New Jersey residents in one town are bracing for more commuting headaches. The PATH station in Hoboken is shutting down for 25 days starting Thursday for track work and station upgrades. While alternate travel options are being presented, people are still not very excited about it. NBC New York’s Adam Harding reports.
The Hoboken PATH station will close for 25 days starting Thursday for track and station work, requiring commuters to make alternative plans for travel into New York City.
The full-station closure, part of a $430 million system-wide investment, is set to begin at 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 30 until 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25
While it will derail daily commutes for riders, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the closure is necessary to do work on the two tunnels into the station and is better than the alternative option of weekend service reductions for a full year. Port Authority also plans to make improvements to the station and upgrades to tracks in the nearly 117-year-old system.
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The work includes repairing 4,500 feet of tracks, as well as updating platforms, switches and train cars. The Hoboken station was flooded by Superstorm Sandy, and some of the needed improvements date back to the 2012 storm.
To help ease travel troubles during the work for the estimated 20,000 daily riders, PATH will be offering free shuttle bus service from Hoboken to the Newport and Exchange Place station. NJ Transit also places to increase the frequency of the No. 126 line, which runs from the Hoboken station to the Midtown Bus Terminal. More PATH trains will be running between the Newport and Exchange place trains on the New Jersey side and the 33rd Street and World Trade Center stops on the Manhattan side during the closure.
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NJ Transit also plans to add additional service on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail weekdays during rush hour.
Ferry service will be cross-honored and expanded from the Hoboken ferry terminals, the PATH/NJ Transit station terminal, and the 14th Street terminal. NY Waterway will be expanded crosstown bus service from the Midtown/West 39th Street terminal. Ferry service will also run until 10 p.m. on weekdays and 12 a.m. on weekends at the Hoboken terminals.
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“We recognize that a full station closure is disruptive, but it allows us to fast-track extensive repair work within the station and critical infrastructure around it that otherwise would have involved years of intermittent closures if we performed it piecemeal,” said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton in a statement. “We are committed to full transparency throughout this process and providing an array of travel alternatives during the closure.”
Commuters from the Hoboken PATH station normally can travel through Newport and Exchange Place to World Trade Center or through Christopher Street into Manhattan.
Transit leaders are confident the station will reopen in less than a month. The agency said the timing was best because February sees some of the lowest ridership. However, some riders may not appreciate the timing, given it comes on the heels of increased fares and congestion pricing.
More information on the closure is available on the PATH site here.