Fastest and/or Most Efficient Commute: Philly-Rahway? (Trenton, Carteret: transfer to, train)

[Ulysses_11]

Hello all --

I have been doing a fair amount of research but cannot seem to figure out what is the fastest way -- preferably by TRAIN -- to get from Philadelphia to Rahway (and back). I may have to do it on a daily basis, and am trying to determine if it's way too onerous. Any suggestions?

thanks very much in advance,
Ulysses

[Thosepeskyfacts]

The fastest would be to take Amtrak from Philly to MetroPark and then transfer to a NJ Transit train for one stop to Rahway. It woulld be really expensive though.

[mgt04]

Originally Posted by Thosepeskyfacts

The fastest would be to take Amtrak from Philly to MetroPark and then transfer to a NJ Transit train for one stop to Rahway. It woulld be really expensive though.

I agree it would be really expensive. If you got yourself a gas sipper the commute may not be that bad if you can park somewhere at work.

[BobKovacs]

The only other viable mass-transit option is to take the SEPTA trains to an NJ transit station (Trenton, I believe), and then take NJ Transit to Rahway. That's a PITA, in my opinion, and will easily consume 1.5 hours each way. Driving would be similar time-wise, assuming you can avoid the major rush hours- it could approach 2 hours if it rains, and all bets are off if there's snow.

[captne76]

Well it's about an hour and 30 or 40 minutes according to that very racist Google site.
That does not seem like it would even take that long since i've done it many times, often using the StraightPike (US 1) toll free.
For train times you'd have to go on the NJT site and try diff things. The NJT train runs to Trento then the Phiily train is a SEPTA, or Amtrak covers it quicker, maybe you could NJT it to MetroPark or New Briunswicck and Amtrak it from there.

As long as you avoif the NJ Pike, the other roads are usually better for getting to Philly. meaning US 1 or I-95. the REAL I-95 that is.

[ru848789]

Originally Posted by Ulysses_11

Hello all --

I have been doing a fair amount of research but cannot seem to figure out what is the fastest way -- preferably by TRAIN -- to get from Philadelphia to Rahway (and back). I may have to do it on a daily basis, and am trying to determine if it's way too onerous. Any suggestions?

thanks very much in advance,
Ulysses

Do you happen to work at Merck? I do. I know several co-workers who commute from the West Point site, NW of Philly and a few who commute from Philly/South Jersey, including one guy who commutes from freakin' Penns Grove (Salem County - Exit 1 on the NJTPK, right before Delaware). Almost all of these folks drive and unless you avoid rush hour, which is tough to do, you always run the risk of a 1.5 hour drive turning into a 2-3 hour drive. With regard to driving route, if you're not too far from Jersey, cross the river and take 295 to the Turnpike or the Turnpike; you do NOT want to take 95 to 1 all the way up to Rahway - 1 is much slower than the TPK. If you're too far from South Jersey, take 95, but get off on 413/13 and cut over to 276 and take that to the Turnpike (at exit 6) and take that up towards Rahway. One note on the TPK up near RY: do not go to exit 12 in Carteret (which also says Rahway) - get off at exit 11 in Woodbridge and take 9N to 1/9N into Rahway - it's much faster, as getting from exit 12 to 1/9 in Rahway (Merck is on 1/9) is a major pain.

[GodsOleBoy]

One note on that driving, ever since that new "tunnel" section of NJ29 opened in Trenton, it became a a rather straight run to say take I95 from Phlly up to the US-1 Freeway exit, then the US-1 freeway over to Trenton, first exit in NJ puts you on NJ 29 South which goes right into I-195 and the NJ pull the money out of my pockets Turnpike. Least tolls that way, other than using US1 all the way, and short straight route.
Here's a link from the highly racist Google site as to what I mean:
fromhila to:40.189365,-74.679565 to:rahway - Google Maps