NJ Transit to Test-Drive Bigger Light Rail Vehicles

New Jersey's Hudson-Bergen light rail line is expanding... seating capacity. (No, the line won't stretch into Bergen County -- at least not yet.)

Ridership on the system, which runs through the state's densely populated Hudson County, has been on the rise -- NJ Transit says passenger trips have doubled over the past seven years to more than 45,000 per day. On Wednesday, the agency unveiled the new, longer light rail cars in Hoboken.

The vehicles will be 37 feet longer than the current ones and expand seating capacity from 68 to 102 seats. And they won't get the holiday off. "We are placing the prototype into service for Independence Day to test its ability to help accommodate the larger number of customers who will be traveling along the Hudson River Waterfront to view the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks,” said NJ Transit executive director James Weinstein.

The Hudson-Bergen light rail line opened in 2000. At its board meeting in May, NJ Transit approved a study looking at expanding the HBLR into Bergen County.