The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Northvale in northeastern New Jersey. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the

New York and Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

Piermont Branch The Erie Railroad Piermont Branch was a rail branch line that was formed from the easternmost portion of the original main line of the Erie. It ran from Suffern, New York to Sparkill, New York. (The original Erie Main Line terminated at Piermont Pi ...

terminus in Piermont, New York, directly to Erie's primary terminal in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Exchange Place, later Pavonia Terminal. In 1870 the line was extended to Nyack, New York, and continued to provide passenger service until 1966. After the Erie's unsuccessful merger with the Lackawanna Railroad to form the Erie-Lackawanna, ownership of the line passed into the hands of

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

upon its formation in 1976 from a number of bankrupt railroads (including the E-L). The line survives as two separate but connected sections. The Northern Running Track is an approximately two-mile-long freight railroad line in

Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in t ...

. It runs from the Passaic and Harsimus Line at Marion Junction in western Jersey City north to the North Bergen Yard and the

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

's River Subdivision. North of the

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...

the Northern Branch diverges from the River Subdivision and continues north to the New York state line as a minor spur. The

Northern Branch Corridor Project The Northern Branch Corridor Project is a proposed extension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) from its northern terminus into eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, initially proposed in 2001. If built, the new service would use the right-of-w ...

is a NJ Transit proposal to restore passenger service on the line as an extension of the

Hudson–Bergen Light Rail The Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) is a light rail system in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Owned by New Jersey Transit (NJT) and operated by the 21st Century Rail Corporation, it connects the communities of Bayonne, Jersey City, ...

from the current Tonnelle Avenue terminus in North Bergen to Englewood.

History

Northern Railroad of New Jersey

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 The Paterson and Hudson River Railroad was a railroad that operated in New Jersey and connected the cities of Jersey City and southeast Paterson. The railroad was started in 1833. The company was the first in the United States to build moveable ...

) 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 Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey Railroad The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a railroad company which began as the important Camden & Amboy Railroad (C&A), whose 1830 lineage began as one of the eight or ten earliest permanent North AmericanList of Earliest Am ...

for two and a half miles to the terminal later called Exchange Place. Passengers could continue by ferry to Chambers St in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Because of its running over the Erie, the Northern was built to the same 6-foot

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

. 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

as far as Monsey, New York.Northern Railroad of New Jersey (The Next Station Will Be..., vol 4). Railroadians of America, 1976 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 The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (or New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad and also known as the Susie-Q or the Susquehanna) is a Class II American freight railway operating over 400 miles (645 km) of track in th ...

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

Northern Branch ROW now National Docks Secondary

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 Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

(DL&W) consolidated their diminishing passenger services at the Lackawanna's Hoboken Terminal. During transition Erie trains continued to use the Erie Pavonia Terminal for about an hour in each rush hour, to distribute the heaviest crowds. A Northern Branch train was the very last to leave Pavonia Erie Terminal in 1958. Two years later, the Pavonia Terminal was razed in 1961.Jersey City Past and Present: Erie Railroad Terminal
The two companies merged in 1960 to form the

Erie-Lackawanna Railroad 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 & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route" ...

. 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 Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

, pass a switch which would be thrown, back up about two miles on the former route to the Erie terminal, wait for another switch, 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 (CCC) was an American producer of metal containers and packaging company, that was based in Stamford, Connecticut."CONTINENTAL GROUP COMPANY." ''International Directory of Company Histories''. Ed. Thomas Derdak. Vol. 1. Ch ...

in Piermont closed.

Conrail & CSX

By the consolidation of Erie Lackawanna and

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

(among others) into

in 1976, both the West Shore Railroad 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 A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

of Newark Avenue, freight trains typically used the

New Jersey Junction Railroad The New Jersey Junction Railroad (NJJ) was part of the New York Central Railroad and ran along the Hudson River in Hudson County, New Jersey, from the West Shore Railroad (NYCRR) yards at Weehawken Terminal south to Jersey City. It later owned ...

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 North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by a ...

, 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 The River Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. The line runs from the North Bergen Yard in Hudson County, New Jersey north to Ravena, New York, along the alignment of the We ...

of the River Line. With New Jersey Transit's 2000 creation of the

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

and this part of the Northern Branch became major CSX rail corridor from

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

. 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 Paterson Plank Road is a road that runs through Passaic, Bergen and Hudson Counties in northeastern New Jersey. The route, originally laid in the colonial era, connects the city of Paterson and the Hudson River waterfront. It has largely been su ...

. The rest of the Northern Branch continues north to the New York state line, and is a minor spur.

Route guide

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

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

, 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

begins at the

Land Bridge Terminal Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...

, 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 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, a ...

, Route 3, and Route 495, have never been grade crossings. The next overpass,

, 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 The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

towards

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. 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 is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Northvale. The line's tracks have been removed beginning at the New York border. However, the right-of-way continues as a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

heading north as several names - the Joseph B. Clarke Rail-Trail to Piermont, the

Old Erie Path The Old Erie Path is a 3.4 mile north-south rail trail in the town of Orangetown, New York, Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, Rockland County, New York (state), New York. It begins at the southern edge of South Nyack, New York, South Nyack at ...

to Grand View, and the Raymond G. Esposito Trail to Nyack. There are proposals to use the right-of-way north of

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

the state line as a rail trail connecting to the

Hudson River Valley Greenway The Hudson River Valley Greenway is a system of parks, trails, kayak/canoe routes, etc. along New York's Hudson River, and the organization that serves to promote and preserve them. The Greenway system includes the Hudson Valley Rail Trail. Fourteen ...

Future passenger use

New Jersey Transit plans to restore passenger service over a portion of the CSX line between North Bergen and

Tenafly Tenafly () is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the borough had a population of 15,409,Hudson–Bergen Light Rail The Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) is a light rail system in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Owned by New Jersey Transit (NJT) and operated by the 21st Century Rail Corporation, it connects the communities of Bayonne, Jersey City, ...

from Tonnelle Avenue, known as the

References

External links

* * {{cite web, vauthors=((Seymour & Tower)), Sneden WS, Cady AM, ((Robertson, Seibert & Shearman)), title=Map of the Northern Rail Road of New Jersey, publisher=Robertson, Seibert & Shearman, date=1859, url=https://www.loc.gov/item/gm70005020/ Rail transportation in New Jersey Erie Railroad lines CSX Transportation lines Conrail Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey Transportation in Bergen County, New Jersey