Overview | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Winslow Township, New Jersey, U.S. |
Reporting mark | SRNJ |
Locale | South Jersey |
Dates of operation | 1991– |
Predecessor | Conrail |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
Length | 71 miles (114 km) [1] |
The Southern Railroad of New Jersey( reporting mark SRNJ) is a small short-line railroad company based in Winslow Township, New Jersey. The railroad operates freight trains in two areas in Southern New Jersey. In the Winslow area, trains operate between Winslow Junction and Pleasantville, and between Winslow Junction and the Winslow Hot Mix asphalt plant in Winslow Township. In Gloucester County, the company operates on the Salem Branch between Swedesboro, New Jersey and Woodbury.
JP Rail, Inc., a Pennsylvania corporation doing business as SRNJ, [2] operates tracks in the Winslow area that originally belonged to the New Jersey Southern Railroad, and which were later acquired by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (in the 1880s) and subsequently Conrail (1976) and the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT; 1984). [3] SRNJ acquired operating rights to the 15.5 miles (24.9 km) Winslow-Vineland route, known as the Winslow Branch, from The Shore Fast Line, Inc. (SFLR) in 1991. [4] (SFLR, a freight carrier, is not to be confused with the Shore Fast Line, an interurban passenger railroad that was operated by the Atlantic City and Shore Railroad from 1907 to 1948.)
In the 1991 transaction SRNJ also obtained rights from SFLR to operate freight on 30.7 miles (49.4 km) of the Atlantic City Line owned by New Jersey Transit, from Winslow to Pleasantville; and took ownership of several short sections of connecting branch lines and junctions. [4]
The Salem-Swedesboro route, known locally as the Salem County Branch Line, was originally part of the Salem Railroad (later the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad), and subsequently became the Salem Secondary Track on the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines (PRSL). PRSL was acquired by Conrail in 1976, and the Salem branch was sold by Conrail to the Salem County government in 1985. [5] SRNJ contracted with the county in 1995 to take over operations on the 18.6 miles (29.9 km) route (plus a one-mile spur in Salem) from the West Jersey Railroad Co. [6] which was awarded the initial contract by the county in 1988. [7] Between 2009 and 2012 U.S. Rail Corporation operated the Salem line. [2] [8] In 2012 the county reassigned the contract to SRNJ, which ended in 2022. [9] [10]
The railroad serves local businesses and interchanges freight cars with Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO). SRNJ maintains an interchange yard at Winslow Junction, connecting with the Atlantic City Line and CSAO Beesley Point Secondary Track. [11] The Winslow branch route was restored after it was damaged by floods in 2003. As of 2022 the Winslow Junction-Vineland section of track is not in use outside of yard limits in Winslow Junction. The railroad also has trackage rights over NJT's Atlantic City Line, to Atlantic City, where they can access their branch line to Pleasantville, NJ.
In 2018, the SRNJ leased the Salem Branch between Swedesboro and Woodbury from Conrail. [12] In Woodbury, the SRNJ maintains a yard and connects with Conrail Shared Assets Operations. The railroad also maintain a yard in Swedesboro for interchange with SMS Rail Lines.
The SRNJ owns a diverse variety of locomotive equipment including an EMD GP9, EMD GP10 and MLW M-420s.
NJ Transit Rail Operations is the rail division of NJ Transit. It operates commuter rail service in New Jersey, with most service centered on transportation to and from New York City, Hoboken, and Newark. NJ Transit also operates rail service in Orange and Rockland counties in New York under contract to Metro-North Railroad. The commuter rail lines saw 57,179,000 riders in 2023, making it the third-busiest commuter railroad in North America and the longest commuter rail system in North America by route length.
Cape May Seashore Lines is a short line railroad in southern New Jersey that operates both freight trains and excursion trains. It offers two excursion services: a 30-mile (48 km) round trip between Richland and Tuckahoe along the Beesley's Point Secondary railroad line and a 14-mile (23 km) round trip between Rio Grande, Cold Spring Village, and Cape May City along the Cape May Branch. The track is owned by NJ Transit and leased to the Seashore Lines. The Cape May Branch is the original line operated by the Cape May Seashore Lines and runs from Cape May north to Tuckahoe, connecting to the Beesley's Point Secondary in Tuckahoe. Cape May Seashore Lines operates freight service along the Beesley's Point Secondary line between Winslow and Palermo, interchanging with Conrail Shared Assets Operations in Winslow. Tony Macrie has been president of the Seashore Lines since he formed the railroad in 1984.
The Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines was a railroad that operated in South Jersey in the 20th century. It was created in 1933 as a joint consolidation venture between two competing railroads in the region: the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company.
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The Port Reading Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1890 and completed its main line in 1892. It was controlled throughout its corporate life by the Reading Company. The Port Reading Railroad's line was conveyed to Conrail in 1976, and is today the Port Reading Secondary.
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The West Michigan Railroad is a shortline railroad in southwest Michigan. It began operations in 1995, replacing the bankrupt Kalamazoo, Lake Shore and Chicago Railroad on an ex-Pere Marquette Railway line between Hartford and Paw Paw, Michigan. That company had taken over operations in 1987 from CSX Transportation.
The West Jersey and Seashore Railroad (WJ&S) was a Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary in the U.S. state of New Jersey with a connection to Philadelphia. It was formed through the merger of several smaller roads in May 1896. At the end of 1925 it operated 379 miles (610 km) of road on 717 miles (1,154 km) of track; that year it reported 166 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 332 million passenger-miles. The railroad became part of Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in 1933.
The Atlantic City Railroad was a Philadelphia and Reading Railway subsidiary that became part of Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in 1933. At the end of 1925, it operated 161 miles (259 km) of road on 318 miles (512 km) of track; that year it reported 43 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 204 million passenger-miles.
SMS Rail Lines is a shortline railroad based at Pureland Industrial Park in Bridgeport, New Jersey. The company handles all freight car delivery to businesses located within the industrial park. It also operates lines in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and Guilderland, New York. Guilderland-based operations operate as SMS Rail Lines of New York, LLC. SMS maintains many locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. SMS provides chemical off-loading equipment and transload facilities to enable businesses to receive rail freight traffic. The company also operates the Woodstown Central Railroad, a tourist railroad based out of Woodstown, New Jersey.
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