City officials have been promising to rehab Highland Avenue Station for the past eight years and yet it still remains one of the most rundown stops on the Morris & Essex train line. The station house has been closed since 1968 and despite the city’s announcement last year of a $1.2 million federal grant to restore it, the project still hasn’t left the station.
Chris Hartwyk, the city’s business administrator, told the City Council last month that although the project was put out to bid – which was accepted by Brightview Engineering in November – the cost of the restoration is now estimated to be higher than the grant amount.
“That was caused by the fact that the condition of the building has deteriorated substantially from the beginning of this project and the planning stages to when the bid walk-through took place,” Hartwyk said. “Specifically the plaster ceiling has collapsed in several areas, the building was broken into and vandalized, parts of the building were stolen and removed, and there were other deteriorations due to weather that accounted for the increase in the bid.”
Hartwick said the firm gave the city two options – scale back the project or get additional funds. “That’s why we’re rejecting the bid,” he said.
Dennis Thum, who has lived in West Orange for 10 years, said he uses the station because it’s the closest one to his home. But he finds the conditions of the station – paired with the irregular schedule of the trains – less than ideal.
“Take a look at the surroundings,” said Thum, pointing to the stray garbage on the platform and the warped wooden panels on the station house. “Maybe one day it will be fixed – I wish.”
After Thum left, five Dover-bound trains whizzed by without stopping on their way to neighboring stations. Only six Midtown Direct lines stop at the Highland Avenue Station each day. NJ Transit has long held that adding more trains depends on increased ridership.
The station houses along the Morris & Essex line provide commuters with comfort on extreme weather days. Yesterday, on a sweltering day in Orange, one commuter, who asked to remain anonymous, joked that he stays in his car with the air-conditioning blasting until he sees the train pulling in, then he darts to the platform in time to board.
“This week when it’s in the 90s it would be nice to have shade to get some reprieve from the sun,” said Nick Ortega, who commutes to Manhattan.
However, Ortega, who has been commuting to work on the train since 2016 said the station house’s longtime closure actually comes with a slight perk – hardly anyone uses the station anymore. “This is the station no one knows about,” Ortega said. “I never have a problem getting parking here and it only costs me $4 a day.”
This is not the first time the city has been awarded a grant to restore the station, built in 1918. In 2016, the Department of Transportation gave the city $600,000, but no improvements were made. Hartwyk didn’t respond to questions about why the restoration in 2016 never happened.
Meanwhile, Orange residents are watching on as restorations at other NJ Transit train stations are moving forward. The one in Elizabeth finally crossed the finish line after a $74.1 million investment. Last month, East Orange won an $83 million Federal Transit Administration grant to restore Brick Church Station.
The lack of progress in Orange has made some locals skeptical that improvements will be made this time around. “It’s never going to get fixed,” said one train rider, throwing his hands up in frustration.
