Absecon station

Absecon station is a commuter rail station on the Atlantic City Line in Southern New Jersey, owned and operated by New Jersey Transit. It is the second-to-last station on the line, and the southernmost station on the New Jersey Mainland (Atlantic City itself is technically on a barrier island separated by the Intracoastal Waterway). The station has the standard design that is seen in all of the intermediate stations on the Atlantic City Line, consisting of an enclosed waiting area with a red exterior trim. In this case, the station is elevated on a slight embankment, so an elevator brings people up from the parking lot to the platform. The elevator shaft is covered in bricks and a large station sign is located at the top of the shaft. Like all of the other intermediate ACL stations, Absecon consists of a single high-level side platform serving the single tracked line. Unlike others however, Absecon is on a bit of a curve, though said curve is shallow enough to not cause any significant impacts.

History
The community of Absecon has seen passenger rail service dating back to 1933, when the Reading Company route between Camden and Atlantic City opened. The original station in Absecon lasted only five years however, as in 1938 local mandates to raise the right of way through town and eliminate grade crossings resulted in the station being elevated, as it remains today. This second station remained in service until the Reading Company ceased passenger operations on the Atlantic City Line in 1978 and would ultimately abandon the route altogether. When the route was re-activated for passenger service by Amtrak in the 1980s, there was a desire to provide high level platforms at all stations. Although the Americans with Disabilities Act was not yet in effect at the time, high platforms allowed for expedited boarding and alighting, since conductors didn't need to deploy door traps and passengers didn't need to take time navigating a steep set of stairs. This desire to have level boarding, as well as the overall poor condition of the Reading Company structure, resulted in the old station infrastructure being demolished and the present day station being built on the same site. This is a theme that can be seen at many of the other intermediate stations on the Atlantic City Line.

Originally, service was provided only by Amtrak's medium and long distance trains, with the flagship train being the Atlantic City Express that ran from Atlantic City to Philadelphia, where it divided into a northern and southern section serving Washington, D.C. and New York City, along with intermediate points. Additional commuter trains and summer tourist trains were also operated, though not at a consistent frequency. New Jersey Transit began operating commuter service between Atlantic City and Lindenwold in 1989, with service extended into Philadelphia in 1996 (the year after Amtrak discontinued all Atlantic City services due to poor ridership). Today Absecon is served by six NJ Transit trains in each direction on a daily basis, providing service both to Philadelphia and Atlantic City throughout the day.

Station layout
Like all of the other intermediate stations on the Atlantic City Line, Absecon stations features a single high level side platform serving the single tracked line. Parking is provided in the form of a 175-space surface lot adjacent to the station at ground level (passengers must climb stairs or take the elevator to access the platform from their cars). NJ Transit's Bus Route 551, which provides redundant service running roughly parallel to the Atlantic City Line between Lindenwold and Atlantic City, stops just outside the parking lot. Because the bus serves many local destinations located between train stations, and also runs an hourly clockface schedule all day, it generally maintains decent ridership despite the train being much faster.

The station code for Absecon is ABN, 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.

Absecon is located in fare zone AC5. 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.