Four NJ Transit stations will get needed makeovers, starting with New Brunswick’s historic train station, and Amtrak is picking up the check.

Gov. Phil Murphy and Amtrak Board Chairman Tony Coscia on Tuesday announced the comprehensive upgrade of New Brunswick’s 116-year-old station used by thousands of NJ Transit riders.

Work on the station, built in 1903, is being financed under an ongoing $31 million construction program Amtrak is doing in New Jersey.

The project includes improvements to the station’s elevator and escalator systems, extending the eastbound platform, rehabilitation of the station’s exterior brick façade, installing new lighting, windows, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, and fresh paint.

In addition to the New Brunswick upgrade, NJ Transit commuters will see see improvements at Trenton Transit Center, and Princeton Junction, and Elizabeth stations, all on the Amtrak owned Northeast Corridor line that NJ Transit rents. All NJ Transit lines that go to New York use the Northeast Corridor to get to Manhattan.

Murphy said these projects will “make access easier, waiting more comfortable, and enhance safety” for rail commuters. He also said it will help boost New Jersey’s economy.

The work is being funded with 90 percent federal funds and 10 percent from the state Transportation Trust Fund, Murphy said.

“A modern safe and reliable mass transit system will be the catalyst we need to grow our economy,” the Democratic governor said during a news conference Tuesday at New Brunswick’s station.

The work takes on added significance because of the construction of an “innovation” hub across the street, which is contributing to New Brunswick’s economic upswing, Murphy said.

In May, Amtrak officials announced New Jersey commuters would see some return on the $182 million in back rent paid to Amtrak earlier this year with $31 million worth of work being done on the NEC.

That work is being done on various parts of the Northeast Corridor line. That includes replacing ties that support track on the infamous Portal Bridge, track and platform improvements at Newark Penn Station, which took place this spring and summer, in Trenton and New Brunswick. The work is being done through a joint benefits program between NJ Transit and Amtrak.

Trenton escalator for track 1 & 2 is out of commission AGAIN! — A (@FastCity) October 15, 2019

In February, NJ Transit paid $182 million to Amtrak in back payments owed for rent and use of the Northeast Corridor line and Penn Station and into joint benefits project for NEC improvements. Former Gov. Chris Christie stopped payment in 2017 after a rash of derailments in Penn Station New York. Some of those funds paid for renovation of a joint NJ Transit-Amtrak waiting area off Penn Station New York’s main concourse.

The waiting room makeover will cost approximately $6.5 million, which is being funded on a 50/50 basis between Amtrak and NJ Transit. In addition proving relief from crowded rush hour conditions in a sunken waiting area commuters have nicknamed “the pit”, the work will give commuters better access from Eighth Avenue in Manhattan.

“Amtrak is committed to investing every nickel of it in New Jersey," Coscia said in February.

Other work includes behind the scenes work on infrastructure such as installing new constant tension overhead electric wire that powers trains on four tracks on the NEC between New Brunswick and South Brunswick. The constant tension feature reduces the chance of wire snapping in extreme cold and hot weather.

Interlockings, which allow trains to change tracks, will be replaced in West Windsor and Trenton. The overhead wire and track work allows higher train speed and improved reliability, Amtrak officials said.

One interlocking in Trenton will get a total rebuild, replacing the machines that move track switches, electric track heaters used in the winter. Also, 350 wooden switch ties will be replaced with concrete ties, officials said.

NJ Transit started construction of a new $49.2 million two-story station complex in Elizabeth on Sept. 30 with work on station platforms. That project has been in the works since 2015.

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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