Northeast Corridor

The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length, and is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States both by ridership and by service frequency as of 2013. The NEC carries more than 2,200 trains daily.

The corridor is used by many Amtrak trains, including the high-speed Acela, intercity trains and several long-distance trains. Most of the corridor also has frequent commuter rail service, operated by the MBTA, Shore Line East, Hartford Line, Metro-North Railroad, Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, SEPTA and MARC. While large through freights have not run on the NEC since the early 1980s, several companies continue to run smaller local freights over some select few sections of the NEC including CSX, Norfolk Southern, CSAO, Providence and Worcester, New York and Atlantic and Canadian Pacific, with the first two considered to have part-ownership over those routes.

The only high-speed rail services in the Americas operate exclusively on the corridor: Amtrak operates ''Northeast Regional'', '' Keystone Service'', '' Silver Star'', '' Vermonter'' and Acela trains, the first four reaching and the latter reaching on a few sections in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey; the MARC commuter rail system, which has operations on the line, also has certain express trains going up to . ''Acela'' covers the between New York and Washington, D.C., in under 3 hours, and the between New York and Boston in under 3.5 hours. Concepts for improvements to achieve "true" high-speed rail on the corridor, which have been estimated by Amtrak to cost $151 billion, envision cutting travel times roughly in half, with trips between New York and Washington that would take 94 minutes.

History

Origins

Most of what is now called the Northeast Corridor was built, piece by piece, by several railroads, from the 1830s. Before 1900, their routes had been consolidated as two long and unconnected stretches, each a part of a major railroad. Anchored in Washington, D.C., the stretch owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad approached New York City from the south; anchored at Boston, the stretch owned by the New Haven Railroad entered New York State from Connecticut. The former terminated at New Jersey ferry slips across the Hudson River from Manhattan. The latter extended to the Bronx, whence it continued into Manhattan via trackage rights on the New York and Harlem Railroad. It also reached the Bronx via the Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad, which extended to the Bronx from the New Haven at New Rochelle.

From 1903 to 1917, the two railroads undertook a number of projects that connected their lines and completed, in effect, the Northeast Corridor. These included the New York Tunnel Extension in New Jersey (including Manhattan Transfer station and a new Pennsylvania Station), the New York Connecting Railroad and the Hell Gate Bridge. Combined, these creations were a stretch that started just above Newark, New Jersey, on the Pennsylvania Railroad side, and connected with the Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad (and thus New Rochelle) on the New Haven side. With the opening of the Hell Gate Bridge in 1917, this connecting stretch and thus the Northeast Corridor itself were complete.

With the 1968 creation of Penn Central, which was a combination of those two railroads and the New York Central Railroad, the entire corridor was under the control of a single entity for the first time. After successor Penn Central’s 1970 bankruptcy, the corridor was almost entirely subsumed, on May 1, 1971, by the subsequently-created Amtrak.

Boston–The Bronx (New Haven Railroad)

* Boston–Providence: Boston and Providence Railroad opened 1835, partially realigned in 1847 and in 1899. Became part of the Old Colony Railroad in 1888.
* Providence– Stonington: New York, Providence and Boston Railroad opened 1837; partially realigned 1848.
* Stonington–New Haven: New Haven, New London and Stonington Railroad opened 1852–1889, realigned in New Haven, 1894.
* New Haven–New Rochelle: New York and New Haven Railroad opened 1849.
* New Rochelle– Port Morris (Bronx): Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad opened 1873.

Newark–Washington, D.C. (Pennsylvania Railroad)

* Newark– Trenton: United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company opened 1834–1839, 1841; partially realigned 1863 and 1870.
* Trenton–Frankford Junction: Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad opened 1834; partially realigned 1911.
* Frankford Junction–Zoo Tower: Connecting Railway opened 1867.
* Zoo Tower–Grays Ferry Bridge: Junction Railroad opened 1863–1866.
* Grays Ferry–Bayview: Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad opened 1837–1838, 1866, 1906.
* Bayview Yard– Baltimore Union Station: Union Railroad opened 1873.
* Baltimore Union Station– Landover: Baltimore and Potomac Rail Road opened 1872.
* Landover–Washington, D.C.: Magruder Branch opened 1907

New York City area

* Manhattan Transfer station (just above Newark), opened 1910
* New York Tunnel Extension, opened 1910
* Pennsylvania Station (1910–1963), completed 1910
* New York Connecting Railroad, completed 1917
* Hell Gate Bridge (connected to Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad), opened 1917

Electrification, 1905–38

New York section

In 1899, William J. Wilgus, the New York Central Railroad (NYC)'s chief engineer, proposed electrifying the lines leading from Grand Central Terminal and the split at Mott Haven, using a third rail power system devised by Frank J. Sprague. Electricity was in use on some branch lines of the NYNH&H for interurban streetcars via third rail or trolley wire. An accident in the Park Avenue Tunnel near the present Grand Central Terminal that killed 17 people on January 8, 1902, was blamed on smoke from steam locomotives; the resulting outcry led to a push for electric operation in Manhattan.

The NH announced in 1905 that it would electrify its main line from New York to Stamford, Connecticut. Along with the construction of Grand Central Terminal, which was opened in 1913, the NYC electrified its lines. On September 30, 1906, the NYC conducted a test of suburban multiple unit service to Highbridge station on the Hudson Line; regular service began on December 11. Electric locomotives began serving Grand Central on February 15, 1907, and all NYC passenger service into Grand Central was electrified on July 1, 1907. NH electrification began in July to New Rochelle, August to Port Chester and October the rest of the way to Stamford. Steam trains last operated into Grand Central on June 30, 1908: the deadline after which steam trains were banned in Manhattan. Subsequently, all NH passenger trains into Manhattan were electrified. In June 1914, the NH electrification was extended to New Haven, which was the terminus of electrified service for over 80 years.

The PRR was building its Pennsylvania Station and electrified approaches, which were served by the PRR's lines in New Jersey and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). LIRR electric service began in 1905 on the Atlantic Branch from downtown Brooklyn past Jamaica, and in June 1910 on the branch to Long Island City: part of the main line to Penn Station. Penn Station opened on September 8, 1910, for LIRR trains and November 27 for the PRR; trains of both railroads were powered by DC electricity from a third rail. PRR trains changed engines (electric to/from steam) at Manhattan Transfer; passengers could also transfer there to H&M trains to downtown Manhattan.

On July 29, 1911, NH began electric service on its Harlem River Branch: a suburban branch that would become a main line with the completion of the New York Connecting Railroad and its Hell Gate Bridge. The bridge opened on March 9, 1917, but was operated by steam with an engine change at Sunnyside Yard east of Penn Station until 1918.

Electrification north of New Haven to Providence and Boston had been planned by the NH, and authorized by the company's board of directors shortly before the United States entered World War I. This plan was not carried out because of the war and the company's financial problems. Electrification north of New Haven did not occur until the 1990s, by AMTRAK, using a 60 Hz system.

New York to Washington electrification

In 1905, the PRR began to electrify its suburban lines at Philadelphia: an effort that eventually led to 11 kV, 25 Hz AC catenary from New York and Washington. Electric service began in September 1915, with multiple unit trains west to Paoli on the PRR Main Line (now the Keystone Corridor). Electric service to Chestnut Hill (now the Chestnut Hill West Line), including a stretch of the NEC, began on March 30, 1918. Local electric service to Wilmington, Delaware, on the NEC began on September 30, 1928, and to Trenton, New Jersey

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