This list of rail trails in New Jersey lists former railroad right-of-ways in New Jersey that have been converted to trails for public use, as well as proposed rail trails.
Columbia Trail - former Central Railroad of New Jersey High Bridge Branch; trail runs for approximately 15 miles (24 km) and follows South Branch of the Raritan River for most of its length.
Great Valley Rail Trail - former Lehigh & New England Railroad. The trail is a 3.5-mile rail trail in Augusta, New Jersey, south of Branchville, New Jersey.
Patriots' Path (Speedwell Lake to Woodland Road) - former Rockaway Valley Railroad; only portions of the Speedwell Lake to Woodland Road section of Patriots' Path use the former rail bed
Wood Duck Nature Trail - former Hanford Branch of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway extends about 1.5 miles on the former railroad bed ending at the Wallkill River
Former Central Railroad of NJ line from Lakehurst to Winslow Junction - Momentum is increasing for support of the proposed Wharton Rail-trail in southern Jersey. The line was a remnant of the Conrail bailout of 1976 and has been abandoned since that date. Since then, trees have grown up through the rails. Most bridges remain intact and the right-of-way and its access roads are being used by rogue ATVs, mountain bikers and hikers. The area eastward beyond the Batsto River is barren, uneventful, and impossible to ride. However, westward to County Route 536, there are several interesting trestles over tea-colored cedar water streams and hardwood groves amongst the solitude of pine trees. This latter route is mostly single track and double track in places west of U.S. Route 206 at Atsion. The New Jersey Department of Transportation will be studying the conversion of the line.
Highlands Rail Trail - Passaic County Highlands Rail Trail is a proposed contiguous recreational trail that will provide a pedestrian and bicycle-friendly pathway through the adaptive reuse of the former New York & Greenwood Lake Railway right-of-way in the Highlands communities of northern Passaic County.
Rahway Valley Railroad main line. Union County residents have proposed a 7.3-mile pedestrian linear park along the main line of the abandoned Rahway Valley Railroad.[3][4] The rail trail would run eastbound from Overlook Medical Center on the edge of downtown Summit and head south along the old railbed through Springfield, over the Rahway River via an abandoned trestle, through Union, then Kenilworth and ending at the southwest edge of Roselle Park at the Cranford border. A northern portion of the 7.3 mile rail trail on the RVRR main line is already under construction as the Summit Park Line, with a footbridge over Morris Avenue installed in October 2022.[5][6] In parallel, advocates have been pushing for immediate development of the portion south of Route 22, running past the Galloping Hill Golf Course through Kenilworth and Roselle Park. The New Jersey Department of Transportion, which owns the railbed, has been working to clear it in anticipation of possible future trail use.[7][8][9][10]
The inactive Staten Island Rapid Transit line has also been proposed as a Union County rail trail.[11] The ending of the railway is on Westfield Avenue in Roselle Park. The Staten Island Rapid Transit runs from Cranford to the Arthur Kill in Linden, New Jersey and onward to Staten Island, although the project would only include the section that runs from Cranford to Linden.[12] The possible beginning in Cranford would be a lot adjacent to the railroad right-of-way on South Avenue East. The lot is currently owned by Lehigh Acquisition. The ending of this trail would be in Linden along another empty lot. A boardwalk could be placed over the existing tracks due to the possibility of the line being reactivated.