Ridgewood station


Ridgewood is a railroad station operated by New Jersey Transit in the village of Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. A major transfer station, Ridgewood boasts two high-level platforms for the service of the New Jersey Transit Main Line and Bergen County Line. The next transfer southbound is at Secaucus Junction station as the two lines split south of the station. Trains at Ridgewood service Waldwick, Suffern and Port Jervis to the north and Hoboken Terminal to the south, where access is available to New York City via ferries and Port Authority Trans-Hudson.
Service to the area known as Godwinville began on October 19, 1848, with the opening of the Paterson and Ramapo Railroad, a railroad connecting the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad at Paterson to the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad at Suffern. A new station was built in 1856, then in 1859. However, in August 1915, the Erie Railroad, now in control, started construction on a new pair of ornate station depots at Ridgewood, both of which opened on November 28, 1916. New Jersey Transit rebuilt the station from 2009 to 2011 to provide the station with accessibility per the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, resulting in the closure of the eastern side platform.

History

The Erie Railroad built Ridgewood station in 1916 as a grade-separated elevated station. It has been listed in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places since 1984 and is part of the Operating Passenger Railroad Stations Thematic Resource.
Until the 1960s the station served passengers heading to Binghamton and other cities, en route to Chicago or Buffalo. The Erie Limited and the Lake Cities served passengers heading toward Chicago. The station received eastbound passengers from the Atlantic Express. In final years of long-distance service, after the Erie's merger with the Lackawanna Railroad, unnamed trains ran to Binghamton, where passengers could switch to the Phoebe Snow after a layover. The discontinuing of the Phoebe Snow and the Atlantic Express marked the end of long-distance passenger service through Ridgewood.
Ridgewood station underwent a major renovation project in which high-level platforms were installed. This allows for easier boarding, as customers are now able to walk directly onto the train from the platform instead of having to climb into the train cars using their steps, as well as making Ridgewood station handicap accessible. As part of the reconstruction, the side platform along Track 1 was demolished to make way for an island platform that would also serve Track 3 and replace that track's side platform, which was fenced off. Wheelchair ramps were installed on both high-level platforms and elevators were also built to carry passengers from the platforms to the floor of the underpass on Franklin Avenue.
Ridgewood station is now one of eight stations along the Main and Bergen County lines that are handicap-accessible, joining the Route 17 and Main Street stations in Ramsey, Boro Hall station in Glen Rock, Paterson station, Rutherford station, the reconstructed Plauderville station in Garfield, and the newly opened Wesmont station in Wood-Ridge. Lyndhurst is slated to become accessible within the next several years.

Station layout

The station features three platforms. Two platforms are mostly high-level, while one low-level platform is no longer in use. Track 2 is for all trains heading to Hoboken Terminal and intermediate points on the Main and Bergen lines and is located adjacent to a portion of Godwin Avenue known as Garber Square. Track 1, the middle of the three tracks, is for Bergen County Line trains headed for points north, as well as express trains to Port Jervis and freighters, and Track 3 is for Main Line trains headed towards Waldwick, Suffern and Port Jervis and is adjacent to South Broad Street between East Ridgewood Avenue and Franklin Avenue. Many Bergen County Line trains also use Track 3. Underpasses beneath the tracks and beneath a bridge on Franklin Avenue connect the two platforms.