Meadowlands station

Meadowlands station (also known as Meadowlands Sports Complex station) is a New Jersey Transit train station that is the western terminus for the Meadowlands Rail Line located at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.[2]

Meadowlands
Meadowlands station platforms
General information
Other namesMeadowlands Sports Complex
Location50 State Route 120
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Coordinates40°48′46″N 74°04′19″W
Owned byNew Jersey Transit
Platforms1 island platform, 1 side platform
Tracks3
Construction
Structure typeAt-grade
AccessibleYes
History
OpenedJuly 26, 2009 (July 26, 2009)
Passengers
Q1 FY2013195,711[1]
Services
Preceding station NJ Transit Following station
Terminus Meadowlands Rail Line
special event service
 Secaucus Junction
toward Hoboken

The station is situated equidistant between Meadowlands Racetrack, Meadowlands Arena, American Dream and MetLife Stadium to which there is a direct aerial connection. There is one island platform and one side platform each approximately 950 feet (290 m) in length and have an enclosed passenger overpass, which provides an accessible connection.[2]

NJ Transit operates the BetMGM Meadowlands Rail Line to the station for stadium events when 50,000 or more attendees are expected. Despite the opening of American Dream in 2019, the station is not yet operating daily.[3] NJ Transit says daily service may begin "once the rail system is resilient enough that doing so won’t adversely affect NJ Transit commuters".[4]

On September 14, 2022, NJ Transit entered into a naming rights agreement with BetMGM, a sports betting company owned by MGM Resorts International, to rename the rail line for $3 million over the next 3 years.[5]

History

The Meadowlands station opened on July 20, 2009, when a group of dignitaries including New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, New York Giants owner John Mara, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, and players from the Giants and Jets rode out on a special train from Hoboken for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.[6] The station officially opened to the public on July 26, 2009, for the championship game of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament between the United States and Mexico. As many as 6,000 of the 80,000 attendees at the soccer game arrived at the complex using the station.[7]

In August 2009, New Jersey assemblymen Frederick Scalera and Gary Schaer advocated using the train station as a park and ride facility with weekday rush-hour service to help alleviate traffic congestion on the roadways leading to New York City, but the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority indicated this could create conflicts on evenings when other events are scheduled, such as those at the Izod Center.[8]

Although the new train service worked well for the first two regular season NFL games—when approximately 6,000-7,000 football fans arrived by rail—the first problems occurred on September 23, 2009, when 20,000 attendees at a U2 concert crammed onto trains. Some concertgoers had to wait up to two hours to board trains after the show, as the rail line can only accommodate a maximum capacity of 10,000 people per hour.[9][10]

Station layout
M Mezzanine Crossover between platforms
G Street level Entrance/exit
Side platform Disabled access
Track 1      Meadowlands Rail Line special event service toward Hoboken (Secaucus Junction) →
Track 2      Meadowlands Rail Line special event service toward Hoboken (Secaucus Junction) →
Island platform Disabled access
Track 3      Meadowlands Rail Line special event service toward Hoboken (Secaucus Junction) →

References
  1. "QUARTERLY RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANALYSIS" (PDF). New Jersey Transit. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 19, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2013.
  2. "Meadowlands Rail Station". New Jersey Transit. January 2008. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
  3. Anzidei, Melanie (July 3, 2019). "American Dream mall will open Oct. 25, officials say". North Jersey Record. Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  4. Alexander, Dan (September 3, 2019). "NJ Transit bus service to American Dream mega mall at Meadowlands". New Jersey 101.5. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  5. "NJ TRANSIT Partners With BetMGM On Naming Rights For Meadowlands Rail Line" (Press release). New Jersey Transit. September 14, 2022. Retrieved September 15, 2022.
  6. Brennan, John (July 20, 2009). "Meadowlands rail service rolls out". The Record. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
  7. Clunn, Nick (July 26, 2009). "Thousands hop on board new Meadowlands rail service". The Record. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
  8. Dela Cruz, Christopher (August 19, 2009). "Lawmakers advocate using Meadowlands train service for park-and-ride". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  9. Mascarenhas, Rohan (September 24, 2009). "20K fans throng Meadowlands trains for U2 concert". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  10. "Meadowlands rails prove all the rage". The Star-Ledger. September 25, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
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