FALL, New Jersey Transit Press Release August 16, 2007] Accessed September 13, 2007] .

History

The line was originally chartered as the Hackensack and New York Railroad in 1856. It later became the New Jersey and New York Railroad, which was bought by the Erie Railroad in 1896. The New Jersey and New York Railroad continued to exist as an Erie subsidiary until the 1960 merger that created the Erie Lackawanna Railroad.

The line used to continue north of Spring Valley to Haverstraw, New York. This portion of the line has been abandoned and most of the right-of-way has been sold off. Part of the line (between Spring Valley and Nanuet) was once part of the main Erie Railroad line from Piermont, New York to Buffalo, New York.

Future service to the Meadowlands Sports Complex

The Pascack Valley Line will offer service to the Meadowlands Sports Complex starting in the middle of 2009. A Wye connection along the Pascack Valley Line, just west of the sports complex, will bring frequent shuttle trains that originate at Hoboken Terminal and stop at the Secaucus Junction into the sports complex to a new station being built between the various facilities. The wye will be built in a manner that will also allow trains from the northern end of the Pascack Valley Line to access the new Meadowlands station.

Rolling stock

All service on this line is diesel, using GP40PH-2s built in 1968 for the Central Railroad of New Jersey or modern Alstom PL42ACs. Comet series passenger cars are used on this line.

ource

*"The Pascack Valley Line: A History of the New Jersey and New York Railroad", Wilson E. Jones; ISBN 0-941652-14-9

References

External links

* [http://piercehaviland.com/rail/pv.html Pascack Valley Line History]
* [http://www.railfan.net/lists/erielack-digest/200112/msg00136.html Some additional history]