Morristown Line

Morristown Line
A Dover-bound Morristown Line train made up of MultiLevel coaches getting ready to bypass Mountain Station
Overview
Owner	Amtrak (New York Penn Station to Kearny Connection) New Jersey Transit (all other trackage)
Locale	Northern New Jersey
Termini	Hoboken Terminal or New York Penn Station Dover Hackettstown (limited service) Mount Olive (limited service)
Stations	26
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	New Jersey Transit Rail Operations
Operator(s)	New Jersey Transit
Rolling stock	ALP-46 and ALP-45DP locomotives, MultiLevel coaches, Comet coaches, Arrow III multiple units
Daily ridership	50,000[1] (13.5 million annually)[1]
History
Opened	November 19, 1836 (Newark–Orange) January 1, 1838 (Orange–Morristown) July 4, 1848 (Morristown–Rockaway) July 31, 1848 (Rockaway–Dover) January 16, 1854 (Dover–Hackettstown) June 10, 1996 (New York–Newark via Kearny Connection/Midtown Direct)
Technical
Line length	57.4 mi (92.4 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 25 kV 60 Hz AC
Route map Legend Washington Secondary to Phillipsburg Hackettstown US 46 Musconetcong River Mount Olive I-80 Netcong Port Morris Yard Lackawanna Cut-Off to Andover Landing Masonry Bridge Lake Hopatcong I-80 Mount Arlington Chester & High Bridge Branches Wharton Dover & Rockaway Branches US 46 Dover Dover Yard original alignment Rockaway Denville MOBO via Montclair Mount Tabor Route 10 US 202 Morris Plains M&E Main Line to Roseland Morristown I-287 Convent Station Madison Chatham Passaic River GLAD to Gladstone Summit Rahway Valley Railroad to Roselle Park Route 24 Short Hills Rahway River Millburn Maplewood South Orange Mountain Station Highland Avenue I-280 Orange Brick Church East Orange G.S. Parkway Grove Street MOBO to Hackettstown via Montclair Roseville Avenue I-280 Newark Light Rail Newark Broad Street Newark Drawbridge over Passaic River Harrison Harrison Cut-off Northeast Corridor to Washington Kearny Connection │   Sawtooth Kearny Connection │ Bridges Sawtooth │ Waterfront Connection Hackensack River Meadows Maintenance Complex MAIN & BCL to Suffern Secaucus Junction Bergen Tunnels Hoboken Yard Hoboken Terminal North River Tunnels under Hudson River NJ NY New York Penn Station East River Tunnels under East River Sunnyside Yard LIRR Main Line to Long Island & Amtrak NEC to Boston This diagram: view talk edit

The Morristown Line is an NJ Transit commuter rail line connecting Morris and Essex counties to New York City, via either New York Penn Station or Hoboken Terminal. Out of 60 inbound and 58 outbound daily weekday trains, 28 inbound and 26 outbound Midtown Direct trains (about 45%) use the Kearny Connection (opened June 10, 1996) to Penn Station; the rest go to Hoboken. Passengers can transfer at Newark Broad Street or Summit to reach the other destination. On rail system maps the line is colored dark green, and its symbol is a drum, a reference to Morristown's history during the American Revolution.

There is frequent service weekdays, with hourly service to/from New York (none going beyond Dover) on weekends. Until August 13, 2006, there was also hourly service to Hoboken. On that date, service between Hoboken and Summit was cut back to once every two hours on weekends. On May 11, 2008, off-peak weekday Hoboken-Dover trains (600 Series) were cut. In addition, weekend Gladstone trains were cut back to Summit, and a shuttle train is operated every two hours between Newark Broad Street and Hoboken Terminal.

The Millburn-Summit segment underwent extensive rehabilitation in the mid-2010s. This included the replacement of the creosote crossties on both tracks with concrete crossties, the replacement of all crossties on the double trestle over Short Hills Avenue, and the replacement of several sections of rail. Work has also progressed on rehabilitating both tracks between Summit and Dover with concrete crossties and new welded rail, and rehabilitation of select road overpasses.

Hurricane Sandy inflicted considerable damage on the Morristown Line on October 29–30, 2012, as fallen trees brought down catenary and signal wires and washed out sections of track, most notably through the New Jersey Meadowlands on both the main line and the Kearny Connection. Midtown Direct service was restored from Dover to New York on November 12, 2012;^[2][3] service to Hoboken and west of Dover resumed on November 19.^[4]