Station Review #188: Metropark (Amtrak/NJT)


Metropark is a station along the Northeast Corridor, located at the rail line's intersection with the Garden State Parkway. The line is served by Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. 

Services

Car #1340, an Arrow on the 1:48 PM train.

 
Both Amtrak and NJ Transit trains stop here. 
 
Amtrak
 
  • Acela - This is essentially an express service that runs from Boston South Station to DC Union Station. Certain segments of it run at 160 miles per hour, making it a mixed traffic high speed rail route. Most of the time the Acela runs once an hour. 
  • Carolinian - This train runs from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina via DC, Richmond, and Raleigh. The Carolinan runs one round trip a day. 
  • Crescent -  This train runs from Bew York City to New Orleans via Charlottesville, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Birmingham. Crescent trains run once a day. 
  • Keystone Service -  This train runs from New York City to Harrisburg, PA via Philadelphia. Between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, trains operate in a commuter-oriented fashion, with seats being completely unreserved outside of weekends and holidays.  This train runs about once an hour to once every other hour. 
  • Northeast Regional - This train runs from Boston to DC via New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. There are four branches of this service used to serve other nearby areas. One branch goes to Springfield, MA via Hartford instead of to Boston from New York City. A second branch goes south to Roanoke, VA from DC. The final two branches go to Norfolk and Newport News, VA respectively, with both locations being across the Hampton Roads from eachother. Trains between New York City and DC often run about every 30 minutes, with trains to Boston being less frequent. 
  • Palmetto - This train runs between New York City and Savannah via Richmond and Charleston. The Palmetto runs one round trip a day. 
  • Vermonter -  This train runs from DC to St. Albans, Vermont via New York City and Springfield, MA. The Vermonter runs one round trip a day. 
NJT
  • Northeast Corridor -  This train runs more local service from New York Penn station in New York City to Trenton Transit Center in Trenton, NJ. Trains run once every 30-45 minutes, though short turn trains run more frequently. 

Tour

Shelter.

 Metropark station has shelters, but the heating was deliberately removed
 
Other platform.

 
 
Northbound platform.
 
A lot of the basic amenities one would expect are here. The station is fully accessible, with full high level platforms. 
 
TVMs.

For some reason, the TVMs are on the ground floor, which makes it incredibly annoying when you need to get a physical ticket from this station and have no time.  
 
The depot and one of the elevator towers.



An area near the station.

Immediately outside this station is an area that kind of feels like the downtown of a small city, or at least an emulation of that. 

Inside the waiting room.
The waiting room of this station has departure boards, a convenience store, and a ticket office where you can get Amtrak tickets. 

Bridge between the platform and parking garages.

Departure board inside of parking garage.

This station has not one but two parking garages, each about seven floors tall. In order to use the garages, you need to use an app in most cases. There are other ways around this, however. 
 
The station from above.

Looking at it from above really shows how much Metropark is a maze. 

The top of the parking garage. 


The tunnel underneath the station between platforms. 

This tunnel is the only way between the southbound platform and the TVMs. 


Southbound train. 

Bus Connections


 
There are several bus connections at this station, these include:
 
  • 48 - This bus runs from Elizabeth to Woodbridge Mall or Perth Amboy about once per hour. 
  • 801 - One of the Metropark loops, this bus runs service around Menlo Park. The 801 is peak only. 
  • 802 - One of the Metropark loops, this bus runs to downtown Woodbridge Township. This bus runs peak only. 
  • 803 - Although listed with the Metropark loops, this isn't a loop. The 803 runs to Woodbridge proper. The route doesn't quite run peak only, but gets close with its six hour gap between 9 am and 3 pm. This is the best of the Metropark loop routes. 
  • 804 - One of the Metropark loops, this bus runs to New Dover. Service is peak only like the rest of the loops.  
  • 805 - One of the Metropark loops, this runs peak service only to King Georges Road. 
Outside of the 48, every single bus that runs here is bad. This might be a good place to bring Microlink, depending on the commuting patterns shown by these routes. The Metropark loops entirely server as a last-mile solution for workers at metropark. 
 

Points of Interest Near Metropark Station

 
There's not much here. From above, it looks city-like, but in reality it's anything but. The only difference between a suburb overtaken by a large business park and here is that the buildings are taller. A lot of people work here, which generates traffic and ridership predictably, but no one really lives here. There's transit oriented development being built in the form of apartments (and a hospital was also built here a while back), so hopefully things will look up on this front. 
 

Statistics


Name: Metropark
Agency: Antrak, NJT
Line(s): Acela, Carolinan, Crescent, Keystone Service, Northeast Corridor, Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Vermonter
Locality: Iselin
Municipality: Woodbridge Township
County: Middlesex
State: New Jersey
Ridership: Amtrak: 292,516 (2026) NJT: 3,878 per average weekday (2025).


Amenity Checklist 


Accessible: ✓
Bathrooms: ✓
Bicycle parking: ✓
Clean Station: ✓
Connections to other transit routes: ✓ (all of them are bad)
Convenience Store inside: ✓
Easy passage for each side: ×
Existence is justifiable: ✓
Fare Payment Kiosks (if applicable): ×
Good Wayfinding: ×
Indoor Shelters: ✓
Maps: ✓
Multiple entrances/exits: ✓
Multiple Rooms: ×
Adequate Parking: ✓
Restaurant inside: ×
Safe to use: ✓
Adequate Seating: ✓
Shelters: ✓
Station In Good Condition: ✓
TVMs: × (There's not enough and they're all too far away from the platforms)
Ticket Offices: ✓
TOD: ×
Train Departure/Arrival Info (signs that update/screens): ✓
Updated/Useful Signage: ✓
 
Final Verdict: 7.25/10


Station Directory

 
 
--------MASSACHUSETTS--------
--------Suffolk County--------
Boston South Station
Back Bay
--------Norfolk County--------
Route 128
--------RHODE ISLAND--------
--------Providence County--------
Providence
--------Washington County--------
Kingston
Westerly
-------CONNECTICUT--------
--------Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region--------
New London
--------Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region--------
Old Saybrook
--------South Central Connecticut Planning Region-------- 
 
TRAINS TO SPRINGFIELD, MA AND ST ALBANS CONTINUE NORTH AND ARE NOT SHOWN HERE 
 
New Haven Union
--------Greater Bridgeport Planning Region--------
Bridgeport
--------Western Connecticut Planning Region--------
Stamford Transportation Center
 
--------NEW YORK--------
--------Westchester County-------- 
New Rochelle  
--------Manhattan Borough--------
''''''''Zone 0''''''''
New York Penn
--------NEW JERSEY--------
--------Hudson County-------- 
''''''''Zone 1''''''''
Secaucus Junction
--------Essex County--------
Newark Penn
Newark Liberty International Airport
--------Union County-------- 
''''''''Zone 5''''''''
North Elizabeth
Elizabeth
''''''''Zone 7''''''''
Linden
''''''''Zone 8''''''''
Rahway
--------Middlesex County--------  
''''''''Zone 10''''''''
Metropark
''''''''Zone 11''''''''
Metuchen
''''''''Zone 13''''''''
Edison
''''''''Zone 14''''''''
New Brunswick
Jersey Avenue
--------Mercer County--------  
''''''''Zone 19''''''''
Princeton Junction   <----->   Princeton
''''''''Zone 20''''''''
Hamilton
''''''''Zone 22''''''''
--------PENNSYLVANIA--------
--------Bucks County--------
--------Philadelphia County--------
Philadelphia-30th Street   
 
KEYSTONE TRAINS CONTINUE TO HARRISBURG (SHOWN BELOW)
 
--------DELAWARE--------
--------New Castle County--------  
Newark
--------MARYLAND-------- 
--------Harford County-------- 
Aberdeen
--------Baltimore City-------- 
--------Anne Arundel County-------- 
BWI Airport
--------Prince George's County-------- 
New Carrolton
--------DC--------  
Washington DC Union 
 
ALL OTHER TRAINS CONTINUE SOUTH TO CHARLOTTE, NEW ORLEANS, NEWPORT NEWS, NORFOLK, ROANOKE, SAVANNAH AND ARE NOT SHOWN HERE 
 
 
--------PENNSYLVANIA--------
--------Dauphin County--------
Harrisburg
Middletown
--------Lancaster County--------
Elizabethtown
Mount Joy
Lancaster
--------Chester County--------
Parkesburg
Downingtown
Exton
Paoli
--------Montgomery County--------
Ardmore
--------Philadelphia County--------
30th Street
--------Bucks County--------
--------NEW JERSEY--------
--------Mercer County--------
--------Middlesex County--------
Metropark
--------Union County--------
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Pennsylvania
--------NEW YORK--------
--------Manhattan Borough--------
New York Penn
  

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