Garfield Avenue station

Not to be confused with Garfield station.

Garfield Avenue is a station on the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) in the Claremont section of Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey. Located between the grade crossing at Randolph Avenue and the bridge at Garfield Avenue, the station in a double side platform and two track structure. The station is on the West Side Avenue branch of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, which goes from West Side Avenue station to Tonnelle Avenue station in North Bergen. The station is accessible for handicapped people as per the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. An elevator is present to get people from Garfield Avenue to track level and the platforms are even with the train cars. The station opened to the public on April 17, 2000 as part of the original operating segment of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail.^[1]

Garfield Avenue
Hudson–Bergen Light Rail station
The Garfield Avenue station in April 2015, facing toward West Side Avenue.
General information
Location	Garfield Avenue & Randolph Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey 07304
Coordinates	40°42′38″N 74°04′16″W / 40.7105°N 74.0710°W / 40.7105; -74.0710Coordinates: 40°42′38″N 74°04′16″W / 40.7105°N 74.0710°W / 40.7105; -74.0710
Owned by	New Jersey Transit
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	April 17, 2000^[1]
Electrified	750 V (DC) overhead catenary
Services
Preceding station NJ Transit Following station Martin Luther King Drive toward West Side Avenue West Side–Tonnelle Liberty State Park toward Tonnelle Avenue
Former services Preceding station Central Railroad of New Jersey Following station Jackson Avenue toward Newark Newark and New York Branch Local Arlington Avenue Pacific Avenue toward Jersey City

Garfield Avenue station is a block east of the former Arlington Avenue stop of the Newark and New York Railroad, a branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. This branch went from the Lafayette Street Terminal in Newark to the junction at Communipaw station in Jersey City, where it met up with the main line to Communipaw Terminal. Service on the line began on July 23, 1869.^[2] The station depot westbound at Arlington Avenue was built in 1889 and the eastbound station in 1910.^[3][4] Service to Newark ended abruptly on February 3, 1946 when a steamship knocked two spans of the bridge over the Hackensack River into the water below. Passenger service at Arlington Avenue ended on May 6, 1948.^[5]

History

The station opened on April 17, 2000.^[1]

In early 2019, it was announced that the West Side Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive, and Garfield Avenue stations on the West Side Branch would close for nine months starting in June 2019 for repairs to a sewer line running along he right-of-way. During that time, replacement service would be provided by NJ Transit shuttle buses.^[6][7]

Station layout

Ground/platform level Exit/entrance and elevator
	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Southbound	←      West Side–Tonnelle toward West Side Avenue (Martin Luther King Drive)
	Northbound	West Side–Tonnelle toward Tonnelle Avenue (Liberty State Park) →
	Side platform, doors will open on the right

The station is at the eastern end of a railroad cut originally excavated in Bergen Hill in 1869 for the Central Railroad of New Jersey Newark and New York Railroad Branch. Garfield Avenue, presumably named for assassinated president James A. Garfield, was once part of Bergen Point Plank Road, which itself had once been a major colonial post road. A decorative theme for the station is two dimensional "cut-outs" of adults and children, some of whom are playing.^[8]

Gallery

•  

  Street-level entrance on the northwest corner of the bridge

•  

  The light rail ROW east of the station and the Randolph Avenue crossing

•  

  The light rail ROW west of the station

References

1. Dunleavy, Brian (April 18, 2000). "Day One is Smooth for New Light Rail". The Bergen Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. p. 3. Retrieved October 31, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.  
2. Urquhart 2017.
3. "Railroad Ripples". The Passaic Daily News. Passaic, New Jersey. October 4, 1889. p. 3. Retrieved November 1, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.  
4. Bernhart 2004, p. 103.
5. "CNJ to Drop Part of Branch". The Plainfield Evening News. Plainfield, New Jersey. May 6, 1948. p. 2. Retrieved November 1, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.  
6. McDonald, Terrence T. (March 7, 2019). "Light rail riders sound off on planned route suspension in Jersey City". nj.com. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
7. "West Side Avenue Light Rail Service to be Suspended Until 2020". Jersey Digs. February 8, 2019. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
8. "Garfield Avenue". SubwayNut. November 24, 2008.

• Bernhart, Benjamin L. (2004). Historic Journeys By Rail: Central Railroad of New Jersey Stations, Structures & Marine Equipment. Outer Station Project. ISBN 1891402072.
• Urquhart, Frank J. (2017). A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey, Volume 1. Altenmünster, Germany: Jazzybee Verlag Jürgen Beck. ISBN 9783849649906. Retrieved November 1, 2019.

External links

• Garfield Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Randolph Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View
• Pedestrian Crossing & Exit to Garfield Avenue from Google Maps Street View