Summit station (NJ Transit)

Summit
A Wall Street-bound train at the station
General information
Location40 Union Place, Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
Coordinates40°42′59.6″N 74°21′27.9″W / 40.716556°N 74.357750°W / 40.716556; -74.357750
Owned byNew Jersey Transit
Platforms2 (1 island platform, 1 side platform)
Tracks3
ConnectionsNJT Bus NJT Bus: 70, 986
Intercity Bus Lakeland: 78
Construction
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone9[1]
History
OpenedSeptember 17, 1837 (preliminary trip)[2]
September 28, 1837 (regular service)[3][4]
Rebuilt1905
ElectrifiedDecember 18, 1930[5]
Passengers
20173,880 (average weekday)[6][7]
Services
Preceding station NJ Transit Following station
New Providence
toward Gladstone
Gladstone Branch Short Hills
weekdays
Chatham Morristown Line Short Hills
Former services
Preceding station Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Following station
Chatham
toward Buffalo
Main Line Short Hills
toward Hoboken
New Providence
toward Gladstone
Gladstone Branch Roseville Avenue
toward Hoboken
Location
Map

Summit is a train station in Summit, New Jersey, served by New Jersey Transit's Morris & Essex Lines (the Gladstone Branch and Morristown Line). The station sits between Union Place on the north and Broad Street on the south, with station access via either side, and between Summit Avenue on the east and Maple Avenue on the west. Constructed in 1904–1905 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in a mile-long open cut, it is one of the few NJ Transit stations with platforms below street level.

History

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The station had served several Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and then Erie-Lackwanna Railroad, named passenger trains. These included the Lake Cities, Owl/New York Mail, Twilight/Pocono Express and the DLW flagship train, the Phoebe Snow.[8][9]

The station was cosmetically renovated for the 2005 PGA Championship at the Baltusrol Golf Club in nearby Springfield. Status screens were installed on the platforms to show the next train and the platforms, and fittings were painted. The screens are still present. During that time, buses were used as the connection to go to and from the PGA Championship.[10]

On December 20, 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy chose the station as the venue to sign legislation to reform the management of NJ Transit.[11]

Station layout and services

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There are two platforms and three tracks: Track 1 is served by a side platform, while Tracks 2 and 3 are served by the island platform. The side platform is accessible via the station overpass or directly from the Union Place parking lot, while the island platform can only be accessed via the overpass.

In the early morning hours, trains on the Gladstone Branch originate at Gladstone Station with a final destination to Hoboken Terminal. Trains going to New York Pennsylvania Station (New York Penn Station) originate in Dover.

On weekends, the Gladstone Branch trains only operate between Summit and Gladstone, requiring passengers wishing to travel farther east to transfer across the platform to a Morristown Line train, which operates between Dover and New York (as well as Hoboken via a transfer at Newark Broad Street station).

The station has a small parking lot on its property that slopes down from Union Place. Another large lot is across Summit Avenue, accessible from Broad Street. In the 1990s, a multistory parking garage was built on part of the Broad Street lot. Following the September 11 attacks, the city made daily chalk marks on the tires of the many unclaimed vehicles to help identify those missing.[citation needed]

The station also has a waiting room with a small coffee and newspaper shop that is open at morning commute time and then through the afternoon rush hour.

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Bibliography

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  • Douglass, A.M. (1912). The Railroad Trainman, Volume 29. Cleveland, Ohio: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  • Walker, Herbert T. (1902). "Early History of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and Its Locomotives - Part 2: The Morris and Essex Railroad". Railroad Gazette. 34. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

References

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  1. ^ "Morris and Essex Timetables" (PDF). Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Transit Rail Operations. November 7, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 4, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
  2. ^ "Morris and Essex is Seventy-Nine Years Old". The Madison Eagle. June 16, 1916. p. 10. Retrieved April 3, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ Walker 1902, p. 409.
  4. ^ Douglass 1912, p. 339.
  5. ^ "Lackawanna Electric Train Gets Ovations". The Paterson Morning Call. December 19, 1930. p. 34. Retrieved January 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ "QUARTERLY RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANALYSIS" (PDF). New Jersey Transit. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  7. ^ Kiefer, Eric (February 21, 2018). "How Many Riders Use NJ Transit's Hoboken Train Station?". Hoboken Patch. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  8. ^ 1954 Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad timetable http://viewoftheblue.com/photography/timetables/DLW042554.pdf
  9. ^ 1961 Erie-Lackawanna timetable https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/ERIE_TABLE1_19610625.png
  10. ^ Bloom, Molly (August 12, 2015). "Mass transit keeping most PGA fans on track". Newark Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021 – via Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
  11. ^ Baldwin, Carly (December 20, 2018). "Murphy Signs Historic NJ Transit Reforms, Vows It Will Improve". Summit, NJ Patch. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
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