Future of train station debated

A New Jersey Historic Sites Council resolution was unanimously passed, following an Aug. 15 Zoom conference with NJ Transit representatives, to prohibit NJT’s proposed changes to the downtown historic train station.

The main sticking point for the council is NJT’s preferred plan to increase the height of the boarding platforms over four feet to make trains accessible to individuals with mobility needs. A higher platform would allow wheelchairs to use the double doors located at mid-car. But raising the platform would require the destruction and replacement of the canopies. For the historic sites council, this was asking too much.

The station is currently owned by the township which is in negotiations with NJ Transit to take ownership of the property. The rehabilitation is being funded by the state Debt and Defeasance Fund which has set aside $48 million for the project.

NJT came to the meeting with eight proposal options, the first was to do no work at all which would leave “the already significant state of disrepair conditions to deteriorate further.” But NJT acknowledged this would not address its purpose to improve passenger experience and make the station accessible.

The council preferred the NJT option which would retain much of the platforms and canopies. Wheelchair access would be possible, via ramps, to limited areas with higher platforms as at the Madison, South Orange and East Orange stations. But NJT noted that it wanted wheelchair accessibility for the entire length of the platform. It wanted accessibility, but not if it had to segregate people for it.

“It limits people with mobility needs to only two cars on the train,” the option stated.

The transit company also noted that this option would not provide overhead shelter for these limited areas which would be located at the ends of the platforms. Nonetheless, NJT said a proposed elevator plan could be redrawn to accommodate this option.

The possibility of using a wheelchair lift instead of raising the platforms was suggested but eliminated by NJT’s Richard Schaefer who said that would cause scheduling delays and require added personnel to handle the lift.

Another suggestion, lowering the tracks, was dispatched as a billion dollar solution. The station’s daily ridership is 1,100, Schaefer said, with a forecast of around 2,000 in a few years. For much of the meeting, the primary council speaker was Sophia Jones-Bradford.

“We need to balance requirements with history,” she said. “Do we have the best design to not alter too much fabric of the historic station? There can still be some work done on the solution for a station we’re tasked to protect.”

Schaefer said safety and accessibility were NJT’s highest concern and he was sorry if the options offered “didn’t measure up,” but the station was in terrible condition and keeping the platforms and canopies “brings into question the purpose of the project and I don’t want to go there.”

“Raising the platform and destroying the canopy is not reversible,” Jones-Bradford said.

“We have to think of our customers first,” Schaefer said.

“We shouldn’t get hung up on passengers boarding the train,” Jones-Bradford said. “It’s the experience of an historical site.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Schaefer said.

The station was completed in 1912 and has been listed on the NJ and National Registers of Historic Places since 1984. According to the nomination for its historic status, it is an exceptional engineering and architectural achievement, its buildings, canopies and platforms being integrated and entirely made from reinforced concrete.

“The manipulation of materials and fittings is unique to the station and exhibits all the honest expression of materials, sparing use of ornamentation, and careful consideration of massing the parts,” the nomination stated.

Bloomfield Councilman Rich Rockwell, the council’s liaison to the Bloomfield Historical Commission, took part in the conference. He agreed that preserving the canopy was foremost, commenting that a steel canopy would make the station look like a light rail station.

“The concrete canopies are integral and removing them would be unfortunate,” he told this newspaper. “If you raise the platform, you would then need steps to the waiting rooms. That would be an imposition to all the passengers.”

He agreed with Jones-Bradford that NJT should have employed a historic preservation architect and that they did not give interested parties enough time to prepare for the meeting.

“There has to be a balance between passenger safety and historical preservation,” Jones-Bradford said. “Right now, there’s an imbalance.”

NJT has 60 days to respond to the council’s objections.