Service on the Newark Liberty Airport monorail will be partially suspended starting Thursday as construction begins on its long-awaited replacement, Port Authority officials said.
Weekday AirTrain-monorail service will be suspended between 5 a.m. and 3 p.m., starting Jan. 15 and continuing through May 22, officials said Monday. The shutdown will affect travel between the AirTrain station serving Amtrak and NJ Transit and parking deck P4.
Nearly 6,000 daily travelers who take NJ Transit or Amtrak trains to the airport will be affected, officials said.
“What we’ve learned from our other [airport] endeavors is to get to world class, you have to take some pain,” said Jim Heitmann, Port Authority chief operating officer.
“We understand it’s difficult … we want to apologize in advance,” he said. “At the end of this you’re going to have another world class facility and it’s worth it.”
The suspension is needed for two reasons: to protect workers during daylight-only construction and to keep the project on track for its planned opening in early 2030, said Ralph D’Apuzzo, lead program director for Newark Liberty Airport’s redevelopment.
Construction crews will be working on the first section of new elevated tracks roughly 30 feet from the old tracks. They will be doing pile driving and foundation work that can only be done during daylight hours, he said.
Full monorail service resumes service at 3 p.m., which is considered peak air travel time, he said.
Construction will pause twice during this period: from Memorial Day to Labor Day for the summer travel season, and from Oct. 30 to Jan. 15, 2027 for the winter holiday period.
Here’s what travelers need to know.
Budget extra time.
Travelers will need to build in an 30 minutes extra time to use the bus shuttle. That is in addition to the recommended arrival time to go through security screening, D’Apuzzo said.
“The journey is 15 minutes longer,” he said.
There will be 6 to 12 buses in operation on the route at any time and there will be a bus every 4 to 5 minutes at the five stops on the route, he said.
Travelers will still pay standard AirTrain fares for the shuttle bus service, D’Apuzzo said.
What’s being done to help travelers?
Added customer service staff will be on duty to help travelers find shuttle bus pick-up locations. Staff also will be deployed at bus stops to help travelers load and unload baggage in and out of buses, D’Apuzzo said.
Special red and black signs to provide information have been designed for the suspension and will be installed by Jan. 15, he said. Electronic signs that display maps also will have real time bus information available.
Signs at AirTrain stations and in the airport show maps with normal AirTrain service and the service route run during the suspension. Those signs will be covered up when full monorail service is running to avoid confusion.
Where else is information available?
Port Authority officials are using all types of media to inform travelers, including the agency’s NewarkAirport.com website and its social media accounts. The agency also has paid ads running on social media and radio.
Airlines also will help convey AirTrain information to their customers.
What about the Airtrain?
The bus shuttle route to the airport stops at the airport rail station, parking deck P4 and all three terminals from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays. This provides travelers with a one-seat ride, D’Apuzzo said.
Monorail trains will also run between the three airport terminals and parking areas P3 and P4 during the same weekday hours.
Leaving the airport, travelers will take the AirTrain from the terminals to parking deck P4 and transfer to buses to the train station, between 5 a.m. and 3 p.m., weekdays, D’Apuzzo said.
On the bus.
The hybrid buses are 40-foot-long with low floors, meaning travelers have just one step to get on board. They have wheelchair assists for passengers with mobility issues.
Audio messages tell passengers what stop is next and provide other information. The buses do not have luggage racks or baggage storage areas inside.
Each bus holds 40 passengers compared to the 70 people moved by one monorail train. Buses will be scheduled to meet arriving NJ Transit trains.
The project.
The $3.5 billion project will build a new AirTrain to replace the aging monorail that was opened in May 1996.
Officials are hoping construction will proceed smoother than the progress to get to that point which had three setbacks.
Original plans called for construction of the AirTrain to begin in the first quarter of 2022, with testing of the new system in the first quarter of 2025.
Port Authority officials first called for scrapping Newark Airport’s aging monorail in 2015, saying the 1996 monorail system was showing its age.
In December 2023, Port Authority commissioners awarded two contracts totaling $950 million to Doppelmayr Cable Car Company to design and build cable drawn railcars, automatic train control and electrical distribution systems and to operate and maintain the system for 20 years.
Those five-car “cable liner” trains feature walk through open gangway designs instead of separate closed off compartments. Doors will be large enough for passengers in wheelchairs to access and for passengers with large luggage, officials said.
The existing monorail’s cars have compartments that can barely hold seven people and their luggage.
In November 2024, Port Authority officials approved a contract to build replacement AirTrain guideways, the equivalent of elevated track, and three stations, with an option to build a fourth when the new Terminal B is constructed.
