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CONRAIL’S CAST-OFF COMMUTERS: 2 30 YEARS OF NJ TRANSIT


were discontinued in 1959, though var- ious studies and proposals have tried to bring it back ever since. It’s worth mentioning that the New York, Susquehanna & Western also op- erated a commuter service from Erie’s Jersey City terminal north to Butler. Later this service was modified to con- nect with motorcoaches and Erie Rail- road trains at Susquehanna Transfer in North Bergen. By the 1960s, the company was bankrupt and famously offered to “buy out” each commuter with a $1,000 payoff to stop using their trains. The service was discontinued in 1966, though there have been some re- cent studies on returning service to this route in some form.


Transition to State-wide Oversight The railroads in New Jersey were un- der an incredible tax burden, which added to the mounting deficits result- ing from commuter operations. As a re- sult, there was almost no investment


from the railroads in equipment or in- frastructure beyond the bare mini- mum. New Jersey was on the brink of a state-wide transportation crisis. The state’s direct involvement in commuter rail operations begins in 1966, when an act of legislature created the New Jer- sey Department of Transportation, the first such state transportation agency created in the United States. In 1967 NJDOT became more in- volved in the funding and operation of the Erie Lackawanna and CNJ com- muter services. This oversight later ex- tended to the Pennsy (and later Penn Central) main line as well as the PRSL and New York & Long Branch routes. The Penn Central bankruptcy in 1970 set into motion a series of events that would not only affect railroads in New Jersey, but across the entire northeast. The Regional Rail Reform Act of 1973 outlined the steps that would eventual- ly create Conrail to take over the bank- rupt properties, assign Conrail as the


contract operator for commuter servic- es in its territory, and assign the con- trol and maintenance


of the busy


Northeast Corridor to Amtrak. When Conrail began operations in 1976, they found themselves to be the nation’s sec- ond busiest passenger carrier with op- erations in Boston, the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Chicago.


NJ Transit was created in 1979 to “acquire,


NJ Transit Rebuilds and Expands operate, and contract


for


transportation service in the public in- terest.” Originally formed to manage and consolidate the state’s network of private bus lines, eventually the agency expanded to manage commuter rail as well. The NJ Transit name and logo began to appear on public timeta- bles as early as 1980, with the note that services were operated under contract by Conrail. The commuter rail


network was


maintained throughout this period, with the only major changes coming in South Jersey on the former PRSL lines. Deteriorating track conditions led to the cancellation of service to Ocean City and Cape May in 1981, and At- lantic City in 1982. The old Reading Crusader and Wall Street through trains between Philadelphia and


LEFT: In December 1981 a former CNJ GP40P leads a Raritan Valley Line train at Harrison, N.J., where the train will change ends and re- turn to Newark Penn Station. The old CNJ heavyweight


coaches are decorated with


NJDOT logos. This unit was rebuilt with HEP and continues to serve 30 years later as GP40PH-2 4106. BELOW: Before the former Lackawanna m.u. cars rolled their last miles for NJT in 1984, some were repainted by NJDOT in red and white. Stored cars are seen here at Hoboken, alongside a derelict Lack- awanna freight barge.


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