Amtrak and NJ Transit will begin the final phase of Portal North Bridge cutover work on Oct. 9, transferring the last track from the 116-year-old Portal Bridge to the new fixed-span crossing over the Hackensack River and triggering roughly five weeks of adjusted schedules across the network.

The service changes take effect Oct. 11 and affect all NJ Transit rail lines except the Atlantic City Rail Line. Regular schedules are expected to resume on Nov. 15, subject to completion of safety testing. NJ Transit warns riders to expect train consolidations, cancellations, and altered departure times and stopping patterns during the outage window.

The disruption mirrors the February and March 2024 outages, when the first track was switched over to the new span.

What does the cutover deliver?

Once complete, all rail traffic to and from New York City will move over the new Portal North Bridge, and the original swing bridge will be permanently retired. The new two-track, high-level, fixed-span structure rises 50 feet over the Hackensack River — double the previous vertical clearance — allowing marine traffic to pass underneath without interrupting rail operations.

"Five weeks of adjusted schedules will deliver a modern, high-level bridge that ends a century of swing-bridge delays for customers traveling the Northeast Corridor to and from New York," said NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri. "We worked closely with Amtrak on a service plan that maximizes capacity and keeps every rail line running."

The old bridge's movable span has been a chronic source of delays on the Northeast Corridor, and its retirement marks a concrete reliability gain for the busiest passenger rail corridor in the United States.

How will riders be affected?

NJ Transit says it built the service plan with Amtrak and regional partners around three principles: maximizing capacity and seat availability, maintaining service on every rail line, and upholding safety standards. Three lines will see simultaneous engineering work while train traffic is reduced:

• North Jersey Coast Line: Work on the moveable bridge at Brielle runs Oct. 11 for two weeks, with busing between Bay Head and Manasquan.
• Port Jervis Line: Substitute busing on weekdays from Oct. 11 through Nov. 14 for track maintenance between Suffern and Port Jervis. Eight weekday midday off-peak trains will be replaced by buses, with rail connections at Ramsey Route 17.
• Raritan Valley Line: Buses replace trains between Cranford and Newark on Nov. 7 for Conrail track replacement.

Amtrak is using the same reduced-traffic window to advance eight additional maintenance projects across the Northeast Corridor in six states and Washington, D.C.

How is the project funded?

The U.S. Department of Transportation, the state of New Jersey and Amtrak provide the primary funding. In January 2021, then-New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced a Full Funding Grant Agreement securing $766.5 million in Federal Transit Administration funding for construction.

Portal North Bridge is a critical component of the wider Gateway Program, which will eventually double rail capacity between Newark and New York.

"As we enter this second and final cutover for Portal North Bridge, we're building on the success of the first one, to deliver tangible results and benefits to New Jersey visitors and residents," said Amtrak Interim President Byl Herrmann. "After the success of the first cutover, we followed that up with outstanding service during the World Cup, and we are going to conclude the third major event for us this year on a high note."

If safety testing concludes on schedule, the operators will restore full service over the new span on Nov. 15, ending more than a century of swing-bridge operations on the corridor.