Atlantic City Rail Terminal

The Atlantic City Rail Terminal is the southern terminus of New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line. The current facility opened in 1989 as part of the restoration of passenger service along the former Reading Company route between Atlantic City and Philadelphia. The station was constructed and was originally served by Amtrak, which operated the Atlantic City Express between Atlantic City and various points along the Northeast Corridor, including Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and New York City. The Amtrak service would ultimately be discontinued due to poor ridership, and NJ Transit took over the maintenance and operations of the station. NJ Transit commuter trains originally operated between Atlantic City and Lindenwold station only, before service was extended into Philadelphia in 1996. Today's station is located as part of the same complex as the Atlantic City Convention Center, and replaces the previous Reading Company station in Atlantic City which had fallen into a state of disrepair and was demolished in 1997.

Station layout
The present-day Atlantic City Rail Terminal consists of five tracks and three platforms, with two island platforms serving the four main tracks and one additional side platform serving the fifth track. Since there are not normally more than two revenue trains in the station at any given time, the additional tracks are often used as a de facto train yard for the Atlantic City Line, which lacks any official yard of its own. Light maintenance of the equipment can be performed here; trains that require heavier maintenance have to be shifted to either Philadelphia or the Meadowlands.

The main concourse consists of a large waiting room that features a number of benches. There are signs on all of the benches indicating that they are for "ticketed passengers only" and prescribing a two-hour time limit; however these conditions are rarely if ever enforced. The concourse also features a small food court that as of 2023 consists only of a single restaurant plus vending machines; however there is space available and long-range plans do exist to expand these facilities. An information stand provides bus schedules for both immediately connecting routes and a few of the key routes that serve the Atlantic City Bus Terminal a few blocks away. During the summer months brochures about upcoming or ongoing events in Atlantic City are often added to this information stand.

The station code for Atlantic City is ACY, which is actually an Amtrak station code, not a NJ Transit one. This is a legacy from the days of the Atlantic City Express Amtrak service, and Amtrak actually still sells NJ Transit tickets between Atlantic City and Philadelphia as a Thruway Connection. All three platforms are fully high level, making the station accessible to persons with disabilities. Accessible restrooms are also located within the main concourse.

Atlantic City is located in fare zone AC6. There are six total fare zones for the Atlantic City Line, but because the line is physically disconnected from the rest of the NJ Transit rail system, the prefix "AC" is used to denote Atlantic City Line zones and distinguish them from the zones in North Jersey which also use the same numbers.

Parking
The Atlantic City Rail Terminal features a small parking garage consisting of only 75 spaces. Access to the garage is free for ticketed passengers (one must scan or insert a valid train ticket at the entrance to open the gate). However, during major events at the Atlantic City Convention Center, these parking spaces often double as event parking, which has been controversial since this practice takes spaces away from commuters and they aren't a large number of spaces to begin with. The practice has been justified with the claims that Atlantic City is a "largely walkable" city given that the streets are generally arranged in a grid-like fashion (though not a perfect rectangular grid like Manhattan) and also for the fact that there are numerous local bus routes, some operated by NJ Transit, others operated privately by casinos and hotels, that provide connecting services to pretty much anywhere within the city limits. NJ Transit does have long-range plans to expand parking at the station, though finding the space for such a facility in the dense Atlantic City will be a significant challenge.