Waterfront Connection

The Waterfront Connection allows trains from New Jersey Transit's Newark Division to go to Hoboken Terminal. The connection opened on September 9, 1991. It consists of a single track that splits from the Northeast Corridor main line to New York Penn Station as it rises to go over the main Hoboken Division line to Hoboken, and heads east with a bridge over PATH's westbound track and a Conrail freight line, merging into the Hoboken line from the south.

This trackage is used by revenue service primarily on the North Jersey Coast Line. Approximately six rush hour trains in each direction either originate or terminate at Hoboken Terminal. The Waterfront Connection allows these diesel trains to operate direct from Hoboken Terminal to Bay Head, the last stop on the North Jersey Coast Line. Since the North Jersey Coast Line's electrification ends at Long Branch, rush hour passengers south of Long Branch can take diesel trains all the way to Hoboken Terminal or change at Newark Penn Station for service to Penn Station New York. With the advent of the Waterfront Connection, NJ Transit no longer needed a separate fueling facility on the diesel portion of the North Jersey Coast Line. Faced with large opposition from Bay Head residents in 2002, the Bay Head fueling facility was shut down and trains now refuel exclusively at Hoboken Terminal and at Raritan Yard. [ [http://www.newjersey.sierraclub.org/groupreports/jssep02.asp New Jersey Chapter - Sierra Club ] ]

The Waterfront Connection is part of the larger Kearny Junction.

References