Hoboken Terminal

The site of the terminal has been used since colonial times to link Manhattan Island and points west. It was long a ferry landing accessible via turnpike roads, and later plank roads (namely the Hackensack, the Paterson and a spur of the Newark Plank Road). In 1811, the first steam-powered ferries began service under John Stevens, an inventor who founded Hoboken.

Hoboken Terminal under construction, 1907

Hoboken Terminal shortly after its construction

An Erie Lackawanna commuter train arriving at Hoboken in November 1978

The coming of the railroads brought more and more travelers to the west bank of the Hudson River. Passengers traveling to Manhattan from most of the continental USA had to transfer to a ferry at the riverbank. Cuts and tunnels were constructed through Bergen Hill to rail–ferry terminals on the west bank of the river and the Upper New York Bay. The first of the Bergen Hill Tunnels under Jersey City Heights was opened in 1876 by the Morris and Essex Railroad, which was leased by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad (DL&W). The DL&W built the modern terminal in 1907, and opened the second parallel tunnel in 1908. Both tunnels are still used by NJ Transit.[7] The tubes of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, forerunner of PATH, were extended to Hoboken Terminal upon its opening. The first revenue train on the new line ran from the terminal on February 26, 1908.

At the peak of intercity rail service, five passenger terminals were operated by competing railroad companies along the Hudson Waterfront. Of these, Hoboken Terminal is the only one still in active use. Those at Weehawken (New York Central), Pavonia (Erie Railroad), and Exchange Place (Pennsylvania Railroad) were demolished in the 1960s, while the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal was restored and is now part of Liberty State Park.

In October 1956, four years before its merger with the DL&W to form the Erie Lackawanna Railway, the Erie Railroad began shifting its trains from Pavonia Terminal to Hoboken. The Erie moved its Northern Branch trains to Hoboken in 1959. In October 1965, on former Erie routes, there were five weekday trains run to Midvale, three to Nyack on the Northern Branch, three to Waldwick via the Newark Branch, two to Essex Fells on its Caldwell Branch, two to Carlton Hill, and one to Newton.[8][9] All those trains were dropped in 1966. The last intercity trains that called at the station, with service to Chicago and Buffalo, were discontinued on January 5, 1970.

Conrail acquired the terminal in 1976 when it bought the Erie Lackawanna's rail assets. NJ Transit bought Conrail's rail properties in northern New Jersey, including Hoboken Terminal, in 1983.

Numerous streetcar lines (eventually owned and operated by the Public Service Railway), including the Hoboken Inclined Cable Railway, originated/terminated at the station until bustitution was completed on August 7, 1949.[7]

Hoboken Terminal c. 1954

Ferry service from the terminal to lower Manhattan ended on November 22, 1967.[10] It resumed in 1989 on the south side of the terminal and moved back to the restored ferry slips inside the historic terminal on December 7, 2011.[11]

The station was badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012, with a 5 feet (1.5 m) storm surge inundating the facility; the water rose as high as 8 feet (2.4 m) in the PATH tunnels. The waiting room reopened in January 2013, while extensive repairs were still in progress.[12][13] Daytime PATH service to midtown Manhattan was restored earlier, on December 19, and pre-Sandy service patterns were gradually restored by March 1, 2013.[14][15][16][17][18]

New clock tower

Designed by architect Kenneth M. Murchison in the Beaux-Arts style, the rail and ferry terminal buildings were constructed in 1907 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The terminal building is listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places[37] and the National Register of Historic Places (added in 1973 as #73001102 as the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and Ferry Terminal).[38] It has been undergoing extensive renovations which were projected for completion in 2011.[6]

The large main waiting room, with its floral and Greek Revival motifs in tiled stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany set atop bands of pale cement,[25] is generally considered one of the finest in the U.S. aesthetically. The terminal exterior extends to over four stories and has a distinguished copper-clad façade with ornate detailing. Its single-story base is constructed of rusticated Indiana limestone. A grand double stair with decorative cast-iron railings within the main waiting room provides an entrance to the upper-level ferry concourse.

A 225-foot (69 m) clock tower was originally built with the terminal over a century ago, but was dismantled in the early 1950s due to structural damage and deterioration from weather damage. A new clock tower, replicating the original, was constructed during the terminal's centennial year of 2007 and was fully erect that November. The replica tower has 4-foot-high (1.2 m) copper letters spelling out "LACKAWANNA", which are lit at night.

The original ferry slips inside the historic terminal were restored in 2011.[11]

The terminal is considered a milestone in American transportation development, combining rail, ferry, subway, streetcar (buses were added later, and light-rail was added even later), and pedestrian facilities in one of the most innovatively designed and engineered structures in the nation. Hoboken Terminal was also one of the first stations in the world to employ the Bush-type train shed, designed by and named for Lincoln Bush of the DL&W, which quickly became ubiquitous in station design.[25] The station is unusual for a New York City area commuter railroad terminal in that it still has low-level platforms, requiring passengers to use stairs on the train to board and alight.

Hoboken (DL&W)

Exchange Place (PRR)

Weehawken (NYCR)

Pavonia (Erie)

Communipaw (CNJ)

Map of the five train-to-ferry transfer points along the west shore of Hudson River circa 1900

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At Warrington Plaza

Though the passenger facilities are located within Hoboken, large parts of the infrastructure that supports them are located in Jersey City. The Hoboken/Jersey City line cuts across the rail yard at a northwest diagonal from the river to the intersection of Grove Street and Newark Street. It is at this corner that Observer Highway begins running parallel to the tracks and creating a de facto border for Hoboken.[39] The Long Slip (created with the landfilling of Harsimus Cove) creates the southern perimeter of the station, separating it from Jersey City's Newport neighborhood.

Motor vehicle access to the station is extremely limited. At the eastern end of Observer Highway buses are permitted to enter their terminal. Other vehicles are required to do a dog-leg turn onto Hudson Place. This 0.05-mile-long (0.080 km)[40] street (designated CR 736) is the only one with motor vehicle traffic adjacent to the station and acts as a pick-up/drop off point, and hosts a dedicated taxi stand. Egress from the terminal requires travelling north (for at least one block) on River Street.

Hudson Place ends at Warringtron Plaza. On this square one finds the main entrance to the waiting room and the vehicle entrances to the currently unused original ferry slips. A statue of Sam Sloan, president of the DL&W, moved during renovations faces the loading docks of the nearby post office. The plaza was named in honor of George Warrington, influential in the creation of NJ Transit, and as its executive director enabled the purchase and preservation of the station.

In 2009, pedestrian access to the terminal from the south was made possible with the opening of a new segment of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.[41] The closing of this gap along the promenade nearly completes the stretch from the Morris Canal to Weehawken Cove, with signage along the concourse at the rail head inside the terminal indicating that it is officially part of the walkway.

Hoboken Terminal viewed from the northeast, with Jersey City skyline in the background

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  Ferry slips before restoration as seen from the Hudson River
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  Hoboken Terminal from the water on an autumn afternoon in 1996
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  Clock tower being replaced as part of extensive renovations
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  Hoboken Terminal from the water, 2013
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  HBLR platform at tracks H1 and H2
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  Ferry terminal in use between 1989 and 2011 for WFC-bound boats
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  Hudson Place street stair to PATH
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  NJ Transit commuter rail platforms
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  Commuter rail platform area
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  One of two fare control areas of the PATH station
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  Hoboken Terminus after a heavy snow storm in 2010
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  Looking west in Hoboken Terminal waiting room
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  Ice Water faucet inside the main terminal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hoboken Terminal.

Google Maps Street View

Hudson Place and River Street entrance to PATH

Stairs and elevator to PATH on Hudson Place

PATH platforms

Waiting room

Commuter rail platforms

Light rail platforms

Ferry pier

• NJT rail station information page for Hoboken Terminal
• DepartureVision real time train information for Hoboken Terminal
• NJT Hudson–Bergen Light Rail station information page for Hoboken Terminal
• Metro-North station page for Hoboken
• PATH station details
• Hoboken Terminal Website
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NJ-59, "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and Ferry Terminal, Ferry Slips and Bridges"
• HAER No. NJ-135-A, "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Freight and Rail Yard, Long Slip Canal"
• HAER No. NJ-135-B, "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Freight and Rail Yard, Multiple Unit Light Inspection Shed"