Metuchen
 next stop to theupright Metropark 
 next stop to thedownleft Edison 
Home<New Jersey<NJ Transit Rail<Northeast Corridor Line<Metuchen

Metuchen is a local station with two side platforms for 8 cars along the Northeast Corridor which is four tracks here. Train service to the station is from Northeast Corridor Line trains in both directions stopping twice per hour or better both on weekdays and weekends. It can claim to be a former Amtrak station since it is listed in their timetable for their first year of operation (gone by the June 1972 timetable) with no southbound trains toward Philadelphia stopping but one weekday and two weekend northbound trains stopping running towards New York. It is one of the oldest NEC stations. The depot was built in 1888 but strangely doesn't have the historical font signs, the depot also has a sign saying it was restored in 1979 so I assume this was when high-level platforms were built. The platform edges have just wide yellow lines without tactile warning strips to stand behind.

Starting from the Trenton-bound, western end of the platforms is a large wooden low-level platform area. Here are two boarding positions out to the express tracks slightly offset of each other. One becomes a full crossing over all four tracks. These are gated off but one gate I noticed was open. These immediately reach staircases down to the west side of Main Street whose underpass crosses beneath the platforms. This platform is also in front of Metuchen Colonial Cemetery. On the Newark-bound side is a tickets shelter covering two TVMs. The platforms are canopied from this end for a little over half their lengths with interruptions for the depots along each platform. The canopies are entirely painted blue with blue wooden windscreens painted behind them. The eastern exposed ends of the platforms have lampposts are designed to look older with wooden posts holding up orange light fixtures. Crossing over Main Street there is another staircase from the west side of the street to each platform. Then we reach the two depot structures along each platform. On the Trenton-bound side it is a small enclosed waiting room with a bench inside and windows overlooking the track, it is slightly set back from the rest of the platform with a gabled shingled roof and some benches outside beneath the roofline as well. Here two staircases on each side and a ramp on the eastern side lead down to the small 60 space parking lot right along the platform on Pennsylvania Avenue. Along the parking lot is an enclosure covering a few TVMs for Trenton-bound passengers. There is an additional staircase to the platform towards its eastern end beyond the end of the canopy. The NJT Website lists a total of 11 parking lots scattered around the station and community, providing almost 1,500 spaces; some controlled by permit and some daily.

The Manhattan-bound platform's set up is similar. Here the canopy is split with it totally ending and the platform becoming significantly narrow because of the 1888 train depot since the depot used to overlook just a low-level platform. The depot is a two story building with the first floor made of bricks and the second looking modern and white popping above the shingled roofline (which continues above the first floor). The first floor's roof extends beyond the building to provide covered porches as railroad stations usually do. Inside is a waiting room and signs list contradictory hours. One is older and not in today's standard format: it says the station is open 4:25am to 7:00pm Weekdays and 5:25am to 7pm on Weekends. There is another New Jersey Transit Station Hours sign saying the depot is open 5:25am to 6pm weekdays and closed on weekends. Inside is a waiting area with built in blue benches between the restrooms. There is a closed ticket window and the the Metuchen Concierge Company, a Coffee Stand (with a few breakfast items) open until 11:00am (weekdays only I assume). There are also the remains of a fireplace and a wooden plaque for the renovation and rededication on December 13, 1979 from the DOT, Governor and Mayor. The walls are painted white with blue trim (similar to the station) and a simple white linoleum floor. The depot has a ramp and two staircases up to the platform, with four TVMs in their standard Tickets Canopy just west of the depot. It is along a 60 space parking lot that stretches out to Woodbridge Avenue. At the corner of Main Street at the edge of the parking lot is Freedom plaza, a memorial to the 700 residents of NJ who died on 9/11.
All photos were taken on 18 January, 2012

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An Arrow train of MU cars leaves the station
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Going down the ramp from the Trenton-bound platform by the wooden windscreens
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The back of the little blue building on the Trenton-bound platform
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Parking entrances
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A little old blue wooden signpost for Penn Ave and Station
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Behind one of the wooden canopies and windscreens
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An entrance to the Trenton-bound platform
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The wooden lampposts on the exposed end of the Trenton-bound platform
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Looking down the open ends of the platforms
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The back of the blue shelter on the Trenton-bound platform
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Adopt A Station sign
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A sign Walking paths in Metuchen at the train station
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The platforms cross above Main Street
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The staircase up to the Trenton-bound platform
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Last Updated: 20 August, 2012
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