NJT Multi-level Car 7058

Location: Metropark Station, Iselin, NJ
Operator of Vehicle: New Jersey Transit
Date of Photo: August 6, 2017

What do you do when you operate a commuter rail service in to the busiest train station in the United States, want to add service, but that station is at capacity? In New Jersey Transit’s case, the answer is design and purchase Multi-Level cars!  However, this was more challenging for NJT than it might have been for some other US commuter rail systems.  The multi-level cars had to be designed in a way so that they could fit in the North River Tunnels that connect New Jersey to New York Penn Station.  Those tunnels were constructed in the early 1900s and opened in 1910, and as it is, the multi-levels’ design makes for a tight fit.  Double decker trains such as Amtrak’s Superliner cars and the Long Island Railroad’s C3 cars can’t fit in the North River Tunnel at all.  Although the tunnels  clearances are not nearly as restrictive as in the Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel south of Baltimore Penn Station, MARC exercised an option order on NJT’s original contract with Bombardier for its own multi-level cars.

For more photos of New Jersey Transit trains, please click here.