Montclair Connection

The Montclair Connection is a short section of double-track railroad on the NJ Transit Rail Operations system in New Jersey, United States, connecting the former end of the Montclair Branch at Bay Street station to the old Boonton Line southeast of Walnut Street station.

Disuse has caused sections of the line to become derelict, in particular east of the Passaic River where DB and WR drawbridges have been condemned.

The idea for the connection was first proposed in 1929 when the Regional Plan Association proposed linking the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's Montclair Branch with the Erie Railroad's Greenwood Lake Branch, but the plan was abandoned due to the economic difficulties associated with the Great Depression.

[5] The reconfiguration again spurred the Montclair Connection idea, and in preparation, service was cut back from Lackawanna Terminal to Bay Street by Conrail in 1981.

Later, the plans were revised to include a two-track connection and five miles of overhead catenary wires, allowing for electric train service and increased travel destinations.