Rail service in Trenton dates back to the days of the
Camden and Amboy Railroad, which built a station on East Street in 1837, until it was moved to the current site in 1863. The C&A was merged into the
United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company in 1867 and acquired by the
Pennsylvania Railroad in 1893, which replaced the station the same year. As with many PRR stations, especially in New Jersey, the station became a
Penn Central station once the
New York Central merged with the PRR in 1968. Amtrak took over intercity railroad service in 1971, but Penn Central continued to serve commuters, even as the station building closed in 1972. In 1976, the bankrupt Penn Central and Amtrak built the new Trenton Rail Station just before Penn Central's rail assets were taken over by
Conrail. It was built to a
standard template used at many Amtrak stations built in the 1970s and early 1980s, with a rectangular shape and a boxy, cantilevered metal roof.
NJ Transit Rail Operations took over the station when it acquired Conrail's New Jersey commuter lines in 1983, but the station continued to serve Amtrak as well as
SEPTA Regional Rail to Philadelphia. From 2006 to 2008, a major reconstruction project authorized by NJT took place with $46 million worth of federal aid, and $33 million worth of state funding that resulted in the current Trenton Transit Center. == References ==