Elizabeth station (NJ Transit)

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
	Elizabeth station in October 2019; Central Railroad of New Jersey station tower at center
General information
Location	11 West Grand Street; Elizabeth, New Jersey
Coordinates	40°40′00″N 74°12′57″W / 40.6668°N 74.2158°W
Owned by	New Jersey Transit
Line(s)	Amtrak Northeast Corridor
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Connections	NJ Transit Bus: 24, 26, 48, 52, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 112
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Racks, lockers
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	5
History
Opened	December 3, 1835 (inaugural train); December 21, 1835 (regular passenger service)
Rebuilt	September 2019–June 18, 2024
Electrified	December 8, 1932
Key dates
May 1971	Station depot caught fire
Passengers
2012	3,807 (weekday) (NJT)
Services
Former services
Location
Location

Elizabeth is a New Jersey Transit station in Midtown in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey, 15.4 miles (24.8 km) southwest of New York Penn Station on the Northeast Corridor. It is between Broad Street and West Grand Street on an embankment and viaduct. This station is often called Broad Street Elizabeth to distinguish it from North Elizabeth station. A number of bus lines have stops nearby. The station is next to the former Central Railroad of New Jersey station.

History

On April 21, 1893, the Pennsylvania Railroad's elevated structure that grade separated the line through Elizabeth opened for service.^[6]

On June 9, 1968 the funeral train of Robert F. Kennedy 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 train that had originated in Chicago.^[7]^[8] They were unable to get off the track in time, though the New York-bound train's engineer had slowed to 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) for the normally 55-mile-per-hour (89 km/h) curve, blown his horn continuously, and rung his bell through the curve.^[9]^[10]

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 USD).^[11] The design was made in coordination with Amtrak (which owns the NEC but ended Elizabeth stops about 1973) which plans to add a fifth track.^[12] Funding was approved in 2018,^[11]^[13]^[14] and includes the creation of a transit plaza between the two stations.^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20] As part of the project, the platforms are being extended to accommodate 12-car trains.^[21] Construction began in 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2022.^[22]

On September 12, 2023, the eastbound platform and station house fully reopened.^[23] All work on Elizabeth station finished by June 2024, resulting in a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 18, 2024.^[2]

Station layout

The station has two high-level side platforms; Amtrak's Northeast Corridor 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.^[24] There have been many discussions over possible improvements. Amtrak says the current speed limit is 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) for Acela and 70 miles per hour (110 km/h) 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.”.^[25] In technical terms, the issue is due to restrictive ‘approach limited’ signaling (causing all trains to slow down to 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) before speeding back up to the speed limit) and the station needs to be converted to 562 signaling and specified through ACSES 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 135 miles per hour (217 km/h), 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.^[26]