Information AboutNorthern Branch |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT NORTHERN BRANCH | |
| transportation in bergen county, new jersey | |
| new jersey transit | |
| new jersey streetcar lines | |
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INITIAL LIGHT RAIL PROPOSAL Originally, New Jersey Transit and transportation advocates had been proposing that the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail be extended onto the tracks of the Northern Branch, which could provide single seat access between Bergen County and Hudson County municipalities along the Hudson River . However, cost considerations have led NJTransit to consider alternatives that would use alternate methods to provide the rail access. Because light rail cannot operate concurrently with freight service, the early plans would have required installation of additional track or scheduling freight traffic late at night or on weekends. Light rail would also have required installation of feeder cables above the tracks and the required substations to feed these wires. CURRENT DMU ALTERNATIVE NJ Transit is studying proposals for rail service, provided using Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) vehicles similar to those currently in use on the River LINE . DMUs would use the existing trackage and would minimize interference with freight service on the line. The DMUs would operate along the old Northern Railroad line and terminate in Tenafly in central Bergen County. If built, this would essentially be a separate service, with stations on the reborn Northern Branch heading south from Tenafly located in Englewood , Leonia , Palisades Park , Ridgefield and Fairview before ending in North Bergen , with a station transfer at Tonnelle Avenue required to access the HBLR. As of February 13 , 2006 , NJ Transit has received $3.6 million in federal funding to conduct engineering and environmental studies, some of the final preparatory steps, which could result in a schedule starting construction by 2008, with completion by 2011. A second phase of the proposal would connect the Northern Branch to the Trans-Hudson Express Tunnel deep inside the New Jersey Palisades , which could provide single-seat direct commuter rail service between Tenafly and Midtown Manhattan . EXTERNAL LINKS
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