Starting Oct. 9, NJ Transit and Amtrak will begin the final cutover, moving the last tracks on the 116-year-old Portal Bridge to the new Portal North Bridge. As a result, from Oct. 11 for about five weeks, schedules will change on all commuter rail lines except the Atlantic City Line, and some trains will be combined or canceled. On weekdays, Midtown Direct trains, including those on the Morris & Essex Line, will run to Hoboken instead of New York Penn Station. Regular schedules are expected to resume on Nov. 15.
Starting Oct. 9, NJ Transit and Amtrak will begin the final cutover, moving the last tracks on the 116-year-old Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River to the newly built Portal North Bridge. Because of the work, all NJ Transit commuter rail lines except the Atlantic City Line will run on temporary schedules for about five weeks, beginning Sunday, Oct. 11. Some trains will be combined or canceled, and some will have different departure times and stops. Regular schedules are expected to return on Sunday, Nov. 15, as soon as safety testing is complete. NJ Transit released the adjusted schedules on Sept. 17. Schedules for each line and alternative transportation options are available at njtransit.com/portalcutover.
Weekday Midtown Direct Trains Go to Hoboken; Transfer to Ferries, PATH or the No. 126 Bus
The biggest change affects Midtown Direct trains on the Morris & Essex Line, the Gladstone Branch and the Montclair-Boonton Line. On weekdays, they will be diverted to Hoboken Terminal instead of New York Penn Station; on weekends, they will run to and from Penn Station as usual. Weekday riders heading to New York must buy tickets or passes with Hoboken as the destination. From Hoboken to Manhattan, those tickets will be honored on NY Waterway ferries (Hoboken Terminal to Midtown/West 39th Street, with added service during rush hours), the No. 126 bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and PATH (Hoboken to 33rd Street). On weekends, Hoboken monthly and weekly passes and the Flex Pass can be used to reach Penn Station, but one-way tickets to Hoboken are not valid for weekend trips to Penn Station.
On the Raritan Valley Line, all direct trains to New York Penn Station will originate and terminate at Newark Penn Station during this period. Track work is also being carried out during the reduced-service period. On the North Jersey Coast Line, buses will replace trains between Bay Head and Manasquan for two weeks starting Oct. 11 because of work on the Brielle movable bridge. On the Port Jervis Line, eight weekday midday trains will be replaced by buses from Oct. 11 to Nov. 14 because of track maintenance between Suffern and Port Jervis (train connections at Ramsey Route 17 station). On the Raritan Valley Line, buses will replace trains between Cranford and Newark on Saturday, Nov. 7.
Swing Bridge, Source of a Century of Delays, Retires
The Portal North Bridge is a two-track fixed bridge standing 50 feet above the Hackensack River. Unlike the old swing bridge, which had to be turned open every time a vessel passed, it lets boats pass underneath without stopping trains. The old bridge was a chronic cause of NJ Transit and Amtrak delays on the Northeast Corridor. Once the cutover is complete, all trains to and from New York will use the new bridge, and the old one will be permanently retired. The cost was shared by the State of New Jersey and Amtrak, including a $766.5 million Federal Transit Administration grant. The construction contract, at $1.56 billion, is the largest in NJ Transit history. The project is part of the Gateway Program, which will double rail capacity between Newark and New York.
NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri asked riders for their understanding, saying the five weeks of schedule changes will end a century of swing-bridge delays. NJ Transit urged riders to check the temporary schedule for their line in advance, set up line-specific alerts in the app and allow extra travel time. Amtrak will also use the reduced train service during the same period to carry out eight additional maintenance projects along the Northeast Corridor, which spans six states and Washington, D.C.