Montclair State University, signed as Montclair State University Station at Little Falls, is a

NJ 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 ...

rail station in the Great Notch area of

Little Falls, New Jersey Little Falls is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The township was named for a waterfall on the Passaic River at a dam near Beattie Mill. As of the 2020 census, the township's population was 13,360 reflecting a decreas ...

on the Montclair-Boonton Line.

History

The station, which opened on October 20, 2004, is located on Clove Road near Route 46 and the

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public university in New ...

campus, and was built at a cost of , following the completion of the

Montclair Connection The Montclair Connection is a short section of double-track railroad on the NJ Transit Rail Operations system in New Jersey, United States, connecting the former end of the Montclair Branch at Bay Street station to the old Boonton Line southeast ...

. Although the station itself was not officially open, a temporary platform was built to allow the under-construction station to serve one of its main purposes as the Montclair-Boonton Line's primary transfer station.

Station layout and service

The station has two tracks and one sheltered, high-level

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular o ...

with an elevated walkway over the tracks connecting it to the parking deck and the college campus. The station is equipped with ticket machines and DepartureVision monitors displaying arrivals and departures. It is accessible as the platform is fully elevated and elevators are available in addition to stairs. The station was intended to be a

park-and-ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...

, near a highway and with a large parking deck. There is no connecting bus service directly to the station, as the university's bus stop is on the opposite side of campus near the

Montclair Heights station Montclair Heights (signed as Montclair Heights–Home of Montclair State University) is a New Jersey Transit station in the Montclair Heights area of Montclair Township, New Jersey. Located along the Montclair-Boonton Line at the Normal Ave ...

. Campus shuttles, however, do serve the station. On weekdays, every train on the Montclair-Boonton Line stops here. Midtown Direct service to

New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City and the busiest transportation facility in the Western Hemisphere, serving more than 600,000 passengers ...

terminates here, as the line west of the nearby yard is not electrified. The station is a major transfer point for riders because many trains terminate here, it is the first station on the line with service to

, and it is the first local stop of express trains. Although the Montclair-Boonton Line recently added weekend service, Montclair State University is not served on weekends as

Bay Street Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial services industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James ...

is the weekend terminus for trains to and from Hoboken.

References

External links

{{NJT stations navbox NJ Transit Rail Operations stations Montclair, New Jersey Railway stations in the United States opened in 2004 Railway stations in Essex County, New Jersey Railway stations in New Jersey at university and college campuses 2004 establishments in New Jersey