As you approach the Elizabeth train station, you see an elegant clock tower rising above a classic station building. That USED to be the train station, but it's now a restaurant (which restaurant it is depends on when you visit...). The actual station is just behind the restaurant. It is a bare-bones utilitarian station that has, really, nothing to recommend it. Well, the automatic ticket machines work. Hooray.
The two sides are connected by a dingy underground tunnel, which, I suppose, is better -- and much safer -- than an at-grade crossing. The southbound platform is narrow, worn, and has no visible indication of train status -- not even a cheap and lame LED panel. There might be a train schedule posted somewhere on the southbound platform -- but nowhere I could see. So how do you know if your train is running late? Or canceled. You don't. Maybe there's someone in the booth on the northbound side who might be able to tell you.
I'd say signage around the station is terrible, but it seemed simply nonexistent. Thankfully, Google maps provided good directions to it. It seems the city of Elizabeth is ashamed of its train station. Well, it should be. read more