Secaucus Transfer Station

Rank #7
Cost: $450 million

The goal of the Secaucus Transfer Station was to revolutionize the New Jersey Transit System, and so far, it has worked.

The new station, at the Northeast Corridor and Main lines and midway between New York and Newark's Penn Stations, links together 11 of the NJ Transit's 12 rail lines, relieves rail and commuter congestion and provides a base for a transformed state rail operation.

In theory, the new transportation station will provide a hub for a new bilevel rail car system, expanded parking and new rail tunnels to be built underneath the Hudson River.

Though the transfer station has many long-term goals, there were immediate positive results as soon as it was open for business. For example, commute time between cities in Bergen County and Manhattan were shortened by 15 minutes or more by the creation of the 300,000-sq.-ft., four-level structure.

An additional 14 peak-period trains began running between New York and Newark, a 25 percent increase in the number of trains running at that time. Peak trains were also added on the Main and Bergen County lines and the Pascack Valley Line. Off-peak service will also be improved.

The station fits into the state's smart growth plan of promoting public transportation, infilling urban areas and minimizing sprawl. At Secaucus, the state is encouraging 3.5 million sq. ft. of office and commercial space in an effort to add 17,000 jobs onsite.

It was critical that all of these improved services and economic development didn't disrupt existing ridership on the 400 passenger and freight trains that traveled through the construction site.

The station and supporting infrastructure are built above three active rail lines, including the electrified Northeast Corridor, one of the busiest rail corridors in the world.

NJ Transit is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system, so the owners and the project team, led by DMJM & Harris-DTA, Slattery-Sordoni Joint Venture and Terminal Construction Corp., took special care to disrupt as little as possible of the rail lines' operations during construction.

Construction crews worked primarily off-peak hours at night, when fewer trains were scheduled, and civil engineers developed a barrier wall to separate the train tracks from the workers during development. The development team also minimized noise and vibrations from trains passing through the construction site by using expansion joints in the station and on the platforms.

While a typical structure of this size would have two or three joints, the team used six large seismic joints and separated the foundations for the railroad and actual station so the vibrations could not be transferred from one structure to the other.

The team also added heavy architectural precast concrete panel cladding to minimize train noise.

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