Plauderville is a NJ Transittrain station located in Garfield, New Jersey, United States, served by the Bergen County Line. The station is in the north side of the city on Midland Avenue between Plauderville Avenue and Outwater Lane. The station is a full-service station as of April 2012, and has high-level platforms making the station handicapped accessible. Prior to the opening of the new structure on October 11, 2011, Plauderville's platforms were located slightly uptrack from where they are now, straddling the border between Garfield and its neighbor Saddle Brook. There was a shelter on the platform for trains headed to Hoboken Terminal along with the station's ticket vending machines, and the platforms were low-level and offered zero handicap accessibility. The closest stations to Plauderville that offered such access were Rutherford station to the south and Boro Hall station in Glen Rock to the north, with wheelchair ramps available at either stop. Prior to the completion of the reconstruction at Plauderville, Garfield was not fully served by NJ Transit. Although Plauderville was utilized by a fair number of commuters in the area, judging by the station featuring parking for over 250 cars, it and its Passaic Street counterpart saw service only during peak travel times; trains departing for Hoboken Terminal would begin bypassing both stations in the early afternoon, despite outbound service being available all day. After the new station at Plauderville was completed, NJ Transit added more Hoboken-bound service in the evening and at night. An old box car body was installed at Plauderville in 1913 at a cost of $150. Starting in 2009, with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, New Jersey Transit received funds to construct high-level platforms at Plauderville on the south side of Midland Avenue. Trains used the low-level platform until October 10, 2011, when trains were moved to the completed high-level platforms. This construction adds Plauderville to the list of stations on the Bergen CountyLine in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, along with Rutherford station and Glen Rock's Boro Hall station.
History
High-level platforms
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed in 2009 by the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, New Jersey Transit received funding for new high-level platforms at Plauderville station. These new high-level platforms would build a new station for persons with handicaps, under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The cost of the project was $16 million. On August 12, 2009, a $7.9 million contract for the construction was given to Anselmi and DeCicco Inc. with improvements including new long side platforms that also have glass paneling for history of Garfield. The city manager of Garfield, Tom Duch, said the station may include a statue of the late president James Garfield, who the city is named after. Once construction was completed, Plauderville became one of three stations on the Bergen County Line other than Secaucus Junction that is handicap-accessible. The other stations are Glen Rock-Boro Hall and Rutherford for access to handicap facilities. The first revenue train to receive commuters using the new high-level platforms was the 5:43 am Hoboken-bound train. Use of the low-level platform on the northern side of Midland Avenue was immediately discontinued. On September 21, 2012, the station's crossing with Outwater Lane received a new safety system for people trying to cross tracks. Part of a pilot program, new electronic signs were installed that state "Danger, Another Train Coming" on all four portions of the crossing. Audio recordings repeat the same message. The system cost $83,000.
Station layout
The current Plauderville station is located on a plot of land that spans from Outwater Lane at Henrietta Street to Midland Avenue at Plauderville Avenue in Garfield. The station has 259 parking spaces divided among three different free parking lots owned by New Jersey Transit. The first and largest lot is next to the station's Suffern-bound platform and contains 224 parking spaces, seven of which are accessible for handicapped persons. The second is located on Midland Avenue and Hartman Street with 21 extra spaces, but these are not handicap-accessible. The final parking lot is located on Outwater Lane at the Henrietta Road junction, containing 14 non-handicap accessible parking spaces and situated behind the Hoboken-bound platform. Pedestrian street access is available on both Outwater Lane and Midland Avenue, with the platform ending near the grade crossing where the original platform was. Plauderville's one ticket machine is on the Hoboken-bound side of the tracks, placed in a weather-protected seating area with a glass painting from a local artist serving as its window, and also has an overhang that spans more of the platform than the small overhang on the outbound side. The station has two tracks, each with a high-level side platform.
