Trackage The terminal, along with its docks and yards, was one of several massive terminal complexes (the other being the terminals of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Exchange Place, the Erie Railroad Terminal in Pavonia, the Lackawanna Railroad Terminal in Hoboken, and the West Shore Railroad Terminal in Weehawken) that dominated the western waterfront of the
New York Harbor from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century. Of the two still standing, the
Hoboken Terminal (the former Lackwanna Railroad Terminal) is the only one still in use. Lines from the station headed to the southwest. Arriving at the waterfront from the points required overcoming significant natural obstacles including crossing the
Hackensack River and
Meadows and
Hudson Palisades, and in the case of New Jersey Central, traversing the
Newark Bay. For its mainline, the railroad constructed the
Newark Bay Bridge to
Elizabeth. Its
Newark and New York Branch cut through
Bergen Hill and crossed two bridges at
Kearny Point. Both
rights-of-way in
Hudson County are now used by the
Hudson Bergen Light Rail, one terminating at
West Side Avenue and the other at
8th Street station in
Bayonne.
Ferries and ships in
New York City, circa 1900 The
Communipaw ferry constituted the main ferry route from the terminal and was operated by four ferries that crossed the North River to
Liberty Street Ferry Terminal in lower
Manhattan. Additional service to
23rd Street was also operated until the CRNJ went bankrupt in 1945 and scrapped its ferry boats used on the 23rd street route in 1947. In the early 1900s the B&O Railroad requested the CRNJ operate ferries for its luxury
Royal Blue service passengers to
Whitehall Terminal and this was accomplished for several years until the City of New York purchased the
Staten Island Ferry from the B&O's subsidiary, the
Staten Island Railway, and ended the service in 1905.
Railroad lines , which provided luxury service between Jersey City Terminal and
Washington, D.C. and made the journey in under five hours, pictured in 1898 Jersey Central's
Blue Comet offered elaborate service to
Atlantic City. The railroad's suburban trains served passengers to west and south, including the
Jersey Shore. CNJ's long-distance service into
Pennsylvania ran to
Harrisburg,
Scranton, and present-day
Jim Thorpe, then known as Mauch Chunk. In April 1967, the opening of the
Aldene Connection led to the end of passenger service to the station and the diverting of all remaining passenger trains to
Penn Station in
Newark. Since then,
Hoboken Terminal has served as the main commuter rail station for
Jersey City, and straddles the Jersey City/
Hoboken line. The timetable of 27 September 1936 shows 132 weekday departures, including 25 to CNJ's Broad St. Newark station, 25 that ran south from Elizabethport, two to Chrome and the rest to the NY&LB, and 19 Reading and B&O trains that turned southwest at Bound Brook Junction. Three trains ran to
Mauch Chunk and two to
Harrisburg via
Allentown; the other 58 trains terminated along the main line between West 8th St in
Bayonne and
Hampton.
Named passenger trains Until April 1958, several long-distance trains originated at the station, and trains to
Philadelphia lasted until 1967. * With the closing of Baltimore & Ohio passenger service north of Baltimore in 1958 the
Royal Blue was abandoned and the
Capitol Limited,
Metropolitan Special and
National Limited were terminated east of Baltimore. ==Post-railroad service uses==