TRANSIT SERVICE ARCHIVE — SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25
Going to Jets–Dolphins from Rockland? Protect the train home.
The rail trip requires a transfer at Secaucus and a Meadowlands wristband in both directions. Sloatsburg riders who miss the 6:23 p.m. train face a scheduled wait until 9:38 p.m. The stadium shuttle does not guarantee a Rockland connection.
Service closeout: use live tools for a current trip
The October 25 event-service window and the listed 9:31 and 9:38 p.m. return choices have ended. The table below also records a 12:50 a.m. Sloatsburg fallback from the dated schedule; do not treat that archive entry as live status. Check DepartureVision ↗ and the NJ Transit trip planner ↗ before traveling.
MetLife Stadium lists a 1 p.m. kickoff ↗, with gates at 11 a.m. and parking at 8 a.m. The examples below use NJ Transit's temporary weekend schedules effective October 11–November 14 and its dated October 25 event table. All times are Eastern.
A workable stadium-bound plan
| Rockland origin | Leave | At Secaucus | Meadowlands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Valley | 10:03 a.m. | 11:08 arrival 11:25 shuttle | 11:38 a.m. |
| Nanuet | 10:08 a.m. | 11:08 arrival 11:25 shuttle | 11:38 a.m. |
| Pearl River | 10:12 a.m. | 11:08 arrival 11:25 shuttle | 11:38 a.m. |
| Suffern | 10:09 a.m. | 11:07 arrival 11:25 shuttle | 11:38 a.m. |
| Sloatsburg | 10:18 a.m. | 11:12 arrival 11:25 shuttle | 11:38 a.m. |
The printed transfer intervals are 13–18 minutes. They are arithmetic from the schedules, not NJ Transit minimums or held-connection promises. Useful earlier backups leave Spring Valley at 9:41, Nanuet at 9:46, Pearl River at 9:51, Suffern at 9:09 and Sloatsburg at 8:40 a.m.
Buy to Meadowlands; keep the wristband
NJ Transit's October 25 advisory ↗ says riders should buy a round trip from their origin to Meadowlands Station. Show the ticket at Secaucus to receive the wristband required for both the stadium-bound and return trains, and keep it on. There is no direct Rockland-to-stadium train.
The temporary Port Jervis substitute-bus program applies on weekdays, not Sunday. Sloatsburg riders use the weekend train table for this trip; do not add the Ramsey Route 17 bus transfer used on some weekday journeys.
Choose the home-line train before the game
| Home line or station | Scheduled departures from Secaucus | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Pascack Valley | 5:23, 6:31, 7:39 and 9:31 p.m. | 5:23 arrives Pearl River 6:14, Nanuet 6:19 and Spring Valley 6:26. |
| Suffern | 5:35, 6:23, 6:35, 7:35, 8:35 and 9:38 p.m. | 5:35 arrives 6:37; 6:23 express arrives 6:57; 6:35 arrives 7:37. |
| Sloatsburg | 6:23 and 9:38 p.m. Next listed: 12:50 a.m. | Arrivals 7:04 and 10:39 p.m.; the 12:50 reaches Sloatsburg at 1:53 a.m. |
Sloatsburg: the 6:15 stadium statement does not protect the 6:23 home train
NJ Transit says the last Meadowlands train will not depart before 6:15 p.m. That protects a Meadowlands-to-Secaucus departure, not the 6:23 p.m. Secaucus-to-Sloatsburg train. Event shuttles may move with crowd volume, and no connection is promised. Missing 6:23 means the next listed Sloatsburg train is 9:38 p.m.—a three-hour-and-15-minute scheduled gap.
Release-night checks—and what they do not guarantee
At the October 24 evening check, NJ Transit's current page showed the planned Portal schedule and event notice but no new unscheduled interruption on the Rockland-serving lines. Its elevator table listed Ramsey Route 17, Ridgewood and all seven Secaucus elevators in service. Those are time-stamped listings, not promises for Sunday.
The National Weather Service forecast for East Rutherford ↗ called for sunshine and a high near 66 Sunday, then clear conditions and a low near 44 Sunday night. The current 511NY incident and closure lists showed no MetLife-area entry at the release check. Recheck rail status ↗, elevator status ↗, 511NY ↗ and the weather before leaving.
What changes for a resident: a Rockland gamegoer can save the correct Secaucus transfer and home-line return choices before travel, instead of treating the stadium's final shuttle as a guaranteed ride to Rockland.
Primary sources: NJ Transit's October 25 event advisory ↗, dated Meadowlands timetable ↗, temporary Pascack Valley ↗ and Main/Bergen County/Port Jervis ↗ weekend timetables, Port Jervis construction notice ↗, MetLife event page, NJ Transit live status and elevator tables, NWS forecast and 511NY lists. Connection arithmetic was checked October 23; live gates were rechecked October 24, 2026, at 8:53 p.m. EDT. Printed times can change, trains do not wait for event shuttles and live operator instructions control.