Bergen County Line

Bergen County Line
standard gauge
Route map Legend Port Jervis Line to Port Jervis 30.6 mi 49.2 km Suffern Yard Piermont Branch 30.5 mi 49.1 km Suffern NY NJ border 29.1 mi 46.8 km Mahwah Route 17 27.9 mi 44.9 km Ramsey Route 17 26.5 mi 42.6 km Ramsey 24.6 mi 39.6 km Allendale 23.5 mi 37.8 km Waldwick Yard 23.2 mi 37.3 km Waldwick 22.1 mi 35.6 km Ho-Ho-Kus 20.9 mi 33.6 km Ridgewood 20.2 mi 32.5 km Ridgewood Junction MAIN via Paterson ↑ ↑ mileage above via Main Line 18.2 mi 29.3 km Glen Rock–Boro Hall 16.5 mi 26.6 km Radburn Route 208 15.3 mi 24.6 km Broadway Route 4 G.S. Parkway I-80 14.2 mi 22.9 km Passaic Junction (NYSW Railway) US 46 12.7 mi 20.4 km Plauderville NYGL Dundee Spur 11.3 mi 18.2 km Garfield Saddle River 10.4 mi 16.7 km Wesmont Erie Main Line Carlton Hill closed Bergen Junction 8.4 mi 13.5 km Rutherford Route 17 7.6 mi 12.2 km PVL to Spring Valley Route 3 I-95 / N.J. Turnpike Western Spur 5.6 mi 9 km HX Draw (Hackensack River) former alignment Harmon Cove closed MAIN via Paterson I-95 / N.J. Turnpike Eastern Spur Northeast Corridor 3.5 mi 5.6 km Secaucus Junction former alignment New York & Greenwood Lake Boonton Line Morris & Essex Lines/M&E via Hackettstown Bergen Tunnels 0.0 mi 0 km Hoboken Terminal Hudson River This diagram: view talk edit

The Bergen County Line is a

Some trains of

As on the Main Line, trains are powered by

From a point in

Until the late 1950s, the main function of the Erie's Bergen County Cutoff was as a freight (and long-distance express) bypass of the at-grade Main Line through Passaic. Commuter service was relatively minor. In 1963 the Lackawanna Boonton Branch up to Paterson (with a small portion of the Erie's Newark Branch) became the new Erie-Lackawanna Main Line. This was caused by the abandonment of the Main Line section through downtown Passaic and construction of Interstate 80 using the old Boonton Branch right-way in Paterson. The old Main Line east of Rutherford was now exclusively part of the Bergen County Line.

Prior to the opening of

On February 9, 1996, a Bergen County Line train collided with a Main Line train, killing 3 people and injuring 162.^[5] It was the New York City area and New Jersey's worst train accident since the 1958 Newark Bay rail accident when at least 48 people died.^[6]

2007 Ridgewood Junction derailment

On February 21, 2007, a Bergen County Line train suffered a

West of Secaucus Junction, the Bergen County Line tracks diverge from the Main Line over a new right-of-way opened on December 15, 2003, connecting the Main Line with the Bergen County Line. During this stretch and traveling westbound, the Hackensack River is to the left, while industrial plants on Meadowlands Parkway are to the right. A former station, Harmon Cove, was located nearby along the old Erie right-of-way and served the high-rise apartments nearby between 1978 and 2003.^[8][4]

Soon the train joins the old Erie Main Line right-of-way and crosses the Hackensack over

Beyond Route 3, the landscape changes to industrial. Office buildings line the side of the track, some serviced by sidings. The

For a half-mile the train passes residences on either side, then swings right, abandoning the old Erie Main Line at 40°50′10″N 74°06′15″W / 40.836°N 74.1042°W / 40.836; -74.1042, and passes through industrial areas with several grade crossings. Soon, the tracks form the border of

Stations

State	Zone[12]	Location	Station[12]	Mile (km)	Date opened	Date closed	Line services			Connections[12]
							BC	ML	PJ
NJ	1	Hoboken	Hoboken Terminal	0.0 (0.0)	1903		●	●	●	New York Waterway to Battery Park City
		Secaucus	Secaucus Junction	3.5 (5.6)	December 15, 2003[13]		●	●	●	NJ Transit Rail (upper level): Gladstone, Montclair-Boonton, Morristown, 353
	3		Harmon Cove		June 26, 1978[14]	August 4, 2003[15]
		Rutherford	Rutherford	8.4 (13.5)	December 4, 1833[16]		●			NJ Transit Bus: 190
	4	Wood-Ridge	Wesmont	10.4 (16.7)	May 15, 2016[9][17]		●
		Garfield	Garfield	11.3 (18.2)	October 1, 1881[18][19]		●			NJ Transit Bus: 758
			Spring Tank		October 1, 1881[18]		●			Former station at Belmont Avenue in Garfield.[18][20]
	5		Plauderville	12.7 (20.4)			●			NJ Transit Bus: 758
	6	Fair Lawn	Broadway	15.3 (24.6)	October 1, 1881[19]		●			NJ Transit Bus: 770
			Radburn	16.5 (26.6)	October 1, 1881[19][21]		●			NJ Transit Bus: 171
	8	Glen Rock	Glen Rock–Boro Hall	18.2 (29.3)	October 1, 1881[19]		●			NJ Transit Bus: 746
	9	Ridgewood	Ridgewood	20.9 (33.6)	October 19, 1848[22][23]		●	●		NJ Transit Bus: 752
	10	Ho-Ho-Kus	Ho-Ho-Kus	22.1 (35.6)	October 19, 1848[22][23]		●	●
		Waldwick	Waldwick	23.2 (37.3)	1886[24]		●	●
	11	Allendale	Allendale	24.6 (39.6)	October 19, 1848[22][23]		●	●
	12	Ramsey	Ramsey	26.5 (42.6)	October 19, 1848[25]		●	●
	13		Ramsey Route 17	27.9 (44.9)	August 22, 2004[26]		●	●	●
	14	Mahwah	Mahwah	29.1 (46.8)	October 19, 1848[22][23]		●	●	●	Short Line Bus : 17
NY		Suffern	Suffern	30.5 (49.1)	June 30, 1841[27][28]		●	●	●	Short Line Bus : 17M/MD/SF

Bibliography

• Clayton, W. Woodford (1882). History of Bergen and Passaic Counties, New Jersey: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men.
  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  : Everts & Peck. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
• Lucas, Walter Arndt (1944). From the Hills to the Hudson: A History of the Paterson and Hudson River Rail Road and its Associates, the Paterson and Ramapo, and the Union Railroads. New York, New York: The Cornwall Press.
  hdl:2027/uc1.b4536228
  . Retrieved April 11, 2021.
• Mott, Edward Harold (1899). Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie. New York, New York: John S. Collins. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
• Poor, Henry Varnum (1884). Poor's Manual of Railroads.
  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  : H.V. & H.W. Poor. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
• Van Valen, James M. (1900). History of Bergen County, New Jersey.
  New York, New York
  : New Jersey Publishing and Engraving Company. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
• Wardell, Patricia Webb (1994). Allendale: Background of a Borough. Allendale, New Jersey: Allendale Historical Society. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
• Citizens Semi-Centennial Association (1916). Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, Past and Present. Ridgewood, New Jersey: Citizens Semi-Centennial Association. Retrieved December 22, 2020.

References

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