NJ Transit riders face five weeks of reduced schedules starting Sunday as Portal Bridge work begins

The commute between New Jersey and Manhattan changes Sunday. Amtrak and NJ Transit are starting the second and final "cutover" for the new Portal North Bridge over the Hackensack River, and NJ Transit rail riders will be on temporary schedules for about five weeks, through Saturday, Nov. 14.

During the work, crews will move the last track off the 116-year-old Portal Bridge, a swing bridge that has long been a source of delays on the Northeast Corridor, and onto the new fixed span. Regular schedules are expected to return on Sunday, Nov. 15, once safety testing is done, NJ Transit and Amtrak said.

What changes for riders headed to New York

• Every line except the Atlantic City Rail Line runs a modified schedule, with some trains combined or canceled and others leaving at different times or making different stops. Many departures are earlier.
• Midtown Direct on weekdays: Morris & Essex, Gladstone Branch and Montclair-Boonton Line trains will go to Hoboken instead of New York Penn Station. Weekend Midtown Direct trains still run to Penn.
• Getting from Hoboken to Midtown: on weekdays, rail tickets and passes to Hoboken are honored on PATH between Hoboken and 33rd Street, on NY Waterway ferries between Hoboken and West 39th Street (Pier 79), and on NJ Transit's 126 bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. NJ Transit says it will add ferry service at rush hours.
• Tickets: Midtown Direct riders should buy weekday tickets and passes to Hoboken. One-way tickets for weekend trips into New York must be bought to Penn Station.
• Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line: trains still go to Penn Station, but fewer of them on weekdays.
• Raritan Valley Line: one-seat rides to and from Penn Station will start and end at Newark Penn Station.
• Columbus Day: Monday, Oct. 12, runs on the cutover weekday schedule.

NJ Transit warns that the PATH, ferry and bus alternatives have limited room and may be very crowded at peak times. It is asking riders who can work from home to do so, and recommends traveling before 7 a.m. or after 9 a.m. in the morning, and before 4 p.m. or after 7 p.m. in the evening. Schedules for each line are posted at njtransit.com/portalcutover.

Other work in the same window

NJ Transit is using the reduced traffic to do other jobs. Port Jervis Line riders, including in Rockland and Orange counties, will get substitute buses on weekdays between Suffern and Port Jervis from Oct. 11 to Nov. 14, with eight midday off-peak trains replaced. North Jersey Coast Line riders will be bused between Bay Head and Manasquan for about two weeks during work on the Brielle bridge. Amtrak said it will do eight more maintenance projects along the Northeast Corridor in the same period.

"Five weeks of adjusted schedules will deliver a modern, high-level bridge that ends a century of swing-bridge delays for customers traveling the Northeast Corridor to and from New York," NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri said.

The new bridge rises 50 feet over the river, so boats can pass without the rail line having to open for them. It is part of the larger Gateway Program, which aims to eventually double rail capacity between Newark and New York.