NJ Transit Starts the Final Switch to the New Portal North Bridge on Sunday

So basically: The busiest passenger rail line in the country is about to finish swapping bridges. Starting Sunday, NJ Transit and Amtrak will spend about five weeks moving the last track off the 116-year-old Portal Bridge and onto the new Portal North Bridge. Riders get fewer trains until mid-November. After that, the old swing bridge that kept getting stuck is done for good.

The bridge that keeps breaking

The old Portal Bridge carries the Northeast Corridor over the Hackensack River in Kearny, N.J. It is a swing bridge. It turns sideways to let boats through.

The problem is it does not always close right. When it sticks, trains between New Jersey and New York stop, and tens of thousands of riders sit and wait. It has been one of the most famous chokepoints on the whole corridor for years.

The new one

The Portal North Bridge is a two-track, fixed bridge. It cannot get stuck because it does not move.

• Height: It rises 50 feet over the river, double the old clearance, so boats pass under without stopping trains
• Cost: about $2.3 billion, according to NJ.com
• Builder: a Skanska and Traylor Bros. joint venture, on a roughly $1.56 billion contract, the largest in NJ Transit’s history
• Federal help: $766.5 million from the Federal Transit Administration

The first track moved over in February. Sunday’s work moves the second and final one.

What is actually happening for five weeks

This is not just sliding trains over. Crews have to connect the track, the overhead wires that power the trains, and the signals. They also have to hook both sides of a new interlocking into the system. That is the junction that lets trains switch tracks.

Then the bridge has to pass testing and federal inspection. Officials timed it after the World Cup games this summer and before Thanksgiving travel.

What changes for riders

• About 50% fewer NJ Transit trains between Newark and Secaucus, and about 10% fewer systemwide
• The Northeast Corridor line drops from 133 trains to 113
• Weekday Midtown Direct trains on the Morris & Essex, Gladstone, and Montclair-Boonton lines go to Hoboken instead of New York Penn
• Tickets are honored on PATH to 33rd Street, NY Waterway ferries, and the 126 bus
• 44 extra shuttle trains run between Secaucus and Penn Station
• Amtrak trims service on the corridor too

NJ Transit is also using the quiet period for other jobs, like work on the Brielle Bridge on the North Jersey Coast Line from Oct. 11 to 25.

Regular schedules are expected back Sunday, Nov. 15, as long as safety testing is finished. Full schedules are at njtransit.com/portalcutover, so check yours before Monday morning.

Why it matters

The Portal North Bridge is one piece of the bigger Gateway Program. Gateway also includes the new Hudson River tunnel that just started digging. The long term goal is to double rail capacity between Newark and New York.

None of that works if trains are still crossing a 1910 bridge that sometimes will not close. It is one of the first big Gateway pieces to actually cross the finish line.

My take

Five weeks of fewer trains is going to be rough for commuters. The first cutover in February caused crowding at Hoboken, and riders will remember that.

But this is the trade you want. Short term pain to kill a problem that has been delaying people for decades.

I like that this one is on time and on budget, according to Amtrak. Big American rail projects do not hear that very often. If they stick the landing by Nov. 15, that is a real win.