Newark Rail Station (Delaware)

This article is about the Amtrak station in Delaware. For the station in New Jersey, see Pennsylvania Station (Newark).

Newark Amtrak station SEPTA Regional Rail commuter rail station
Newark Delaware Rail Station, April 2010
Station statistics
Address	10 Mopar Drive Newark, DE 19713
Coordinates	39°40′13″N 75°45′11″W / 39.67028°N 75.75306°W / 39.67028; -75.75306
Lines	Amtrak:   Northeast Regional SEPTA Regional Rail:   Wilmington/Newark Line
Connections	DART First State: 16, 33, 59, 65 James F. Hall Trail
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Parking	380 spaces
Other information
Opened	1877
Accessible
Code	NRK
Owned by	Amtrak
Fare zone	5 (SEPTA)
Traffic
Passengers (2010)	9,300[1]  1.9% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Aberdeen toward Newport News or Lynchburg Northeast Regional Wilmington toward Boston South Station or Springfield SEPTA Terminus Wilmington/Newark Line Churchmans Crossing toward Temple University
Newark Passenger Station U.S. National Register of Historic Places Location: South College Avenue and Amtrak Conrail RR, Newark, Delaware Coordinates: 39°40′13″N 75°45′11″W / 39.67028°N 75.75306°W / 39.67028; -75.75306Coordinates: 39°40′13″N 75°45′11″W / 39.67028°N 75.75306°W / 39.67028; -75.75306 Area: 0.1 acres (0.04 ha) Built: 1877 Architect: S.T. Fuller Architectural style: Late Victorian, High Victorian Governing body: Private MPS: Newark MRA NRHP Reference#: 82002346[2] Added to NRHP: May 07, 1982

Newark Station is a station in Newark, Delaware on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, serving Amtrak Northeast Regional trains and SEPTA Wilmington/Newark Line Regional Rail trains.

Service

The Newark station is the southern terminus of weekday service for SEPTA; it does not serve the station on weekends. Like all stations in Delaware, SEPTA service is provided under contract and funded through DART First State. An extension of Maryland's MARC commuter rail service is planned for 2015, connecting Newark to Baltimore and Washington D.C.^[3]

The station is located at Mopar Drive and South College Avenue, and travellers arriving at the station must walk a few blocks north along South College Avenue to reach the University of Delaware or the businesses centered around Main Street. A 380 space parking lot exists, mostly serving park and ride passengers bound for Wilmington, Delaware or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The James F. Hall trail also runs along the north side of the tracks.^[4]

The station building, originally constructed by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad 1877, is adjacent to the southbound platform, but is no longer used as a station. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since May 7, 1982.

Of the two Delaware stations served by Amtrak, Newark was the second busiest in FY2010, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 25 passengers daily.^[1]

Proposed relocation to new Library Avenue station

A new station near Route 72 (Library Avenue) and South Chapel Street (Approximate Location 39°40′23″N 75°44′24″W / 39.673°N 75.74°W / 39.673; -75.74) is listed on the Federal Transit Administration's "Final Design" list, but not scheduled to begin construction until 2011.

Longest (almost) continuous trip on commuter rail

Newark station is the southern terminus of the longest nearly-continuous trip by commuter rail in the Northeast Corridor. By using a combination of SEPTA, New Jersey Transit, Metro-North Railroad, and Shore Line East it is possible to travel all the way to New London, Connecticut, a distance of 258.31 miles (415.71 km). It is necessary, however, to take a short hop on the subway, quick cab ride or mile walk from NJ Transit service at New York's Penn Station to the Metro-North service at Grand Central Terminal.

This is necessitated by the fact that the Metro-North deviates from the Northeast Corridor, providing service to Grand Central and eastern Midtown Manhattan. The Northeast Corridor leaves Penn Station through the East River Tunnels used (though not owned) by the Long Island Rail Road, then finds its way through Long Island City and Astoria in Queens, over Wards and Randall's Islands and through the South Bronx. The Metro-North's New Haven Line rejoins the Northeast Corridor between its Pelham and New Rochelle stations in Westchester County.

An exception to this necessary and complex transfer occurs when Metro-North operates Game-day service to the Meadowlands Sports Complex, which operates via Penn Station (by bypassing Grand Central via the Northeast Corridor) during football season, allowing the full 250-odd mile trip, albeit with a great deal of planning ahead of time as there is obviously no regular service. There are preliminary plans to bring Metro-North into Penn Station, following the completion of the Long Island Railroad's East Side Access project into Grand Central.

On a related note, the Maryland Transit Administration has made steps to extend its Penn Line from Perryville, Maryland to Newark, which would allow a continuous journey from Fredericksburg, Virginia to New London. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has also taken steps to extend service beyond Providence, Rhode Island to Wickford Junction in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, though no serious talks have begun on linking the MBTA and the Shore Line East. Such a venture, coupled with other planned service, would provide a very slow (though cheaper) journey all the way from Virginia to New Hampshire, traveling through ten states and the District of Columbia.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2010, State of Delaware" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2010. http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/factsheets/DELAWARE10.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-06. 
2. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
3. ^ MTA Maryland (September 2007). "MARC Growth & Investment Plan" (PDF). http://mtamaryland.com/projects/marc%20plan%20full.pdf. Retrieved 2010-12-05. 
4. ^ "James F. Hall Trail". Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. http://www.traillink.com/trail/james-f-hall-trail.aspx. Retrieved 2010-12-05. 

External links

Media related to Newark Rail Station (Delaware) at Wikimedia Commons

• Amtrak – Stations – Newark, DE
• SEPTA station page for Newark
• Newark Amtrak & SEPTA Station (USA RailGuide -- TrainWeb)
• DART Commuter Rail Improvement Plan
• College Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Station House from Google Maps Street View