River Line (NJ Transit)
The River Line (stylized as River LINE) is a diesel tram-train Interurban light rail system in southern New Jersey, United States, that connects the cities of Camden and Trenton, New Jersey’s capital. It is operated for New Jersey Transit by the Southern New Jersey Rail Group (SNJRG), which originally included Bechtel Group and Bombardier. Now that the project is in its operational phase, Bombardier is the only member of SNJRG. The River Line is so named because the path between those two cities runs more or less parallel to the Delaware River.
The River Line stops at the PATCO Speedline’s Broadway station (Walter Rand Transportation Center) and the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line’s Pennsauken Transit Center, allowing passengers to transfer to and from these connections to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The River Line is currently exceeding final ridership estimates of 5,500 passengers per day, with an average of 9,014 weekday, 5,922 Saturday, and 4,708 Sunday average passenger trips as of the end of fiscal year 2014. During this time, there were 2,869,707 unlinked passenger trips.
The River Line was constructed on what originally was the Camden-Bordentown section and the Bordentown-Trenton Branch of the Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A). The lines ran under the C&A name between 1830 and 1871, when the line was absorbed into the Pennsylvania Railroad. Ownership proceeded under Penn Central (1968) and Conrail (1976) until June 1, 1999, but the original passenger service had been abandoned in 1963.
Except at each end of the line, the River Line was Conrail’s Bordentown Secondary until June 1, 1999, when NJ Transit bought it for $67.5 million. NJ Transit has exclusive access to run light rail passenger service on the line from 05:30 to 22:10 Sunday through Friday, and all of Saturday night and Sunday morning. Conrail has exclusive access for freight at other times. Either agency may request to use the line at abnormal times in case of a special event or emergency.
The River Line operates on a proof-of-payment system, as is typical of most light rail systems throughout the United States. Passengers can buy tickets at ticket vending machines (TVMs) present at all stations.[21] Unused Newark City Subway and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail tickets can be used after validation at a River Line station[citation needed]. As of 2004, rider fares only covered 7% of costs (not including debt service).
