Union County Light Rail

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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected public transportation infrastructure.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available.

Station Map

The Union County Light Rail (also known as MOS-3 of the Newark-Elizabeth Rail Link - NERL) is a planned light rail system connecting Newark Airport to midtown Elizabeth. Eventually, the line may extend to Cranford, Westfield and/or Plainfield, although there is no active planning for stations in these towns yet.

1 Project details and status
2 Tentative station list
3 Possible extension stations
4 Station info
5 References
6 External link

[edit] Project details and status

The first section of the NERL is alternately known as the Newark Light Rail, formerly called the Newark City Subway Extension. This section, which links Broad Street Station in Newark with Penn Station in Newark, opened in July 2006.

The second section of the NERL, which will connect Newark Airport with Penn Station does not yet have a construction start date, nor funding. This segment will likely be completed after the Union County Light Rail is completed and will connect it with the first section.

The third section of the NERL, the Union County Light Rail, will have eight or nine stations in Elizabeth, one at Newark Airport and possible future stations in other towns. The line connecting Midtown (Broad Street) Station and Newark Airport will be 5.8 miles long. There are only five grade-level crossings planned, as much of the right-of-way will be on former Conrail lines now under ownership of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), originally the main line of the Central Railroad of New Jersey traversing Elizabeth from east to west. It is expected to cost around $380 million to complete this project and estimated ridership is 13,000 passengers per day.

There would likely be daily service from at least 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., with extended service if necessary. There would be about a 180 passenger occupancy for each car and travel speeds would reach a maximum of 55 miles per hour. The project has been partially overshadowed by the River LINE and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR). Both of these light rail lines have had large growth in ridership, however, which is promising for the future of the Union County Light Rail.

The extension of the line to Plainfield was advanced by a Plainfield-based citizen's group known as CLANG, with LRT to use the disused local tracks on the Raritan Valley Line Right-of-way in a configuration partially similar to that in use by the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail on the former CNJ main line in Bayonne; the installation of high platforms at Westfield and Plainfield stations have added considerable difficulty to the execution of such a plan.

As of May 10, 2006, NJ Transit has removed Union County Light Rail from its list of candidate projects in its Capital Improvement Program.

[edit] Tentative station list

Newark Airport
North Avenue
Kapkowski Road
Jersey Gardens
Ferry Terminal
Singer Station (possible station)
Third Street
Division Street
Spring Street (U.S. Route 1&9)
Midtown Station - will have connections with the Northeast Corridor Line

[edit] Possible extension stations

Elmora Station
Lorraine Station
Roselle/Roselle Park Station
Cranford Station
Garwood Station
Westfield Station
Fanwood Station
Netherwood Station
Plainfield Station

All above stations save the first three (former CNJ station locations, highly likely to be reactivated with a westward extension) are currently served by the Raritan Valley Line.

[edit] Station info

The station at Newark Airport will connect to the Lot D AirTrain Newark monorail station. North Avenue station will be located near IKEA. The Ferry Terminal Station will have future ferry service to New York City. The Singer Station is not shown on most concept maps, but if built it would be located near the abandoned Singer sewing machine factory on Trumbull Street. Midtown Station will be located at the former Central Railroad of New Jersey Broad Street Station, underneath Elizabeth Station, where passengers can transfer to the Northeast Corridor Line (for access to Trenton and Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan) and the North Jersey Coast Line (to/from Bay Head and other Jersey Shore points).