Hoboken
NJ Transit commuter and light rail terminal PATHrapid transit station
Hoboken Terminal from theHudson River in 2012
General information
Location	1 Hudson Place Hoboken, New Jersey United States
Owned by	New Jersey Transit (street level) Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (underground)
Line(s)	NJT Hoboken Division PATHUptown Hudson Tubes PATHDowntown Hudson Tubes
Platforms	9island platforms, 1side platform
Tracks	18
Connections	NY Waterway NJ Transit Bus:22,23,63,64,68,85,87,89,126
Construction
Platform levels	2
Bicycle facilities	88 spaces
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	HOB 20496, 20497 (NJT Bus)[1]
Fare zone	1
History
Opened	February 25, 1907 (1907-02-25)
Electrified	September 3, 1930[2]
Passengers
FY23	6,875 (average weekday boardings)[3] (NJT)
2024	5,365,820[4] (PATH)
Services
Preceding station NJ Transit Following station NJ Transit Rail Operations Newark Broad Street towardHackettstown Montclair–Boonton Line Terminus Morristown Line weekdays Newark Broad Street towardGladstone Gladstone Branch weekdays Secaucus Junction towardSuffern Main Line Bergen County Line Secaucus Junction towardSpring Valley Pascack Valley Line Newark Penn towardHigh Bridge Raritan Valley Line limited service Secaucus Junction towardMeadowlands Meadowlands Rail Line special event service Hudson–Bergen Light Rail Terminus Hoboken–Tonnelle 2nd Street towardTonnelle Avenue Newport toward8th Street 8th Street–Hoboken Terminus Bayonne Flyer Preceding station Metro-North Railroad Following station Secaucus Junction towardPort Jervis Port Jervis Line Terminus Preceding station PATH Following station Terminus HOB–WTC Newport towardWorld Trade Center HOB–33 Weekdays Christopher Street toward33rd Street Newport towardJournal Square JSQ–33 (via HOB) Weeknights Weekends Holidays
Former services Preceding station NJ Transit Following station Arlington towardHackettstown Boonton Line until 2002 Terminus Newark Broad Street towardBay Street Montclair Branch until 2002 Harrison towardBay Street Montclair Branch until 1984 Newark Penn towardBay Head North Jersey Coast Line limited service until 2020 Preceding station Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Following station Newark towardBuffalo Main Line Terminus Harrison towardMontclair Montclair Branch Newark towardGladstone Gladstone Branch Kingsland towardDover Boonton Branch
Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Terminal at Hoboken
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	On theHudson River at the foot of Hudson Place,Hoboken, New Jersey
Coordinates	40°44′6″N74°1′39″W / 40.73500°N 74.02750°W /40.73500; -74.02750
Area	4 acres (2 ha)
Built	1907; 118 years ago (1907)
Architect	Kenneth MacKenzie Murchison
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts neoclassicism
NRHP reference No.	73001102[5]
Added to NRHP	July 24, 1973

Hoboken Terminal is acommuter-orientedintermodal passenger station inHoboken,Hudson County, New Jersey. One of theNew York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by eightNJ Transit (NJT)commuter rail lines, an NJ Transitevent shuttle to Meadowlands Sports Complex, oneMetro-North Railroad line, variousNJT buses and private bus lines, theHudson–Bergen Light Rail, thePort Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rapid transit system, andNY Waterway-operated ferries.

More than 50,000 people use the terminal daily, making it thetenth-busiest railroad station in North America and the sixth-busiest in the New York area. It is also the second-busiest railroad station in New Jersey, behind onlyNewark Penn Station, and its third-busiest transportation facility, afterNewark Liberty International Airport and Newark Penn Station.

The rail and ferry terminal buildings were constructed in 1907 by theDelaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, a former Class 1 railroad. In 1930, Thomas Edison was at the controls for the first departure of a regular-service electric multiple-unit train from Hoboken Terminal to Montclair. In 1973, the terminal building was added to theNew Jersey Register of Historic Places and theNational Register of Historic Places.

Hoboken Terminal is considered a milestone in American transportation development, initially combining rail, ferry, subway,streetcar, and pedestrian services. Later,bus andlight-rail services were added to the terminals. Another feature of the terminal's design is the terminal's 225-foot (69 m) clock tower. The tower was replaced by a radio tower that stood for more than half a century, until being removed in June 2006,^[6] when it was replaced with a new clock tower modeled after the original.

The site of the terminal had been used since colonial times to link Manhattan Island and points west.^[7] In 1811, the first steam-powered ferries began called Hoboken Ferryboats service underJohn Stevens, an inventor who founded Hoboken.^[8] In 1889, due to several complaints throughThe New York Times, changes were made to the service such as bigger boats for passengers, and more trips.^[9]

The coming of the railroads brought more and more travelers to the west bank of theHudson River.Cuts and tunnels were constructed throughBergen Hill to rail–ferry terminals on the west bank of the river and theUpper New York Bay. The first of theBergen Tunnels underJersey City Heights was opened in 1877 by theMorris and Essex Railroad, which was leased by theDelaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W).^[10]

The facility that was in the place of the Hoboken Terminal caught fire and burned down in 1905 after theHopatcong, a ferry docked at the terminal, caught fire at midnight, which spread to the original facility. TheDelaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad decided to build another large terminal since they had more than enough funds. The new facility was planned byWilliam Truesdale, who worked to modernize the DL&W railroad.^[11][12] The rail and ferryterminal buildings were constructed in 1907 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.^[13][14]

The following year, the railroad opened the second parallel tunnel. Both tunnels are still used by NJ Transit.^[15] The tubes of theHudson and Manhattan Railroad, forerunner of PATH, were extended to Hoboken Terminal upon its opening. The first revenue train on the new line ran from the terminal on February 26, 1908.^[16]

In 1930,Thomas Edison was at the controls for the first departure of a regular-serviceelectric multiple unit train from Hoboken Terminal toMontclair. One of the first installations of centralair-conditioning in a public space was at the station, as was the first non-experimental use ofmobile phones.^[17][18]

In 1914, George A. Cullen, the Passenger Traffic Manager for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, stated that Hoboken Terminal handled more than 17 million railroad passengers and 18 million additional ferry passengers.^[19]

In 1942, the clock tower of the terminal was removed to reclaim the copper to use in World War II. After the war, Hoboken suffered another blow when automobile and air travel rose to prominence at the expense of the railroads. Amtrak started operating in 1971, and by then intercity services by the thenmerged Erie and DL&W railroads stopped operating out of Hoboken. The final train between Hoboken and Chicago departed the night of January 5, 1970, and arrived on January 6 in Chicago'sDearborn Station.^[11]

Despite the difficulties of the railroad industry, which culminated in bankruptcy for many railroads through the 1970s, the terminal has always been an essential link for New York-bound commuters, which saved it from the threat of demolition. The popular disapproval of the razing of the nearbyPennsylvania Station in 1963,^[20] (and its replacement byMadison Square Garden and a newPenn Station below ground level)^[21] may have also helped Hoboken Terminal's survival.^[11]

Numerousstreetcarlines (eventually owned and operated by thePublic Service Railway), including theHoboken Inclined Cable Railway, originated and terminated at the station untilbustitution was completed on August 7, 1949.^[15]

At the peak of intercity rail service, five passenger terminals were operated by competing railroad companies along theHudson Waterfront. Of the five, Hoboken Terminal is the only one still in active use. Those atWeehawken (New York Central),Pavonia (Erie Railroad), andExchange Place (Pennsylvania Railroad) were demolished in the 1960s, while theone in Jersey City (Central Railroad of New Jersey) was partially restored and is now part ofLiberty State Park.^[22]

In October 1956, four years before its merger with the DL&W to form theErie Lackawanna Railway, the Erie Railroad began to shift its trains from Pavonia Terminal to Hoboken. The final Erie trains to be moved to Hoboken, in 1959, were from theNorthern Branch. In October 1965, on former Erie routes, there were five trains each weekday to Wanaque/Midvale on the Greenwood Lake branch, three to Nyack on the Northern Branch, three to Waldwick via theNewark Branch, two to Essex Fells on itsCaldwell Branch, two toCarlton Hill on the former Erie Main Line, and one to Newton on theSussex Branch.^[23][24] All those trains were dropped in 1966.^[25]

Ferry service from the terminal to lower Manhattan ended on November 22, 1967,^[26] due to declining ridership and revenues.^[27] It resumed in 1989 on the south side of the terminal and moved back to the restored ferry slips inside the historic terminal on December 7, 2011.^[28][29]

In 1973, the terminal building was added to theNew Jersey Register of Historic Places^[13] and theNational Register of Historic Places.^[30] The PATH station's platforms were lengthened in 1987 to allow the station to accommodate eight-car trains.^[31]

In 1990, the New Jersey Historic Preservation Bond Program gave agrant of $400,000 towards repairs and restoration of the Terminal. In 1991, another grant of $300,000 was given. The money was used towards repairing the ferry terminal's roof andclerestory.^[32]

In 1999, theNew Jersey Devils' proposed to build an arena atop the Hoboken Terminal, which would be on the Hudson waterfront. The proposal never went through.^[33]

On August 14, 2003, amid theNortheast blackout of 2003, PATH andNJ Transit Rail Operations were unable to operate anywhere, including Hoboken Terminal.Commuters from New Jersey used theNY Waterway ferry to Hoboken Terminal as an alternative, and passengers said it was so packed it caused concern.^[34] Operations of PATH and NJ Transit trains resumed the morning of August 15 with the use of diesel trains.^[35]

Access to the Region's Core (ARC) was a proposed commuter-rail project to add new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, but the plan was canceled in 2010. In 2013, theNew Jersey General Assembly passed a resolution supporting the extension ofNew York City Number 7 subway intoSecaucus as a cheaper alternative to the proposed ARC tunnel.^[36][37] The plans never went through despite the idea being revived as possibly being a part of, or along with, theGateway Project, which also proposes new tunnels, and bridges over the Hudson River.^[38][39]

A renovation that lasted from 2005 to 2009 demolished and rebuilt walls to resemble their original appearance; the terminal's clock tower was rebuilt as well along with the original neon-lit Lackawanna sign.^[40][11]

The station was badly damaged duringHurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012. A 5-foot (1.5 m) storm surge inundated the facility; the water rose as high as 8 feet (2.4 m) in the PATH tunnels. Daytime PATH service to midtown Manhattan was restored on December 19. The waiting room reopened in January 2013, while extensive repairs were still in progress.^[41][42] Pre-Sandy service patterns were gradually restored by March 1, 2013.^[43][44][45]

As of 2017, the station was theninth-busiest railway station in North America.^[46][47]

On October 5, 2022, officials broke ground on Hoboken Connect, a projected five-year project to renovate the Terminal and its immediate vicinity. The plans call for erecting a 20-story commercial building at 5 and 23 Hudson Place and a 27-story, 389-unit residential building on Observer Highway.^[48] Planned improvements to Warrington Plaza include movable seats and modular structures for public use. The ferry terminal will be renovated to add retail space and bicycle storage on the ground floor, while commercial space on its second floor will be constructed to house either transport functions, or tenants such as markets, eateries, or areas for arts and culture.^[49] In March 2024, the NJ Transit board awarded a $211 million contract to Schiavone Construction for the construction of six tracks and three platforms, as well as a $2 million contract to Voestalpine Railway Systems Nortrak for trackwork.^[50] NJ Transit and LCOR agreed to a ground lease for the Hoboken Connect site in March 2024,^[51][52] and work began that May.^[53][54]

In October 2024, the PANYNJ announced that the PATH station at Hoboken Terminal would be closed for most of February 2025 so the tracks, platforms, and four staircases could be replaced.^[55][56] The PATH station was closed from February 1 to February 25;^[57][58] the project cost $31 million.^[59]

In April 2025, NJ Transit announced that an interim bus terminal would be built to allow rehabilitation of the existing bus terminal.^[60]

In December 1985, an NJ Transit train crashed into the concrete bumper at Hoboken Terminal, injuring 54. The 1985 crash was said to have been caused by a lubricant that had been applied to the tracks to test train wheels.^[61]

In May 2011, aPATH train crashed into a bumper block at Hoboken Terminal, injuring 34 people;^[62][63]the Port Authority said the train came in too fast.^[64]

On the morning of September 29, 2016, an NJ Transittrain crashed through astopblock and into the concourse of the station, killing one person and injuring more than 110 people.^[65][66] Tracks 10 through 17 were reopened on October 10, 2016, with most remaining tracks reopened a week later. The pedestrian concourse reopened on May 14, 2017. Track 6 reopened for service in June 2017 and Track 5 reopened for service sometime around September 2018.^[67] The planning for permanent repairs to the concourse roof and supports were ongoing during this time. Permanent repairs and renovations began in March 2019^[68] and were completed by the end of 2019.^[69][70]

Hoboken Terminal is considered a milestone in American transportation development, initially combining rail, ferry, subway,streetcar, and pedestrian services, in one of the most innovatively designed and engineered structures in the nation, with bus and light-rail service added in the ensuing decades. The terminal was also one of the first stations in the world to employ the Bush-typetrain shed, designed by and named forLincoln Bush of the DL&W, which quickly became ubiquitous in station design.^[17] The terminal building was designed by architectKenneth M. Murchison in theBeaux-Arts style.^[13][14] The structure is made of concrete, copper, stone, steel, andwrought iron. The complex has 14 tracks for NJ Transit trains, which are located entirely above the water.^[71]: 2

The station is unusual for a New York City area commuter railroad terminal in that it still has low-level platforms, requiring passengers to use stairs on the train to board and alight. TheLong Slip Fill and Rail Enhancement project is anticipated to add three high-level accessible-accessible platforms to the south side of the terminal. The project will modify the Long Slip, which is a 2,000-foot (610 m) former barge canal adjacent to the Hoboken Terminal Yard. This is to eliminate it as a conduit for flood water.^[72]

The terminal's 225-foot (69 m) clock tower was designed by architect Kenneth Murchison and originally built with the terminal.^[71]: 2 Its coppercladding was intended to provide a dramatic decorative effect. By the post-World War II period, this patina had been lost towind erosion and was removed in about 1950 following a storm. The tower was replaced by a radio tower that stood for more than half a century, until being removed in June 2006, when it was replaced with a new clock tower modeled after the original, down to the same copper cladding, albeit with a more modern steel and aluminum infrastructure. The second tower includes a clock with 12-foot (3.7 m) diameter faces and 4-foot-high (1.2 m) copper letters, which spell out "LACKAWANNA", whosefiber optic technology allows them to be lit from dusk to midnight.^[73]

The large mainwaiting room features floral andGreek Revival motifs in tiled stained glass byLouis Comfort Tiffany set atop bands of pale cement.^[74] The terminal exterior extends to over four stories and has a copper-clad façade with ornate detailing. It is said the copper used for it is leftover from theStatue of Liberty.^[11] Its single-story base is constructed of rusticated Indiana limestone. A grand double stair with decorative cast-iron railings within the main waiting room provides an entrance to the upper-level ferry concourse.^[75]

Hoboken Terminal's design

Hoboken Terminal's exterior depicting its neon-lit Lackawanna sign

Hoboken Terminal's interior

Hoboken Terminal's clock tower

Hoboken Terminal is the terminus and namesake for NJ Transit'sHoboken Division, which consists of commuter rail lines innorthern New Jersey.^[76]

• Bergen County Line
• Main Line
• Meadowlands Rail Line (event service)
• Pascack Valley Line
• Montclair-Boonton Line
• Morristown Line andGladstone Branch of theMorris and Essex Lines
• Port Jervis Line
• Raritan Valley Line (one inbound morning weekday train only)

Access to other NJ Transit rail lines is available atNewark Penn Station (which also servesAmtrak),Secaucus Junction, orNewark Broad Street.^[77][78][79]

PATH trains provide 24-hour service from a three-track underground terminal located north of the surface platforms.^[80] Two routes are offered on weekdays during the day, and one route is offered on late nights, weekends, and holidays. Entrances are from the main concourse or street, below the Hudson Place bus station with both an elevator and stairs. Travel to Newark Penn Station always requires a transfer, as does weekday service toJournal Square Transportation Center.^[81]

Hoboken Terminal is the terminus for two of the threeHudson-Bergen Light Rail routes. Light rail platforms are located south of Track 18 and the terminal building.^[82]

Ferry service is operated byNY Waterway toBrookfield Place Terminal daily, as well asPier 11/Wall Street andWest Midtown Ferry Terminal on weekdays.^[83] The ferry concourse has five slips, numbered 1–5. Slips 1 and 5 are generally used for ferries heading to West Midtown, Slip 2 is generally used for Wall Street ferries, and Slip 3 is generally used for Brookfield Place ferries.^[84]

Ten routes operated byNew Jersey Transit Bus Operations serve Hoboken. Lanes 1-5 are underneath the covered "Hoboken Bus Terminal" adjacent to Track 1, while Lane 6 lies at the curb adjacent to the main commuter rail concourse.^[84]

Route87 departs from Lane 1 forJersey City,^[84][85] route126 departs from Lanes 2 and 3 for thePort Authority Bus Terminal inManhattan,^[84][86] and routes85,89 depart from Lane 4 forAmerican Dream Meadowlands inEast Rutherford orNungessers.^[84][87][88] Routes22,22X,23 depart from Lane 5 forWeehawken orUnion City,^[84] and routes63,64,68 departs from Lane 6 forLakewood,Lincoln Harbor, orOld Bridge.^[84][89][90]

Though the passenger facilities are located within Hoboken, large parts of the infrastructure that supports them are located inJersey City. The Hoboken/Jersey City line cuts across therail yard at a northwest diagonal from the river to the intersection ofGrove Street andNewark Street. It is at this corner thatObserver Highway begins running parallel to the tracks and creating ade facto border for Hoboken.^[92] Motor vehicle access to the station is extremely limited. At the eastern end of Observer Highway, buses are permitted to enter their terminal. Other vehicles are required to do a dog-leg turn ontoHudson Place. This 0.05-mile-long (0.080 km) street (designatedCR 736) is the only one with motor vehicle traffic adjacent to the station.^[93] In 2009, pedestrian access to the terminal from the south was made possible with the opening of a new segment of theHudson River Waterfront Walkway.^[94]

The station has been used for film shoots, includingFunny Girl,Three Days of the Condor,Once Upon a Time in America,The Station Agent,The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,^[95]Julie & Julia,Kal Ho Naa Ho,Rod Stewart's "Downtown Train" video (1990) andEric Clapton's video for his 1996 single "Change the World".^[96]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHoboken Terminal.

Google Maps Street View
Hudson Place and River Street entrance to PATH
Stairs and elevator to PATH on Hudson Place
PATH platforms
Waiting room
Commuter rail platforms
Light rail platforms
Ferry pier

• DepartureVision real time train information for Hoboken Terminal
• PATH station detailsArchived November 29, 2019, at theWayback Machine
• Hoboken Terminal Website
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NJ-59, "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and Ferry Terminal, Ferry Slips and Bridges"
• HAER No. NJ-135-A, "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Freight and Rail Yard, Long Slip Canal"
• HAER No. NJ-135-B, "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Freight and Rail Yard, Multiple Unit Light Inspection Shed"

• NJ Transit Rail Operations stations
• Former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad stations
• Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stations
• PATH stations in New Jersey
• Buildings and structures in Hoboken, New Jersey
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1907
• Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey
• Ferry terminals in New Jersey
• NJ Transit Bus Operations
• Transit hubs serving New Jersey
• Railway stations in Hudson County, New Jersey
• Clock towers in New Jersey
• Tourist attractions in Hudson County, New Jersey
• Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey
• National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey
• Ferry terminals on the National Register of Historic Places
• Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey
• 1907 establishments in New Jersey
• Railway stations located underground in New Jersey
• Railway stations serving harbours and ports

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