New Jersey Southern Railroad - Conrail and Beyond

Conrail and Beyond

The Central Railroad of New Jersey was among the railroads merged into ConRail in April 1976. ConRail began closing segments of the former NJS, and in 1978 severed the main line by abandoning the stretch through the Pine Barrens from Lakehurst to Winslow Junction. The Toms River branch (diverging at Lakehurst) was closed by 1988. Freight service remains on the NJS main line from Red Bank to Lakehurst. The line from Winslow Junction to Vineland is run by the SRNJ, The line south of Landisville is out of service after it was damaged by floods in 2003. New Jersey Transit proposed passenger service over parts of the NJS in 1996 as a project called MOM (Monmouth Ocean Middlesex). The first draft environmental impact statement was released in 2003. The three study routings run south to the current end of operable track at Lakehurst. One branches off the former New York and Long Branch, now called the North Jersey Coast Line, at Red Bank, just as NJS trains did. The Boards of Chosen Freeholders (county governments) for Monmouth and Ocean Counties both announced a preference in 2006 for the Monmouth Junction routing, which branches off the Northeast Corridor Line south of New Brunswick and runs over what is now a freight line via Jamesburg and Freehold, entering the former NJS at Farmingdale. The Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders opposed the Monmouth Junction routing, and received support from Governor Jon Corzine early in 2008. Residents of Jamesburg, where the railroad runs in a grassy island in the middle of the main street, were particularly opposed. In September 2008, objections were raised for the first time to the routing based on its path across Monmouth Battlefield State Park. Another draft environmental impact statement is to be released in 2009.