NJ Transit Kicks Off New Brunswick Station Rehabilitation Project

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - , NJ Transit, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, and city officials kicked off a rehabilitation project on Tuesday, Sept. 9 to make modifications to the New Brunswick Station.

The $71 million rehabilitation project includes lengthening platforms to accommodate NJ Transit trains and making improvements to lighting and walkways, according to an MSN report. Nearby, construction is currently underway on the $750 million HELIX research complex that consists of three buildings that will be Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson medical school and Nokia Bell Labs. The station serves an estimated 4,000 riders weekly and is the seventh busiest station for the agency.

Construction on the project is slated to begin this fall. Crews will implement better lighting and walkways for customers walking along Easton Avenue, according to Middlesex County Improvement Authority Executive Director H. James Polos. In 2026, crews will work on a “new ticketing center” that includes an elevator and improvements on the historic building. The report states that the “historic station facade will be preserved,” even as the station’s interior receives lighting and heating upgrades.

NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said, “With the hub, the apartments and the university, as work from home begins to change, places like New Brunswick will be on the leading edge. . . Ridership numbers are going to go up, we need to accommodate 12-car train sets. To do it, we must have the infrastructure it takes.”

Kolluri went on to say that the station has a lot of water intrusion, and “The sprinkler system is very antiquated. We have a lot of flooding in the basement, structural work s part of it, windows still need to be worked on . . . We’ll make sure the modern amenities blend in with the historic elements.”

As for funding, CEO Kolluri said the funding is broken down as such: $45 million from the Debt Defeasance Fund; $16 million from NJ Transit; $15 million from the Transportation Trust Fund with the rest coming from “other sources.”