PATH’s Hoboken Station Will Close January 30th for Repairs
Written by Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
Hoboken station’s current blue and white color scheme will be restored to white and Lackawanna Green following consultation with the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office and the Hoboken Historic Preservation Commission, a nod to the original railroad that ran out of Hoboken Terminal.
Image and caption courtesy of PANYNJ
HOBOKEN, N.J. - Port Authority of New York and New Jersey shares its plan to overhaul PATH's Hoboken Station beginning January 30th.
For 25 days, crews will make repairs to infrastructure and the station. According to the release from PANYNJ, PATH “will take full advantage of the closure with comprehensive track, infrastructure and station rehabilitations.” If the work were to be performed without a 25-day service closure during one of the historically less-busy February, it could take up to a year to complete. This extended closure is a first in PATH’s modern history. Typically, the agency says it opts to continue service during construction, as seen in the work done at LaGuardia, JFK Airport, Newark Airport, and the George Washington Bridge rehabilitation.
PATH’s Deputy Director of Infrastructure and Rolling Stock Tom Crowell said, “The most critical part of this project is the commitment we made to the public that at 5 a.m. on February 25, we will pull a train into that station and load it with passengers again.”
PATH Deputy Director for Operations and Customer Experience Sanchita Banerjee-Jimenez said, “We had to demonstrate that we thought about every way to do this, and this was the least painful. There are a lot of moving parts and projects that we’re bringing together under the umbrella of this closure.”
Crews will work 24/7 to complete the work. This totals 600 work hours. During the first 36 hours, PATH will dismantle signals and other wall-mounted equipment to allow crews as much work space as possible. The current 35-year-old double crossover slip switch will be replaced, resulting in fewer delays. The switch allows trains to access any of the station’s three tracks as they arrive.
Additionally, crews will remove the existing tracks and ballast, which has been “pulverized by 230 trains a day over more than a century, turning them into a fine powder that clogs the track bed rather than draining it.” Once crews replace the ballast, they will install more than 4,500 linear feet of new tracks. They will also replace the third rail which feeds power to the trains. They will be replaced “in the same area with a new composite material that conducts electricity more efficiently.” As for the station, it will receive structural repairs along with new tiles, lighting, signage, and four new staircases. Necessary materials to complete this work will be brought in via trucks to the rail yards in Harrison and Jersey City before they are transferred to a flatbed rail car and brought to Hoboken.
PATH’s Deputy Director Crowell added that “You don’t just want to put a Band-Aid on the problem. . . You want to dig as deep as you can, get down to the ballast and drainage, and do this right so you’re good for another generation.”
“A full or partial closure is common at other railroads, but it’s the first time PATH has been this aggressive,” Banerjee-Jimenez said. “For this railroad, this is a special, historic moment. The level of partnership, the level of support that we’re getting to make this happen, it’s a big deal.”
