Northern Branch (Conrail)
Encyclopedia
The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from Jersey City, New Jersey
to Northvale, New Jersey
. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Rail Road's Piermont Branch terminus in Piermont, New York
to Erie's Pavonia Terminal
in Jersey City, New Jersey
. The line was then extended to Nyack, New York
in 1870 and provided passenger service until 1966. Ownership of the line passed into the hands of Conrail upon the latter's formation in 1976.
It survives as two separate but connected pieces of railroad. The Northern Running Track is an approximately two-mile-long freight railroad line in northern New Jersey. It runs from the Passaic and Harsimus Line
at Marion Junction in western Jersey City, New Jersey
, (via a short connection known as the Marion Running Track) north to a junction with CSX
's Bergen Subdivision in North Bergen, New Jersey
, with a connection to Norfolk Southern Railway
's Croxton Yard
CSX's Northern Branch (which was part of the Conrail line until Conrail's 1998 split) continues north to the New York
state line, and is a minor spur. Through traffic moves onto the Bergen Subdivision (and from there onto the River Subdivision) at North Bergen.
New Jersey Transit
has proposed a restoration of passenger service on the line, known as the Northern Branch Corridor Project, as an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail from North Bergen
to Tenafly
.
The Northern Railroad of New Jersey was chartered in 1854. When it opened on May 28, 1859, it was the second railroad in modern Bergen County (following only the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad
) with stage connections to Hackensack and other points. The northern terminal was Piermont, New York
on the New York and Erie Rail Road, which had opened in 1841. After running on the Erie for one mile, trains reached the Northern's own line at Sparkill, New York
and ran for 21 miles to another junction with the Erie at Croxton in Jersey City, New Jersey
. From there trains ran on the Erie and the New Jersey Railroad for two and a half miles to the terminal later called Exchange Place
. Passengers could continue by ferry to Chambers St in Manhattan
. Because of its running over the Erie, the Northern was built to the same 6-foot broad gauge
. By September 1859, there were three passenger trains in each direction, with one express running from Piermont to Jersey City in 70 minutes. Sometime in the 1860s the Northern began running service westward from Sparkill on the Erie's Piermont Branch as far as Monsey, New York
.
The southern terminal was moved to the Erie's Jersey City Terminal
late in 1868, about six months before the Northern Railroad's formal lease to the Erie. At that time the company had six locomotives, 21 passenger and baggage cars, and 30 freight cars. Not long after, a nominally separate company, the Nyack and Northern Railroad, built from Nyack
south to meet the Northern at Sparkill, and from its opening in May 1870 Nyack became the northern terminal for most Northern Railroad trains. The Northern track was changed to standard gauge along with the rest of the Erie system in 1878.
For five miles in Hudson County, Croxton to Granton, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
ran parallel to the Northern Railroad. Joint stations were constructed between the railroads with platforms on each side. By the time the Susquehanna was leased by the Erie in 1898, the companies operated the parallel section as one multi-track railroad, with the Northern Railroad's tracks used mostly for northbound trains. Although the Erie lease ended in 1940, the track-sharing continued to the late 1950s.
The Northern Railroad was mainly a commuter and local line, with significant freight business only near its southern end. Business dropped off in the 1930s, and in 1942 the company's property was sold off to its long-term lessor, the Erie. From that time it was the Northern Branch.
(DL&W) consolidated their diminishing passenger services at the Lackawanna's Hoboken Terminal
. During transition Erie trains continued to use the Erie terminal for about an hour in each rush hour, to distribute the heaviest crowds.. A Northern Branch train was the very last to leave Erie terminal in 1958. The two companies merged in 1960 to form the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad
.
The Northern Branch ran from Hoboken for only eight years. Operation was complicated by the lack of a direct connection. Trains leaving Hoboken had to run out over the new connection (1956) to the former Erie Main Line, and then back up about two miles on the former route to the Erie terminal, and then proceed forward again into the Northern Branch. The move added 15 to 20 minutes to running time.
Because commuter services cost more to run than they earned in fares, the Erie-Lackawanna ended passenger service on several branches in 1966. On the Northern Branch, the entire railroad north of Sparkill was abandoned in January and passenger service on the rest of the branch was eliminated in October. The last timetable, April 24, 1966, shows three rush hour trains each way taking 60 minutes to run from Hoboken to Sparkill, only 10 minutes longer than 1954 schedules because of some station closings. Although freight service on the line continued, service into New York state stopped in the late 1970s after the Continental Can Company
in Piermont closed.
and the Northern Branch fell under the control of Conrail. As trains accessing the Northern Branch in Jersey City had to go to Journal Square
and reverse direction, and the connection included a grade crossing of Newark Avenue, freight trains typically used the New Jersey Junction Railroad
and West Shore Railroad, renamed as Conrail's River Line
, to go through northern New Jersey.
Around 1994, a short elevated track, known as the Marion Running Track, was built to connect the Passaic and Harsimus Line
towards Kearny
with the Northern Branch. This provided the Northern Branch with a direct connection to other lines heading west and south at Marion Junction.
After the breakup of Conrail in 1999, the Northern Branch was divided. Conrail Shared Assets Operations
retained the tracks from Marion Junction to the CSX yard in North Bergen
, known as the Northern Running Track. CSX was given the remaining section north to Northvale, in addition to the West Shore Railroad running through the yard, known as the Bergen Subdivision
of the River Line.
With New Jersey Transit
's 2000 creation of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail on the River Line east of the CSX North Bergen Yard, freight trains needed an alternate route to get to the CSX Albany Division. Trains were re-routed via the Northern Running Track to access the Bergen Subdivision
and this part of the Northern Branch became major CSX rail corridor from Upstate New York
. At that time, the Northern Running Track was improved to handle the heavier traffic that had formerly used the River Line on the east side of the New Jersey Palisades
. New Jersey Transit
paid for the project, which included double-tracking the line, changing Marion Junction and Bergen Junction, and building overpasses on Secaucus Road and Paterson Plank Road
. The rest of the Northern Branch continues north to the New York state line, and is a minor spur.
The Marion Running Track is a short elevated track connecting the Passaic and Harsimus Line towards Kearny
with the Northern Branch. It was built around 1994; prior to its opening, trains accessing the Northern Branch had to go to Journal Square
and reverse direction, and the connection included a grade crossing of Newark Avenue (which the new connection overpasses). For these reasons, most freight trains instead used the River Line, passing through the Palisades in tunnels twice.
Another grade crossing still exists at Saint Paul's Avenue, under the Pulaski Skyway
and Truck US 1-9. This is now the only grade crossing on the Northern Running Track. Just north of this crossing, a second track begins; the line is double-tracked from here to the north end.
North of there, the line passes under the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
, now part of New Jersey Transit
's Hoboken Division in the middle of West End Junction. These bridges were built in 1907, before which the tracks crossed at grade.
Just north of the NJ Transit overpasses, the line enters Bergen Junction, and two tracks split to the west from the main line, which heads northwest to Croxton Yard.
Soon the line passes over County Road on a rather old bridge. It then passes under Secaucus Road, whose bridge opened on May 20, 2002. The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
begins at the Land Bridge Terminal, just north of Secaucus Road, and parallels the Northern Running Track, just to the west, all the way to its end.
The next three overpasses, over which pass the Northeast Corridor
, Route 3
, and Route 495
, have never been grade crossings. The next overpass, Paterson Plank Road
, opened on April 22, 2002.
The Northern Running Track ends at North Bergen Yard, at what has been called Granton Junction, and is now CP 2. From here, it splits into two CSX lines, the Bergen Subdivision (which was part of Conrail's River Line until most of Conrail's assets were split), and CSX's Northern Branch. The Bergen Subdivision soon becomes the River Subdivision, and leads along the west side of the Hudson River
towards Albany, New York
.
Beginning at CP 2, the CSX-owned Northern Branch is a lightly used freight spur that passes through eastern Bergen County, New Jersey
, terminating at the state line in Northvale
. The line's tracks have been removed beginning at the New York border. However, the right-of-way continues as a rail trail
heading north as several names - the Joseph B. Clarke Rail-Trail to Piermont, the Old Erie Path to Grand View, and the Raymond G. Esposito Trail to Nyack.
as an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail from Tonnelle Avenue
, known as the Northern Branch Corridor Project.
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
to Northvale, New Jersey
Northvale, New Jersey
Northvale is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 4,640.Northvale was formed on March 15, 1916, from the remaining portions of Harrington Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 4, 1916. With the...
. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Rail Road's Piermont Branch terminus in Piermont, New York
Piermont, New York
Piermont is a village in Rockland County, New York, United States. Piermont is in the town of Orangetown, located north of the hamlet of Palisades; east of Sparkill and south of Grand View-on-Hudson, on the west bank of the Hudson River. The population was 2,607 at the 2000 census.The village's...
to Erie's Pavonia Terminal
Pavonia Terminal
Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River situated on the landfilled Harsimus Cove in Jersey City, New Jersey.-History:The Erie began developing the waterfront site in 1856.The intermodal complex was built between 1886 and 1889...
in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
. The line was then extended to Nyack, New York
Nyack, New York
Nyack is a village in the towns of Orangetown and Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of South Nyack; east of Central Nyack; south of Upper Nyack and west of the Hudson River, approximately 19 miles north of the Manhattan boundary, it is an inner suburb of New...
in 1870 and provided passenger service until 1966. Ownership of the line passed into the hands of Conrail upon the latter's formation in 1976.
It survives as two separate but connected pieces of railroad. The Northern Running Track is an approximately two-mile-long freight railroad line in northern New Jersey. It runs from the Passaic and Harsimus Line
Passaic and Harsimus Line
Conrail's Passaic and Harsimus Line serves freight in northeastern New Jersey, as an alternate to the mainly passenger Northeast Corridor. It takes trains from the Northeast Corridor and Lehigh Line near Newark Liberty International Airport northeast and east into Jersey City, New Jersey, serving...
at Marion Junction in western Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
, (via a short connection known as the Marion Running Track) north to a junction with CSX
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
's Bergen Subdivision in North Bergen, New Jersey
North Bergen, New Jersey
North Bergen is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 60,773. Originally founded in 1843, the town was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one...
, with a connection to Norfolk Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
's Croxton Yard
CSX's Northern Branch (which was part of the Conrail line until Conrail's 1998 split) continues north to the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
state line, and is a minor spur. Through traffic moves onto the Bergen Subdivision (and from there onto the River Subdivision) at North Bergen.
New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
has proposed a restoration of passenger service on the line, known as the Northern Branch Corridor Project, as an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail from North Bergen
North Bergen, New Jersey
North Bergen is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 60,773. Originally founded in 1843, the town was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one...
to Tenafly
Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
.
Northern Railroad of New Jersey
Paterson and Hudson River Railroad
The Paterson and Hudson River Railroad was a railroad that operated in New Jersey and connected the cities of Jersey City and Paterson. The railroad was started in 1833 and connected with the Paterson and Ramapo Railroad in Paterson. The two lines provided a shorter route from Suffern to New York...
) with stage connections to Hackensack and other points. The northern terminal was Piermont, New York
Piermont, New York
Piermont is a village in Rockland County, New York, United States. Piermont is in the town of Orangetown, located north of the hamlet of Palisades; east of Sparkill and south of Grand View-on-Hudson, on the west bank of the Hudson River. The population was 2,607 at the 2000 census.The village's...
on the New York and Erie Rail Road, which had opened in 1841. After running on the Erie for one mile, trains reached the Northern's own line at Sparkill, New York
Sparkill, New York
Sparkill, formerly known as Tappan Sloat, is an affluent, suburban hamlet in the Town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Palisades; east of Tappan; south of Piermont and west of the Hudson River...
and ran for 21 miles to another junction with the Erie at Croxton in Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
. From there trains ran on the Erie and the New Jersey Railroad for two and a half miles to the terminal later called Exchange Place
Exchange Place (PRR station)
The Pennsylvania Railroad Station was the intermodal passenger terminal for the Pennsylvania Railroad's vast holdings on the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey. By the 1920s the station was called Exchange Place in response to local nomenclature...
. Passengers could continue by ferry to Chambers St in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. Because of its running over the Erie, the Northern was built to the same 6-foot broad gauge
Rail gauge in North America
The vast majority of North American railroads are standard gauge. Exceptions include some streetcar, subway and rapid transit systems and some narrow gauge lines particularly in the West, e.g. the isolated White Pass and Yukon Route system, and the former Newfoundland Railway.As well as the usual...
. By September 1859, there were three passenger trains in each direction, with one express running from Piermont to Jersey City in 70 minutes. Sometime in the 1860s the Northern began running service westward from Sparkill on the Erie's Piermont Branch as far as Monsey, New York
Monsey, New York
Monsey is a hamlet , in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of the state of New Jersey; east of Suffern; south of Airmont and west of Nanuet...
.
The southern terminal was moved to the Erie's Jersey City Terminal
Pavonia Terminal
Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River situated on the landfilled Harsimus Cove in Jersey City, New Jersey.-History:The Erie began developing the waterfront site in 1856.The intermodal complex was built between 1886 and 1889...
late in 1868, about six months before the Northern Railroad's formal lease to the Erie. At that time the company had six locomotives, 21 passenger and baggage cars, and 30 freight cars. Not long after, a nominally separate company, the Nyack and Northern Railroad, built from Nyack
Nyack, New York
Nyack is a village in the towns of Orangetown and Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of South Nyack; east of Central Nyack; south of Upper Nyack and west of the Hudson River, approximately 19 miles north of the Manhattan boundary, it is an inner suburb of New...
south to meet the Northern at Sparkill, and from its opening in May 1870 Nyack became the northern terminal for most Northern Railroad trains. The Northern track was changed to standard gauge along with the rest of the Erie system in 1878.
For five miles in Hudson County, Croxton to Granton, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway , also known as the Susie-Q, or simply the Susquehanna, is a Class II American freight railway operating over 500 miles of track in the northeastern states of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was formed in 1881 from the merger of several...
ran parallel to the Northern Railroad. Joint stations were constructed between the railroads with platforms on each side. By the time the Susquehanna was leased by the Erie in 1898, the companies operated the parallel section as one multi-track railroad, with the Northern Railroad's tracks used mostly for northbound trains. Although the Erie lease ended in 1940, the track-sharing continued to the late 1950s.
The Northern Railroad was mainly a commuter and local line, with significant freight business only near its southern end. Business dropped off in the 1930s, and in 1942 the company's property was sold off to its long-term lessor, the Erie. From that time it was the Northern Branch.
Erie and Erie Lackawanna
By 1954, the Northern Branch had only three rush hour passenger trains each way. Between 1956 and 1958, the allied Erie and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western RailroadDelaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company was a railroad connecting Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Valley, rich in anthracite coal, to Hoboken, New Jersey, , Buffalo and Oswego, New York...
(DL&W) consolidated their diminishing passenger services at the Lackawanna's Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal is one of the New York Metropolitan area's major transportation hubs. The commuter-oriented intermodal facility, is located on the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey...
. During transition Erie trains continued to use the Erie terminal for about an hour in each rush hour, to distribute the heaviest crowds.. A Northern Branch train was the very last to leave Erie terminal in 1958. The two companies merged in 1960 to form the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad
Erie Lackawanna Railway
The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie–Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad...
.
The Northern Branch ran from Hoboken for only eight years. Operation was complicated by the lack of a direct connection. Trains leaving Hoboken had to run out over the new connection (1956) to the former Erie Main Line, and then back up about two miles on the former route to the Erie terminal, and then proceed forward again into the Northern Branch. The move added 15 to 20 minutes to running time.
Because commuter services cost more to run than they earned in fares, the Erie-Lackawanna ended passenger service on several branches in 1966. On the Northern Branch, the entire railroad north of Sparkill was abandoned in January and passenger service on the rest of the branch was eliminated in October. The last timetable, April 24, 1966, shows three rush hour trains each way taking 60 minutes to run from Hoboken to Sparkill, only 10 minutes longer than 1954 schedules because of some station closings. Although freight service on the line continued, service into New York state stopped in the late 1970s after the Continental Can Company
Continental Can Company
Continental Can Company was an American producer of metal containers and packaging company.The Continental Can Company was founded by Edwin Norton T.G. Cranwell in 1904, three years after the formation of its greatest rival, American Can Company...
in Piermont closed.
Conrail & CSX
By the consolidation of Erie Lackawanna and Penn Central (among others) into Conrail in 1976, both the West Shore RailroadWest Shore Railroad
The West Shore Railroad was the final name of a railroad from Weehawken, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City, north along the west shore of the river to Albany, New York and then west to Buffalo...
and the Northern Branch fell under the control of Conrail. As trains accessing the Northern Branch in Jersey City had to go to Journal Square
Journal Square
Journal Square is a business district, residential area, and transportation hub in Jersey City, New Jersey, which takes its name from the newspaper Jersey Journal whose headquarters are located there. The "square" itself is at the intersection of Kennedy Boulevard and Bergen Avenues...
and reverse direction, and the connection included a grade crossing of Newark Avenue, freight trains typically used the New Jersey Junction Railroad
New Jersey Junction Railroad
The New Jersey Junction Railroad was part of the New York Central Railroad and ran along the Hudson River in Hudson County, New Jersey, from the West Shore Railroad yards at Weehawken Terminal south to Jersey City...
and West Shore Railroad, renamed as Conrail's River Line
River Line (Conrail)
The River Line is a rail corridor located between Jersey City, New Jersey and Selkirk, New York, running along the west bank of the Hudson River. A parallel track, which was operated as part of the River Line from Jersey City to Weehawken, New Jersey, was known as the Weehawken Branch...
, to go through northern New Jersey.
Around 1994, a short elevated track, known as the Marion Running Track, was built to connect the Passaic and Harsimus Line
Passaic and Harsimus Line
Conrail's Passaic and Harsimus Line serves freight in northeastern New Jersey, as an alternate to the mainly passenger Northeast Corridor. It takes trains from the Northeast Corridor and Lehigh Line near Newark Liberty International Airport northeast and east into Jersey City, New Jersey, serving...
towards Kearny
Kearny, New Jersey
Kearny is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. It was named after Civil War general Philip Kearny. As of the United States 2010 Census, the town population was 40,684. The town is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark....
with the Northern Branch. This provided the Northern Branch with a direct connection to other lines heading west and south at Marion Junction.
After the breakup of Conrail in 1999, the Northern Branch was divided. Conrail Shared Assets Operations
Conrail Shared Assets Operations
Conrail Shared Assets Operations is an American railroad company. It operates three networks—the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Areas, where it serves as a local carrier and switching company for CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway...
retained the tracks from Marion Junction to the CSX yard in North Bergen
North Bergen, New Jersey
North Bergen is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 60,773. Originally founded in 1843, the town was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one...
, known as the Northern Running Track. CSX was given the remaining section north to Northvale, in addition to the West Shore Railroad running through the yard, known as the Bergen Subdivision
Bergen Subdivision
The Bergen Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The line runs from North Bergen north to Bogota along a former New York Central Railroad line...
of the River Line.
With New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
's 2000 creation of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail on the River Line east of the CSX North Bergen Yard, freight trains needed an alternate route to get to the CSX Albany Division. Trains were re-routed via the Northern Running Track to access the Bergen Subdivision
Bergen Subdivision
The Bergen Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The line runs from North Bergen north to Bogota along a former New York Central Railroad line...
and this part of the Northern Branch became major CSX rail corridor from Upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
. At that time, the Northern Running Track was improved to handle the heavier traffic that had formerly used the River Line on the east side of the New Jersey Palisades
New Jersey Palisades
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson Palisades are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeastern New Jersey and southern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City approximately 20 mi to near...
. New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
paid for the project, which included double-tracking the line, changing Marion Junction and Bergen Junction, and building overpasses on Secaucus Road and Paterson Plank Road
Paterson Plank Road
Paterson Plank Road is a road that runs through Passaic, Bergen and Hudson Counties in northeastern New Jersey originally lain in the colonial era. The route, connecting the city Paterson and the Hudson River waterfront, still exists...
. The rest of the Northern Branch continues north to the New York state line, and is a minor spur.
Route guide
Kearny, New Jersey
Kearny is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. It was named after Civil War general Philip Kearny. As of the United States 2010 Census, the town population was 40,684. The town is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark....
with the Northern Branch. It was built around 1994; prior to its opening, trains accessing the Northern Branch had to go to Journal Square
Journal Square
Journal Square is a business district, residential area, and transportation hub in Jersey City, New Jersey, which takes its name from the newspaper Jersey Journal whose headquarters are located there. The "square" itself is at the intersection of Kennedy Boulevard and Bergen Avenues...
and reverse direction, and the connection included a grade crossing of Newark Avenue (which the new connection overpasses). For these reasons, most freight trains instead used the River Line, passing through the Palisades in tunnels twice.
Another grade crossing still exists at Saint Paul's Avenue, under the Pulaski Skyway
Pulaski Skyway
The General Pulaski Skyway is a four-lane freeway composed of connected bridges in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey, carrying the designation of U.S. Route 1/9 for most of its length. The landmark structure has a total length of with the longest bridge spanning...
and Truck US 1-9. This is now the only grade crossing on the Northern Running Track. Just north of this crossing, a second track begins; the line is double-tracked from here to the north end.
North of there, the line passes under the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company was a railroad connecting Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Valley, rich in anthracite coal, to Hoboken, New Jersey, , Buffalo and Oswego, New York...
, now part of New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
's Hoboken Division in the middle of West End Junction. These bridges were built in 1907, before which the tracks crossed at grade.
Just north of the NJ Transit overpasses, the line enters Bergen Junction, and two tracks split to the west from the main line, which heads northwest to Croxton Yard.
Soon the line passes over County Road on a rather old bridge. It then passes under Secaucus Road, whose bridge opened on May 20, 2002. The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway , also known as the Susie-Q, or simply the Susquehanna, is a Class II American freight railway operating over 500 miles of track in the northeastern states of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was formed in 1881 from the merger of several...
begins at the Land Bridge Terminal, just north of Secaucus Road, and parallels the Northern Running Track, just to the west, all the way to its end.
The next three overpasses, over which pass the Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...
, Route 3
Route 3 (New Jersey)
Route 3 is a state highway in the northern part of New Jersey in the United States. The route runs from U.S. Route 46 in Clifton, Passaic County to U.S. Route 1/9 in North Bergen, Hudson County. Route 3 is sometimes called the Secaucus Bypass within Secaucus...
, and Route 495
Route 495 (New Jersey)
Route 495 is a freeway in Hudson County, New Jersey in the United States that connects the New Jersey Turnpike at exits 16E and 17 in Secaucus to the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken, providing access to midtown Manhattan...
, have never been grade crossings. The next overpass, Paterson Plank Road
Paterson Plank Road
Paterson Plank Road is a road that runs through Passaic, Bergen and Hudson Counties in northeastern New Jersey originally lain in the colonial era. The route, connecting the city Paterson and the Hudson River waterfront, still exists...
, opened on April 22, 2002.
The Northern Running Track ends at North Bergen Yard, at what has been called Granton Junction, and is now CP 2. From here, it splits into two CSX lines, the Bergen Subdivision (which was part of Conrail's River Line until most of Conrail's assets were split), and CSX's Northern Branch. The Bergen Subdivision soon becomes the River Subdivision, and leads along the west side of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
towards Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
.
Beginning at CP 2, the CSX-owned Northern Branch is a lightly used freight spur that passes through eastern Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
, terminating at the state line in Northvale
Northvale, New Jersey
Northvale is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 4,640.Northvale was formed on March 15, 1916, from the remaining portions of Harrington Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 4, 1916. With the...
. The line's tracks have been removed beginning at the New York border. However, the right-of-way continues as a rail trail
Rail trail
A rail trail is the conversion of a disused railway easement into a multi-use path, typically for walking, cycling and sometimes horse riding. The characteristics of former tracks—flat, long, frequently running through historical areas—are appealing for various development. The term sometimes also...
heading north as several names - the Joseph B. Clarke Rail-Trail to Piermont, the Old Erie Path to Grand View, and the Raymond G. Esposito Trail to Nyack.
Future passenger use
New Jersey Transit plans to restore passenger service over a portion of the CSX line between North Bergen and TenaflyTenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
as an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail from Tonnelle Avenue
Tonnelle Avenue (HBLR station)
Tonnelle Avenue is a station on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail located at 51st Street in North Bergen, New Jersey. The station opened for service on February 25, 2006....
, known as the Northern Branch Corridor Project.