Elizabeth is a

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

station in Midtown in

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

, Union County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, southwest of

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on the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

. It is between Broad Street and West Grand Street on an

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...

and viaduct. This station is often called Broad Street Elizabeth to distinguish it from North Elizabeth station. A number of

bus line A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

s have

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nearby.

History

On June 9, 1968 the

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Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

heading south to Washington, DC passed through the station, where crowds lined the tracks to bid farewell and pay tribute. Prior to its passing, two persons were killed and 5 injured after being struck by a northbound

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

train that had originated in Chicago. They were unable to get off the track in time, though the New York-bound train's engineer had slowed to 30 mph for the normally 55 mph curve, blown his horn continuously, and rung his bell through the curve. In January 2015 it was announced that a new station house, platforms, and stairways would be built, a project estimated to cost $55 million (2015

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). The design was made in coordination with

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

(which owns the NEC but ended Elizabeth stops about 1973) which plans to add a fifth track. The station is next to the former Central Railroad of New Jersey station. Funding was approved in 2018, and includes the creation of a transit plaza between the two stations. Construction began in 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2022.

Station layout

The station has two high-level

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

trains do not stop.

S-Curve Improvements

The Elizabeth S-curve limits speeds imposed by the transition between the two curves in the S-curve. There have been many discussions over possible improvements. Amtrak says the current speed limit is 80 MPH for Acela and 70 MPH for Northeast Regionals. However, in practice trains operate more slowly “due to a restrictive ‘approach limited’ signaling that governs the approach to Elizabeth, requiring trains to make a braking application.”. In technical terms, the issue is due to restrictive ‘approach limited’ signaling (causing all trains to slow down to 55MPH before speeding back up to the speed limit) and the station needs to be converted to 562 signaling and specified through

ACSES Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) is a positive train control cab signaling system developed by Alstom. The system is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, protect against overspeed, and protect work crews with temporar ...

transponders to allow travel at the stated speed limit. If rebuilt, with the track provided with aggressive banking and using modern rolling stock, the speed limit could be raised to 135mph, pushing the northern end of the high speed section in New Jersey closer to Newark. This is included in the improvements Amtrak has planned for the NEC.

References

External links

Broad Street entrance from Google Maps Street View

Grand Street entrance from Google Maps Street ViewHAER
{{PRR Main Line stations NJ Transit Rail Operations stations Former Pennsylvania Railroad stations Railway stations in Union County, New Jersey Transportation in Elizabeth, New Jersey Stations on the Northeast Corridor Buildings and structures in Elizabeth, New Jersey 1835 establishments in New Jersey Former Amtrak stations in New Jersey Railway stations in the United States opened in 1835

History

Station layout

S-Curve Improvements

See also

References

External links