Port Reading Junction is a major
rail junction (MANS) in
Manville, New Jersey
Manville is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region and is a part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's populati ...
serving
rail freight travelling between the
Port of New York and New Jersey
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
It includes the system of navigable wate ...
in
northeastern New Jersey and points to the south and west. It is the site of Manville Yard.
History
The junction was originally developed in 1890 by the Reading Railroad Trenton Line near the
Lehigh Valley Railroad
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, ...
Main Line to access
Port Reading on the
Arthur Kill
The Arthur Kill (sometimes referred to as the Staten Island Sound) is a tidal strait between Staten Island (also known as Richmond County), New York and Union and Middlesex counties, New Jersey. It is a major navigational channel of the Port of ...
in
Woodbridge Township,
[New Jersey: 2010 - Population and Housing Unit Counts - 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH-2-32)]
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy
An economy is an area of th ...
, August 2012. Accessed November 30, 2012. mostly for coal transshipments. and a spur to
Perth Amboy
Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, t ...
.
The railyard adjacent to the junction is sometimes still referred to as Weston as the part of Manville was once called from the larger community
Weston
Weston may refer to:
Places Australia
* Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Weston, New South Wales
* Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra
* Weston Park, Canberra, a park
Canada
* Weston, Nova Scotia
* ...
.
Freight rail
The junction is at the convergence of the
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (3 ...
Lehigh Line, the
Conrail Shared Assets Operations Lehigh Line, and the
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
Trenton Subdivision, the last of which runs along the original ROW for
Reading Line
The Reading Line is a main freight line in Pennsylvania owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Railway. It stretches from the Harrisburg Line at Wyomissing Junction in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania to a junction with the Lehigh Line in Bethlehem, P ...
and the proposed
West Trenton Line connection to the
Raritan Valley Line
The Raritan Valley Line is a commuter rail service operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) which serves passengers in municipalities in Union, Somerset, and Hunterdon counties in the Raritan Valley region in central New Jersey, United States. T ...
. The junction was expanded in 2008 to accommodate the approximately 40 trains per day that were using it. It now consists of four tracks.
See also
*
Port Reading Refinery
Port Reading Refinery, also known as Hess Refinery''(photo) was an oil refinery located in Perth Amboy and Port Reading, New Jersey. It was constructed by Hess Oil under Leon Hess in 1958. It is a simple refinery which further processes other ref ...
*
List of New Jersey railroad junctions
This is a List of New Jersey railroad junctions, present and past.
Abbreviations used in the table:
*ACRR = Atlantic City Railroad
*B&O = Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
*BRW = Blairstown Railway
*C&A = Camden and Amboy Railroad
*CNJ = Central R ...
*
List of New Jersey railroads
References
{{Reflist
Manville, New Jersey
Rail yards in New Jersey
Transportation buildings and structures in Middlesex County, New Jersey
Conrail
Lehigh Valley Railroad
Norfolk Southern Railway
Reading Company
CSX Transportation