Paterson station

Paterson station

Company type	Commuter rail station
Industry	Transportation
Founded	1832
Headquarters	Paterson, New Jersey , United States
Products	Commuter rail service

Paterson is a New Jersey Transit commuter railway station positioned on an elevated viaduct above Market Street in the heart of downtown Paterson, New Jersey. It accommodates the NJT Main Line, featuring two tracks that facilitate travel in both northbound and southbound directions. The architectural style of this station mirrors that of Newark Broad Street station, located on the Morris & Essex and Montclair-Boonton Lines in Downtown Newark.

History

Throughout its existence, Paterson station has been served solely by the Erie Railroad's Main Line and its successors: the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad (EL), the Conrail-managed EL division under NJDOT, and presently, the New Jersey Transit Main Line. The Main Line itself underwent considerable transformation, impacting its service patterns, destinations, and connections.

Initially operating as a single-track line with grade crossings, the elevated station was erected between 1924 and 1930 during Erie’s elimination of street-level crossings in Paterson. The Erie Main Line extended from Jersey City all the way to Chicago, passing through Binghamton, Jamestown (NY), Akron, and Marion (OH), with significant branches reaching Buffalo and Cleveland.

This corridor accommodated prominent long-distance passenger and freight trains, many of which made stops at Paterson. Notable trains included the Erie Limited and Lake Cities for travelers heading to Chicago, while eastbound passengers used the Atlantic Express. This service pattern persisted with little change until the early 1960s amid financial difficulties faced by Erie.

In 1960, the Erie merged with Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to establish the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad (EL). To reduce expenses, EL eliminated overlapping lines and streamlined routes. The Erie Limited and Lake Cities were redirected via the Lackawanna Morristown Line through northwest New Jersey and the Poconos. Train #21 made stops en route to Binghamton to connect with the Phoebe Snow. The cessation of the Atlantic Express in 1965 marked the end of direct long-distance passenger service through Paterson. However, Hoboken-Binghamton trains #21/22 continued for another year to maintain connections with the Phoebe Snow.

At the same time, four governmental entities initiated projects necessitating adjustments to segments of the Erie Main Line:

• Passaic aimed to remove Main Line tracks running at grade through its commercial district.
• The State of New Jersey planned an extension of State Route 21, which was impeded by both the Main Line and its Passaic River bridge.
• In Paterson, state and federal plans for Interstate 80 involved utilizing the Lackawanna Boonton Branch right-of-way near Garret Mountain.

Following the merger, EL capitalized on former Lackawanna lines to establish a new Main Line while repurposing Erie lines for Boonton line operations. This strategy allowed compliance with government infrastructure projects while reducing redundancy and lowering maintenance and tax obligations by abandoning or divesting certain rights-of-way. Plans for Route 21 expansion and downtown Passaic required cutting off the Passaic section of the Main Line—thereby isolating portions in Clifton, Paterson, and beyond—including Paterson station itself.

To address this issue, a connection from the Boonton Branch was constructed to realign the Main Line along a parallel corridor with minimal new construction. Consequently, trains began operating from Hoboken via former Boonton Branch stations before rejoining original Main Line tracks at Paterson. This link was initially single-tracked but was upgraded to double track in 2002. The remaining Boonton Branch segment cut off at I-80 was rerouted onto the former Erie Greenwood Lake Branch.

After EL declared bankruptcy in the early 1970s, Conrail took over operations but found that freight service on the realigned Main Line was inefficient due to indirect routing and steep gradients. As a result, Conrail moved to discontinue freight operations on former EL lines. The State of New Jersey assumed control over "E-L" commuter lines from Conrail; since then, freight activity along the Main Line has been minimal. Some maps continue to identify these tracks as belonging to Conrail or Erie-Lackawanna.

Station layout

Paterson station is equipped with a high-level island platform that stretches between Market Street and Ward Street in the heart of downtown Paterson. An elevator located on Ward Street ensures accessibility for passengers with disabilities.

Positioned conveniently close to landmarks such as Center City Mall, the Passaic County Courthouse, various county administrative offices, and the Paterson campus of Passaic County Community College, the station occupies a prominent junction where city and county roads intersect at Market and Ward Streets.

At present, the station caters exclusively to commuter rail traffic, providing direct routes to Hoboken via the Main Line and the historic Boonton Branch connection. Services heading north extend to Port Jervis and Suffern, operated collaboratively by New Jersey Transit and Metro-North Railroad.

In its earlier years, Paterson station supported extensive passenger operations to Erie Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City as well as destinations throughout New York state, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Chicago through the Main Line and its branches, accommodating both commuter and long-haul travelers.

After the realignment of the Main/Boonton lines, a limited service briefly ran along the Newark Branch from Paterson through Clifton, Nutley, Belleville, northern Newark, and eastward toward Kearny until Erie Lackawanna discontinued this route in 1966.

See also

• List of Erie Railroad structures documented by the Historic American Engineering Record

External links

• Market Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Ward Street entrance from Google Maps Street View