NJ Transit One-Seat
Ride to Manhattan to Begin in March 2014
During Weekday Off-Peak Hours
During Weekday Off-Peak Hours
The Raritan Valley
Rail Coalition and the One-Seat Ride Coalition have announced that NJ Transit
will roll out a morning off-peak, one-seat ride to New York's Penn Station
starting March 2, 2014. The trains will arrive in New York between 10 a.m. and
3 p.m.
NJ Transit has
purchased dual-mode locomotives that will operate as diesels through Hunterdon,
Somerset, Middlesex and Union counties and as electronic locomotives through the
tunnel to Manhattan, making the one-seat ride possible.
The Raritan Valley
Rail Coalition, joined by a coalition of 30 mayors of towns along the line, seek
to ultimately achieve a full one-seat ride Manhattan service on the Raritan
Valley Line, which currently terminates in Newark.
"Town after town has
major development near their train stations," said Somerset County Freeholder
and Rail Coalition Chairman Peter S. Palmer. "The weekday off-peak service is an
important first step."
He credited the
mayors' coalition, headed by Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr, with being "vital to
the long-standing effort of the Rail Coalition to bring the one-seat ride to
fruition."
NJ Transit, which has
championed Transit-Oriented Development, has agreed to meet quarterly with the
One-Seat Ride Coalition to evaluate the results of the new service and discuss
further expansion. The next step would be to offer evening one-seat ride
service during off-peak hours after 8 p.m.