Summit station (NJ Transit)

Summit
General information
Location	40 Union Place, Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
Coordinates	40°42′59.6″N74°21′27.9″W / 40.716556°N 74.357750°W / 40.716556; -74.357750
Owned by	New Jersey Transit
Lines	Morristown Line and Gladstone Branch
Platforms	2 (1 island platform, 1 side platform)
Tracks	3
Connections	NJT Bus : 70, 986 Lakeland : 78
Construction
Accessible	yes
Other information
Fare zone	9 [1]
History
Opened	September 17, 1837 (preliminary trip) [2] September 28, 1837 (regular service) [3] [4]
Rebuilt	January 6, 1905 [5]
Electrified	December 18, 1930 [6]
Passengers
2024	2,399 (average weekday) [7]
Services
Preceding station NJ Transit Following station New Providence toward Gladstone Gladstone Branch Short Hills weekdays toward New York Penn Station or Hoboken Chatham toward Hackettstown Morristown Line Short Hills toward New York Penn Station or Hoboken
Former services Preceding station Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Following station Chatham toward Buffalo Main Line Short Hills toward Hoboken New Providence toward Gladstone Gladstone Branch Roseville Avenue toward Hoboken
Location

Summit station is an active commuter railroad station in the city of Summit, in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located in a cut between Union Place and Railroad Avenue in Summit, the station serves as the converge/diverge point of NJ Transit's Morris and Essex Lines: the Gladstone Branch and the Morristown Line. Both services east of Summit station share lines until their respective terminals at Hoboken or New York Penn Station. The lines westbound diverge near Summit Yard, with the Morristown Line heading for Hackettstown and the Gladstone Branch trains running to the Gladstone station. The station has three tracks and two high-level platforms (one island platform and one side platform).

Railroad service through Summit began with the extension of the Morris and Essex Railroad from Orange to Madison on September 27, 1837. The current station was built from 1902–1905 as part of a grade crossing elimination project funded by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

History

The station had served several Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and then Erie-Lackwanna Railroad, named passenger trains. These included the Lake Cities,Owl/New York Mail,Twilight/Pocono Express and the DLW flagship train, the Phoebe Snow. ^{[8] [9]}

The station was cosmetically renovated for the 2005 PGA Championship at the Baltusrol Golf Club in nearby Springfield. Status screens were installed on the platforms to show train arrivals and platforms, which are still present, and fittings were painted. During that time, buses were used as the connection to go to and from the PGA Championship. ^[10]

On December 20, 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy chose the station as the venue to sign legislation to reform the management of NJ Transit. ^[11]

On the evening of September 26, 2025, a work train derailed near the station. ^[12]

Station layout and services

There are two platforms and three tracks: Track 1 is served by a side platform, while an island platform serves Track 2 and the Wall Track. Track 1 is accessible via the station overpass or directly from the Union Place parking lot, while the island platform can only be accessed via the overpass.

In the early morning hours, trains on the Gladstone Branch originate at Gladstone Station with a final destination to Hoboken Terminal. Trains going to New York Penn Station originate in Dover.

On weekends, the Gladstone Branch trains only operate between Summit and Gladstone, requiring passengers wishing to travel farther east to transfer across the platform to a Morristown Line train, which operates between Dover and New York (as well as Hoboken via a transfer at Newark Broad Street station).

The station has a small parking lot on its property that slopes down from Union Place. Another large lot is across Summit Avenue, accessible from Broad Street. In the 1990s, a multistory parking garage was built on part of the Broad Street lot. Following the September 11 attacks, the city made daily chalk marks on the tires of the many unclaimed vehicles to help identify those missing.^{[ citation needed ]}

The station also has a waiting room with a small coffee and newspaper shop open during the morning rush hour and then through the evening rush hour.

Gallery

• 
  Summit station in 1968
• 
  Station building on Union Place in downtown Summit
• 
  Midtown Direct train in Summit
• 
  Summit's 9/11 memorial outside the station
• 
  Interior of the station, with the cafe in the back

Bibliography

• Douglass, A.M. (1912). The Railroad Trainman, Volume 29. Cleveland, Ohio: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
• Walker, Herbert T. (1902). "Early History of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and Its Locomotives - Part 2: The Morris and Essex Railroad". Railroad Gazette. 34. Retrieved April 3, 2020.

References

1. "Morris and Essex Timetables" (PDF). Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Transit Rail Operations. November 7, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 4, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
2. "Morris and Essex is Seventy-Nine Years Old". The Madison Eagle. June 16, 1916. p. 10. Retrieved April 3, 2020– via Newspapers.com.
3. Walker 1902, p. 409.
4. Douglass 1912, p. 339.
5. "Happenings on the Railroad". Morris County Chronicle. Morristown, New Jersey. January 10, 1905. p. 1. Retrieved December 25, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
6. "Lackawanna Electric Train Gets Ovations". The Paterson Morning Call. December 19, 1930. p. 34. Retrieved January 31, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
7. Average Weekday Rail Station Passenger Boardings History, FY 2019–2025 (Report). Newark, New Jersey: NJ Transit. 2025. Retrieved June 1, 2025– via Internet Archive.
8. 1954 Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad timetable http://viewoftheblue.com/photography/timetables/DLW042554.pdf
9. 1961 Erie-Lackawanna timetable https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/ERIE_TABLE1_19610625.png
10. Bloom, Molly (August 12, 2015). "Mass transit keeping most PGA fans on track". Newark Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021– via Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
11. Baldwin, Carly (December 20, 2018). "Murphy Signs Historic NJ Transit Reforms, Vows It Will Improve". Summit, NJ Patch. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
12. Higgs, Larry (September 29, 2025). "Derailment snarls NJ Transit service for commuters on this rail line". nj.com. Retrieved October 7, 2025.

External links

• Station House from Google Maps Street View