The
Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction
Station (known as Secaucus Transfer
during planning stages) is a major rail hub in Secaucus, New
Jersey
opened on December 15,
2003. The construction of the $450 million,
312,000 ft² (29,000 m²) station atop the spot where the
Hoboken-bound tracks pass under the New York Penn
Station
-bound tracks allows travelers to switch trains more
conveniently and save an estimated fifteen minutes traveling to
Midtown Manhattan.The station was
named after Senator Frank
Lautenberg, who had worked to allocate federal funds for the
project.
Purpose and history
Unlike other New Jersey Transit rail stations, Secaucus Junction's
main purpose is to act as a transfer between eight of the system's
ten commuter rail lines. By building the station, New Jersey
Transit eliminated one of its largest inconveniences, a lack of
connectivity between New York Penn Station- and Hoboken-bound
trains.
Before Secaucus Junction was built, commuters
on non-electrified lines that fed into Hoboken Terminal
were required to use PATH
trains
or ferries to reach Manhattan
and, by extension, other points in New York City
. Commuters whose trains headed to Penn were
able to connect to
subway
services across the city but were not able to reach Hoboken
(apart from
Morristown Line
riders).
In addition to the actual station, construction involved an
expansion and relocation of certain sections of track. The
two-track
Northeast Corridor
mainline had to be expanded to four tracks to handle stopping and
passing trains in the same direction, improving flexibility between
New Jersey Transit and
Amtrak trains, the
latter of which do not stop at the station. The Bergen County Line
was significantly rerouted in order pass under the location of the
station site and expanded to four tracks as well.
Controversially, the
bodies from the Hudson County Burial Grounds
had to be disinterred and moved to another
cemetery.
In 2005,
New Jersey Turnpike
Exit 15X was opened to provide easier access to the station from
the surrounding area. 15X is the least used interchange on the New
Jersey Turnpike, partly due to a lack of parking at the junction.
There is
limited public parking at the junction as it was built to allow
rail commuters to get to Midtown Manhattan more easily by switching
from trains to Hoboken to trains
serving Penn Station, not for boarding. New Jersey Transit
considers this to have been a mistake, and on June 1, 2009,
completed the construction of the first parking lot at the station
with rates as low as $5 after 4:00 PM
Secaucus Junction's large volume of service has made it attractive
for alternative rail routings.
Beginning on July 26, 2009, New Jersey
Transit began offering frequent shuttle service to the Meadowlands
Station
at the Meadowlands Sports Complex
with the station serving as a major transfer point
for passengers coming from New York City and other areas in New
Jersey.. Also beginning in 2009, Secaucus Junction will
serve trains coming from Metro-North's
New Haven Line for connecting train service
to football games at the Meadowlands. The service will only run for
Giants and Jets games with 1:00 pm kickoffs on Sundays.
Station layout
Despite its name, Secaucus Junction is not a true
junction, in which trains can be switched
between lines; there is currently no rail connection between the
upper and lower levels. It would be more accurately called Secaucus
Transfer or the Secaucus Connection, since it allows passengers to
change trains rather than allowing trains to change direction. This
might change in the future, if the
Access to the Region's Core
program is built as planned.
Secaucus Junction is a three-level station with two levels of
platforms and a connecting level on top. Bergen County Line, Main
Line, Pascack Valley Line, and Meadowlands Line trains stop at the
bottom level of the station, which has four tracks and two island
platforms.
The middle level serves electric trains to and from New York Penn
Station. Like the lower level, there are four tracks, but unlike
the lower level, there are three platforms: two side platforms and
one island platform. The inner platform serves tracks A and B and
the side platforms serve tracks 2 and 3.
Finally, the upper level of the station acts as a concourse for
switching passengers. In order to transfer between trains on
different levels, all passengers travel to the concourse and pass
through ticket gates and travel down to their destination
platforms.
At the center of this level is a 30ft-high
(10m) steel, glass and titanium sculpture of a
cattail (abundant in the surrounding
Meadowlands) by San
Francisco
artist Louis
"Cork" Marcheschi. The tops of the cattails are lit from
within in the purple, blue and orange colors of NJ Transit. There
is a
newsstand, a
Dunkin Donuts, a small pub and waiting area
around the concourse.
Of New Jersey Transit's eleven commuter rail lines, four do not
make stops at Secaucus Junction, two of which operate only in the
southern part of New Jersey.
The Atlantic
City Line runs between Atlantic City and Philadelphia-30th Street
Station
. The Princeton
Branch is a rail spur on the Northeast Corridor Line that runs
from Princeton Junction
to Princeton station
. The Raritan
Valley Line terminates at Newark Penn Station
, although New Jersey Transit has stated plans to
extend the line to New York City via Secaucus once the Trans Hudson Express Tunnel is built.
Despite passing through the station, no
Gladstone Branch Midtown Direct trains stop
at the station.
Controversy and criticism
One of the most prominent criticisms of Secaucus Junction at its
opening was its low usage in comparison to the amount of money
spent to build it. Despite costing $609m by the time opened, the
station attracted only 5,600 daily riders on average in 2004, far
lower than expected. Secaucus Junction initially had no on-site
parking, despite being situated right next to Exit 15X of the New
Jersey Turnpike.
In June 2009, a parking facility was opened,
and the opening of Meadowlands station has attracted additional ridership. Since
2004, the ridership at Secaucus Junction has increased to 17,000
average weekday passengers, making it the fourth largest station in
the New Jersey Transit system.
References
-
http://www.accesstotheregionscore.com/images/projectstudy.jpg
- Governor Corzine Cuts Ribbon on First Parking
Facility at Frank R. Lautenberg Station, NJ Transit
News, June 1, 2009.
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