Pennsauken train station nears completion

Workers are nearing completion of a $36 million, multilevel Pennsauken train station to connect the Atlantic City Line and the River Line, and passengers are expected to be able to use it by fall.

The Pennsauken Transit Center, near Derousse Avenue west of River Road, will allow direct transfers between trains on the east-west Atlantic City Line and the north-south River Line.

The connection will provide additional access for area residents to 30th Street Station, Atlantic City, and the River Line's service between Camden and Trenton.

NJ Transit buses also will serve the station. Federal stimulus funds are paying for the project.

"We are getting closer and closer to the end of the construction phase," said NJ Transit spokesman John Durso. "The roof is on, the windows are going in, and lights on the platform and parking lot are all shining. However, there is still more work to be done, and we are expecting that the station will be completed and opened for customer use by this fall."

A 200-foot platform with a 60-foot canopy is ready for customers along the light-rail River Line, and two 300-foot-long, high-level platforms have been built on either side of the elevated Atlantic City Line tracks. Workers are putting in two sets of stairs and two elevators for passengers to access the two rail lines.

A 280-space parking lot in front of the station is still in the construction phase.

Local artist J. Kenneth Leap will install glass-encased art on the station facade to celebrate Pennsauken's history and the role of women in the community.

NJ Transit officials hope the station will boost ridership on the underused Atlantic City Line, which operates from Philadelphia with stops in Cherry Hill, Lindenwold, Atco, Hammonton, Egg Harbor City, and Absecon.

The River Line, which opened in 2004, makes 20 stops in towns along the Delaware River.