Amtrak, NJ Transit to soon begin service transfer to new Portal North Bridge

Amtrak on Feb. 13 will begin transferring one service track from the 114-year-old Portal Bridge to the new Portal North Bridge over Hackensack River in New Jersey. 

The old bridge is a major bottleneck and source of delays for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains running between New York City and Newark, New Jersey, according to the NJ Transit project website. The service switchover is the final phase of project construction and also marks a major milestone in the Gateway Program, a series of rail infrastructure projects designed to double passenger-rail service capacity along the Northeast Corridor.

Between Feb. 15 and March 15, all NJ Transit rail lines apart from the Atlantic City Rail Line will be subject to modified train schedules, consolidations, cancellations, adjusted departure times and stopping patterns, NJ Transit officials said in a press release. A full breakdown of adjusted NJ Transit train schedules is available here.

Amtrak is also reducing weekday service on its Acela, Northeast Regional and Keystone routes.

Once the service transfer is complete, eastbound passenger-rail service heading into New York will resume on the original bridge, and westbound service leaving New York will begin on the new bridge. The second track transfer is planned for fall 2026, NJ Transit officials said.

“The cutover of the Portal North Bridge represents more than just work to connect railroad infrastructure; it signifies a whole new level of reliability on the Northeast Corridor and New Jersey that has never previously existed,” said Amtrak President Roger Harris in the press release.