NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey — On March 7, 1832, the state-chartered the New Jersey Rail Road & Transportation Company to build a line paralleling the Camden & Amboy, which New Jersey chartered on February 4, 1830.
This new line would terminate at Jersey City. The Camden & Amboy, worried about competition, exerted its influence in the state legislature.
As a result, the New Jersey Rail Road laid tracks between New Brunswick and Jersey City. In turn, the Camden & Amboy would construct a new line between New Brunswick and Trenton.
Following the Civil War, on February 1, 1867, the Camden & Amboy and the New Jersey railroads merged to form the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company.
The Pennsylvania Railroad broke ground on a new New Brunswick station in October 1903, and the station formally opened in September 1904.
“The new station, everyone declared to-day, is a marvel of beautiful design and finish, compared to what this city has heretofore been accustomed,” The Daily Home News newspaper reported. “The building is said to be the finest way station on the Pennsylvania lines.”
In December 1932, the first electric train, consisting of 13 cars and carrying about 75 commuters, departed New Brunswick for Jersey City. Even as the service began, the railroad continued to electrify the line between New Brunswick and Trenton.
