Passenger Trains > Connecting EWR Rail Station to Surrounding Neighborhood

Starting in 2026, people who live in the extreme part of the South Ward of Newark plus the northern end of Elizabeth will be able to use the Newark Liberty Airport Rail Station to connect to NJ Transit and Amtrak trains. This has been a very long time coming. This project will help shorten travel times significantly for many people. https://www.nj.com/news/2024/03/travel-time-to-newark-airport-will-be-slashed-to-9-minutes-for-these-nearby-residents.html

About 20,000 people work at the airport and another 75,000 work in freight, logistics, and other support services nearby.

Getting even some of those cars off the road is a big deal.

Here in Florida, many Tri-Rail patrons are uniformed airport employees going to or from work.

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A map of some sort would really help, as I am just not comprehending.....So many plans too over the years (e.g. extend PATH to the EWR rail station.....and to Elizabeth). 

I agree. As a longtime resident of Montclair, NJ who has flown on many flights into and out of EWR plus who has traveled a lot past the EWR station, providing pedestrian access from the immediate neighborhood to the station is vital. Not only will people in the South Ward of Newark benefit from being able to get a train to NYC. This will also help people living in the extreme north end of Elizabeth to do that as well. Basically it will benefit residents of the towns along I-78, including some who don't want to deal with the Gladstone Branch but presently take the M&E. The M&E service on weekends can be improved. Newark Liberty International Airport Rail Station has multiple NJT trains an hour stopping there daily, even on weekends. That is very true about the warehouses within walking distance of the neighborhood adjacent to EWR Station. There are probably many employees working in those warehouses who live in the suburbs served by the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Lines. They would benefit from being able to walk from the station to work. I would love to see a frequent NJT bus connecting Bayonne with the EWR Rail Station too as well as also arc through Staten Island making stops there before connecting to Elizabeth Station.

I agree that the Path should be extended to the airport. That should have happened decades ago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/24 15:05 by Passfanatic.

Frelinghuysen Avenue in Newark is parallel to the NEC and about a mile west. It passes thru a light industrial area and multi family home area that is the political base of current mayor Ras Baraka.

PATH to the airport from Newark Penn and PATH to the airport from Plainfield were projects derailed for different reasons.

Mayors Ken Gibson and Sharpe James both wanted PATH to run via "the neighborhoods" not alongside the straight as an arrow NEC route which was much shorter.

The Plainfield to Elizabeth to airport route on the former Jersey Central would almost certainly have led to abandoning the CNJ West of Plainfield.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/24 06:31 by Lackawanna484.

The Ex-CNJ now NJT Raritan Valley Line is too important to abandon west of Plainfield. I don't think too many residents living along the present day RVL would want the Path running to Plainfield. Path is really intended to stay closer to NYC and Jersey City, not venture too far into the suburbs. I would love to see the airport extension from NWK Penn happen.

The EWR rail station can be confusing for train passengers too.

Last month, I flew into EWR from PHX, and was meeting my son who was taking Amtrak from Boston (going to the Rangers outdoor game at MetLife aka GIANTS Stadium).

I'm picking up the rental car and texting my son, trying to coordinate a meeting spot. He tells me "just pick me up at the EWR train station". I tell him, "there's no street access, I can't drive up to it". He's like, "what do you mean no street access"???  After going back and forth for a while, I finally tell him to get off at Newark-Penn and I'll meet him out front.
 

Passfanatic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Ex-CNJ now NJT Raritan Valley Line is too
> important to abandon west of Plainfield. I don't
> think too many residents living along the present
> day RVL would want the Path running to Plainfield.
> Path is really intended to stay closer to NYC and
> Jersey City, not venture too far into the suburbs.
> I would love to see the airport extension from NWK
> Penn happen.

Back then, Raritan line ridership was half of what it is today. Then as now, 2/3rds of it is in Union County. Not much thought was given to Dunellen and west, except an RDC shuttle to Raritan. Nobody cared about west of Raritan. It is still only about 200 people per day.

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West of Raritan is presently dismal but there is potential for it to be better. Maybe if NJT had the RVL end in Phillipsburg or even Easton, ridership would be better west of Raritan than what it presently is. I wonder if it would be a benefit for a station to be built along the RVL in the South Ward of Newark closer to EWR. Unfortunately for those people who live along the RVL who connect to EWR by train, they aren't in that good of a position given that they have to head to Newark Penn Station and then backtrack down a little. Having a station along the RVL in the South Ward of Newark would also enable a person living there to commute to a job in Westfield and Plainfield.

The Airport Station is well beyond reasonable walking distance to any residential area in either Elizabeth or Newark.  It is surrounded by the airport parking lots and industrial buildings.  The complaint about no vehicle access to the station currently is certainly valid, but the idea was to keep everyone using it strictly on the trains. The elevated NEC has little to no room to add PATH tracks on either side and that would not accomplish anything.  IMHO, the easiest and most cost effective way to improve access is via dedicated bus lane access through both the Ironbound and South Ward areas of Newark and the north end of Elizabeth.  As much as we all like the trains, this is one situation that requires a rubber wheeled solution.  That PATH extension to Plainfield was a dumb political idea way back in 1975 and it is still a dumb idea today.

I thought there was a $5 surcharge on EWR rail tickets to basically amortize the facility's cost. Is that going to be dropped if the station begins handling non-airport passengers? Or will it somehow be collected separately from train fare, such as by a fare gate on the shuttle to the terminals?

Yes, looking at the birds eye view on google maps plus from my experience with riding trains past EWR station over and over, I can see that there are hardly any residential properties within walking distance as the crow flies of the EWR Station. It is in an industrialized area with parking lots. Once pedestrian and auto access from the surrounding neighborhood to the station is granted, it would be very nice to have the surcharge for passengers traveling to the depot to be eliminated. Not everyone using EWR station in the future will be heading to the airport. Basically it's like saying those rail passengers who get on and off of Amtrak and MARC trains at BWI aren't all flying.

PATH wants to extend to EWR rail station.

The 62 bus from Newark Penn for a 1 zone transit fare takes 25 minutes and runs every 15 - 20 minutes.

The Airtrain monorail is a costly tourist trap and no faster given NJT NEC train frequencies. It costs $8 or $8.50 now, plus the North Elizabeth fare.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/24 13:25 by joemvcnj.