Montclair-Boonton Line
The Montclair-Boonton Line is one of New Jersey Transit's commuter lines. It was formed as a combination of the Montclair Branch and the Boonton Line when the Montclair Connection opened on September 30, 2002. Out of 33 inbound and 37 outbound daily weekday trains, 19 inbound and 20 outbound MidTOWN DIRECT trains (about 55%) use the Kearny Connection (opened June 10, 1996) to Secaucus Junction and New York Penn Station; the rest go to Hoboken Terminal. Passengers can transfer at Newark Broad Street Station, Montclair State University or Dover to reach the other destination if necessary. This line only sees Weekday service but this may change in the future. There are also plans for electrification from Dover to Lake Hopatcong due to capacity issues at the yard in Dover.
When the Montclair Connection was built, the Boonton Line, which had been all-diesel, was electrified from the Connection to Great Notch Yard (west of the Montclair University Station). The town of Montclair wanted diesels removed from the line, but electrification only goes west to Great Notch Yard, so passengers from west of Montclair University must transfer there. The transfer had been at Montclair Heights and a station listed as Transfer Platform on the schedules before the Montclair University Station opened on October 20, 2004.
History
In 1970, the Boonton Line, which was originally part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and later the Erie-Lackawanna Railway, was known as the Greenwood Lake-Boonton Line. When New Jersey Transit assumed operation of the line in 1980, it was renamed the Boonton Line, and then later renamed the Montclair-Boonton Line to reflect the merger of the line with the Morris and Essex Montclair Line in 2002 via the Montclair Connection.
Three stations, all of which were east of Montclair, were dropped from the Montclair-Boonton Line when the Montclair Connection opened in 2002:
No passenger service is currently provided to these stations.
Station listing
| Milepost | City | Station | Oper | Connections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Hoboken | Hoboken Terminal | NJT | PATH and New York Waterways to New York City, Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to local points, NJT 22, 23, 64, 68, 85, 87, 89, 126 buses |
| Meadows Maintenance Complex | NJT | Main Overhaul and Maintenance Shop, employee stop | ||
| MidTOWN DIRECT trains join | ||||
| 5 | Kearny | Kearny Junction | MidTOWN Direct trains from New York Penn Station and Secaucus Junction join the line via the Kearny Connection | |
| Newark | Newark Broad Street Station | NJT | Newark Light Rail service, NJT 11, 13, 27, 28, 29, 39, 41, 43, 72, 76, 78, 108 buses | |
| Roseville Avenue | NJT Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch splits, abandoned station | |||
| East Orange | Ampere | NJT | abandoned | |
| Bloomfield | Watsessing Avenue | NJT | NJT 94 bus | |
| Bloomfield | NJT | NJT 11, 28, 29, 34, 92, 93, 709 buses | ||
| Glen Ridge | Glen Ridge | NJT | NJT 11, 28, 29 buses, Community Shuttle | |
| Montclair | Bay Street | NJT | NJT 11, 28, 29, 34 buses, Community Shuttle | |
| 12 | Walnut Street | NJT | ||
| 13 | Watchung Avenue | NJT | NJT 28 bus | |
| 14 | Upper Montclair | NJT | NJT 28 bus | |
| 14.5 | Mountain Avenue | NJT | NJT 28 bus | |
| 15 | Montclair Heights | NJT | NJT 28, 191, 705 buses | |
| Little Falls | Montclair State University | NJT | Montclair State University | |
| 16.5 | Great Notch | NJT | electric storage yard; only diesel trains permitted beyond this point, all trains go to Hoboken Terminal or Montclair State University as its western terminal NJT 191, 195, 705 buses | |
| 18.5 | Little Falls | NJT | NJT 11, 191, 704, 705 buses | |
| Wayne | Wayne-Route 23 | NJT | Proposed Station | |
| 21.5 | Mountain View | NJT | NJT 75, 194, 197, 748 buses, MCM1 | |
| Lincoln Park | Lincoln Park | NJT | MCM1 | |
| Montville | Towaco | NJT | MCM1 | |
| Montville | NJT | abandoned | ||
| Boonton | Boonton | NJT | MCM1 | |
| Mountain Lakes | Mountain Lakes | NJT | ||
| Denville | Denville | NJT | NJT Morristown Line joins MCM10 | |
| Dover | Dover | NJT | Morristown Line electric train storage yard MCM 2, 10 buses | |
| Mount Arlington | Mount Arlington, under construction | NJT | ||
| Roxbury | Lake Hopatcong | NJT | ||
| Port Morris | NJT | Diesel Train Storage Yard and future Lackawanna Cutoff split | ||
| Netcong | Netcong | NJT | ||
| Mount Olive | Mount Olive | NJT | International Trade Center | |
| Hackettstown | Hackettstown | NJT | NJT 973 bus, WHEELS Shuttle | |
| MidTOWN DIRECT service | ||||
| 0 | New York City | New York Penn Station | NJT | Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak, New York City Subway, New York City Bus, MTA Bus |
| Secaucus | Secaucus Junction | NJT | All NJT Rail lines except the Atlantic City Line and Raritan Valley Line, NJT 2, 129, 172 buses | |
