Roselle Park 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 ...

railroad station in Roselle Park, New Jersey. Located on the Conrail Lehigh Line which is owned by

Conrail Shared Assets Operations Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail ( reporting mark CRCX), an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Area ...

on West Lincoln Avenue between Chestnut Street and Locust Street, it is served by

Raritan Valley Line The Raritan Valley Line is a commuter rail service operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) which serves passengers in municipalities in Union, Somerset, and Hunterdon counties in the Raritan Valley region in central New Jersey, United States. ...

trains that travel between

Newark Penn Station Pennsylvania Station (also known as Newark Penn Station) is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, ...

and Raritan. There is also limited service between High Bridge and

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 ...

and one weekday morning train to

Hoboken Terminal Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by nine NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, one Metr ...

History

The station is located at milepost 16.0 on the Conrail Lehigh Line. This is part of the former

Lehigh Valley Railroad The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, ...

main line, built by LV subsidiary Newark & Roselle Railway. The second station to stand on the property, it was built in 1967 during the construction of the

Aldene Plan The Aldene Connection is a connection between two railroad lines in the Aldene neighborhood of Roselle Park, New Jersey, United States, one formerly belonging to the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), the other formerly of the Lehigh Valley R ...

. The

was a joint project between the railroads,

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transporta ...

, and The

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

which elevated trackage above ground level to eliminate grade crossings and rerouted

Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...

trains (one of NJ Transit's predecessor railroads) from its aging Jersey City terminal to

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.State of New Jersey created

to oversee all commuter operations, rail and bus, in the state. Since then, NJ Transit has continued to operate and improve services on the

. In Spring 1997, negotiations began for the joint purchase of Conrail by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway. The Surface Transportation Board officially approved the acquisition and restructuring of Conrail on July 23, 1998. The approved restructuring plan transformed Conrail into a private, non-common carrier switching and terminal railroad that operates on behalf of its owners, using

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can ...

and locomotives supplied by its owners. Property was divided using a system of railroad heritage, bringing ownership of the route and Roselle Park station to Norfolk Southern Railway. The purchase, often referred to as the "Conrail split" by railroaders, was made final on April 1, 1999.

Station layout and service

The station has one 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 on ...

Freight operations

The station has a

gauntlet track Gauntlet track or interlaced track (also gantlet track) is an arrangement in which railway tracks run parallel on a single track bed and are interlaced (i.e., overlapped) in such a way that only one pair of rails can be used at any time. Since th ...

(a slightly shifted-over track) on the track 2 side that allows

freight train Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) haul ...

s to pass the high level platform safely. Currently, freight trains past the station are operated by Conrail, CSX Transportation, and Norfolk Southern Railway. The route has become a critical artery in transcontinental transportation, particularly for intermodal, retail and petrochemical traffic. Tonnage over this route reaches as far west as Chicago and Los Angeles, south to Atlanta and Jacksonville, and east to Vermont and Maine. Currently 30-40 freights pass the station depending on the day of the week.

References

External links

Official Borough of Roselle Park WebsiteNJTransit Rail Operations Raritan Line ScheduleNJTransit Rail Operations DepartureVision: Roselle ParkNJTransit Rail Operations Roselle Park Station InformationRoselle Park Station Photos on Railroad Picture ArchivesRoselle Park Station Photos on Railpictures.net
{{NJT stations navbox Railway stations in Union County, New Jersey NJ Transit Rail Operations stations Former Central Railroad of New Jersey stations Stations on the Raritan Valley Line Former Lehigh Valley Railroad stations Railway stations opened in 1891 1891 establishments in New Jersey