Paterson (Erie Railroad station)

Paterson
Looking at Paterson's Market Street station from street level.
Coordinates	40°54′53″N 74°10′02″W / 40.9146°N 74.1673°W / 40.9146; -74.1673Coordinates: 40°54′53″N 74°10′02″W / 40.9146°N 74.1673°W / 40.9146; -74.1673
Owned by	New Jersey Transit
Line(s)	Main Line
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	NJT Bus: 161, 703, 707, 712, 744, 746, 748
Construction
Parking	124 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Station code	2303 (Erie Railroad)
Fare zone	6
History
Opened	1930
Rebuilt	2001
Traffic
Passengers (2012)	677 (average weekday)
Services
Preceding station   NJ Transit Rail   Following station Hawthorne toward Suffern Main Line Clifton toward Hoboken Preceding station   Erie Railroad   Following station Lake View toward Pavonia Terminal Main Line River Street toward Dearborn Station South Paterson toward Pavonia Terminal Newark Branch Terminus

Paterson Station is a New Jersey Transit commuter rail train station located on an elevated viaduct above Market Street in downtown Paterson, New Jersey. The railway through the station is double tracked, for north and south traffic on the NJT Main Line.

The Paterson station consists of a high-level island platform spanning from Market Street to Ward Street in downtown Paterson. Handicapped passengers must access the station via an elevator located on Ward Street.

The station is located in an area of Paterson near Center City Mall, the Passaic County Courthouse and county government offices, and the Paterson campus of Passaic County Community College where several city and county roads intersect with Market and Ward Streets.

Paterson Station has always only served one railroad line: the Main Line of the Erie Railroad, along with its successors, the main lines of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad (EL), Conrail legacy EL division (operated under NJDOT), and finally the present-day New Jersey Transit Main Line. However, the Main Line itself has changed substantially over the years, leading to significant changes in usage, destinations, and connections.

Originally a single track at grade, the elevated station was built between 1924-30 when the Erie Railroad eliminated street level crossings on its Main Line in Paterson. The Erie Main Line ran from Jersey City to Chicago via Binghamton, Buffalo, Akron, Ohio, and Marion, Ohio. Major long distance passenger and freight trains passed through this section of track, and many of those passenger trains stopped at Paterson. This situation was stable from the inception of the station until the early 1960s, when the Erie Railroad was in major financial difficulties.

Due to the financial issues, the Erie merged with the Lackawanna in 1960, to form the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, or EL. The EL immediately looked to reduce costs by eliminating redundant lines. Serendipitously, four government agencies had been developing plans that, to succeed, required changes or destruction to sections of the Erie Main Line: