Timeline of Jersey City, New Jersey-area railroads

For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area extends North to Edgewater (the Northern end of the line along the Hudson River), South to Bayonne and includes Kearny Junction and Harrison but not Newark. Many routes east of Newark are listed here.

Port of New York Railroads ca. 1900

Railroad Name Abbreviations

1833

1834
  • September 15: The New Jersey Railroad, which 38 years later would become the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), begins regular trips from Newark to Jersey City's first terminal.[2] The route crosses the Passaic River on the Newark, over Centre Street Bridge to the Hackensack River and onto Jersey City, on the West side of the Palisades.[2] It uses temporary tracks and horse-drawn trains around and over the Bergen Hill, to the Terminal on the Hudson at Paulus Hook for transfer to ferries bound for New York City.

1836

1837

1838

1858

1861
  • January 28: The Long Dock Company (Erie) finishes its tunnel through the Palisades, bypassing the PRR cut.
  • March 14: The New York and Bull's Ferry Railroad (NYC) is chartered and buys the Hoboken and Hudson River Turnpike.

1862

1864
  • July 29: The CNJ's Jersey City extension opens, from about Spring Street in Elizabeth to the Jersey City terminal, including a long bridge across Newark Bay.

1868

1869

1870
  • February 22: The New Jersey Railroad (PRR) builds a new bridge over the Passaic River, cutting the distance through Newark and Harrison. Some passenger trains continue to use the old alignment, the Centre Street Branch.
  • December 2: A frog war begins between the Erie and DL&W at the west end of the Erie's tunnel where the new Boonton Branch would join.
  • December 14: The DL&W begins running passenger trains on its Boonton Branch.
  • The New York and Fort Lee Railroad (NYC) opens.
  • The PRR leases the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company.

1871
  • January 9: The frog war between the Erie and DL&W ends, with the frog being placed to allow DL&W Boonton Branch trains to run through the Erie's tunnel.

1872

1873
  • The Pennsylvania Railroad constructs a new passenger ferry terminal with 12 tracks and six platforms. The wooden terminal is built on piers over the water.[3]
  • The Hudson Connecting Railway, part of the New Jersey Midland and later NYS&W, completed to West End Junction with Erie connection to Marion Junction.

1877
  • May 12: The DL&W opens its new tunnel through the Palisades, ending its trackage rights through the Erie's tunnel. Included with the tunnel are western approaches to the DL&W mainline and Boonton Branch; the former includes a new bridge over the Hackensack River, south of the old one (which is then used only for the Erie's Newark and Greenwood Lake Branches). The new alignment at first crosses the New Jersey Midland Railroad (NYS&W) at grade.

1883

1884

1885
  • December 5: NYC leases the West Shore Railroad for 475 years from January 1, 1886, with the privilege of an additional 500-year term.[6]

1886

1887

1889

1890

1891
  • The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), rebuilds the passenger ferry terminal to replace the old terminal which was partially destroyed by fire. The new terminal is raised 15–20 ft (4.6–6.1 m) above the old level to accommodate new elevated rails that eliminate grade crossings in the city.[3]

1892

1894

1897

1900
  • The Greenville and Hudson Railway (LVRR) completes construction of a line roughly parallel to the National Docks Railway from the Newark Bay bridge to the Jersey City terminal. Upon completion, the Lehigh Valley Railroad has a wholly owned route from the coal fields of Pennsylvania to its terminal in Jersey City.

1908

1909

1910
  • November 27: The Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad (PRR) opens from Kearny Junction into New York Penn Station. Manhattan Transfer opens.
  • The Penhorn Creek Railroad's (Erie) four-track cut through the Palisades (Bergen Arches) opens, just south of the Erie's two-track tunnel, including a western approach through Secaucus.

1911

1937

1939

1959

Weehawken Terminal closes. The Weehawken is the last ferry to the terminal on March 25, 1959 at 1:10 am, ending 259 years of continuous ferry service.[12]

1960
  • The Erie Railroad trains shift to Hoboken Terminal, as the company merges with the Lackawanna Railroad.

Erie trains began moving to Hoboken in Oct 1956 for off peak and weekend trains. Peak hour trains began using Hoboken on March 25, 1957 with the exception of Nyack and NYS&W trains which continued to use the few remaining tracks in Jersey City. NYS&W trains were later discontinued and Nyack trains used a backup move to reach Hoboken until they were discontinued in 1966.

1967
  • With the Aldene Plan, Communipaw Terminal, the last Jersey City terminal closes. Lehigh Valley trains now terminate at Newark Penn Station, as do Reading Railroad trains. CNJ Trains run over LV from Roselle Park, NJ to Newark, NJ then on the PRR and terminate at Newark Penn Station, and use a small yard in Harrison. It was not until the late 1990s, when the midtown direct service was instituted, that NJ TRANSIT ran a service of some Raritan Valley trains to Hoboken (Penn Sta. New York).

1983

NY Waterway re-institutes ferry service across the Hudson.

1994

A short partially elevated track, known as the Marion Running Track, is built to connect the Passaic and Harsimus Line towards Kearny with the Northern Branch. This provided the Northern Branch with a direct connection to other lines heading west and south at Marion Junction.

1999/2000

Conrail Shared Assets Operations created. CSX River line is shifted to the re-newed Northern Running track to North Bergen Yard.

2000

The Hudson–Bergen Light Rail opened to the public on April 15, 2000 with an initial operating (MOS) The extension to southern terminal at 8th Street opened January 31, 2011.

2001

NJ Transit renovates Bergen Tunnels.

2003

Secaucus Junction opened on December 15, 2003.

2009

On July 26, 2009, NJ Transit began shuttle service to the Meadowlands station at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

2010

On October 7, 2010, New Jersey governor Chris Christie announced that the Access to the Region's Core, which included a new right-of way from Secaucus Junction under the Hudson Palisades and Hudson River to Midtown Manhattan was officially cancelled.

2019

ExpressRail at Port Jersey opened on June 17, 2019.[13]

See also

Sources

Notes
  1. Paterson City directory 1853
  2. Jersey City and its Historic Sites
  3. Buildings and Structures of American Railroads, Walter G. Berg, C.E., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1892, p.412
  4. "In One Mass of Flames, the Pennsylvania Railroad's Buildings Burned", New York Times, August 5, 1884
  5. "Pennsylvania Railroad Fire", Leslie's Illustrated newspaper, August 14, 1884. On page 411 there is a large drawing of burner up pier area.
  6. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad
  7. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad
  8. The New York Central and Hudson River
  9. Terminal Facilities Sold, The New York Times, October 9, 1887
  10. "Palisades Tunnel Completed", New York Times, May 14, 1894
  11. "A SMALL COSTLY TUNNEL Opposition and Litigation Double Its Expense" (PDF). New York Times. July 5, 1896. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
  12. Adams, Arthur G. (1996). The Hudson Through the Years. New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-1676-5.
  13. "PORT OF NY/NJ AT STRONGEST COMPETITIVE POSITION IN DECADES WITH COMPLETION OF EXPRESSRAIL NETWORK, CAPSTONE OF MULTI-BILLION PORT MODERNIZATION PROGRAM". The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
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