The Sawtooth Bridges are a pair of railroad bridges on 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 ...

(NEC) known individually as Amtrak Bridge No. 7.80 and Amtrak Bridge No. 7.96. They are located in the Meadowlands in Kearny, New Jersey between Newark Penn Station and Secaucus Junction at a stretch where the

rights-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, NJ Transit,

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

, and

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 ...

converge and re-align. The name refers to their appearance and the numbers refer to the milepoint (MP) from

New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main inter-city rail, intercity railroad station in New York City and the List of busiest railway stations in North America, busiest transportation facilit ...

. Originally built by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

, they are now owned and operated by Amtrak. They are slated for replacement as part of the

Gateway Program The Gateway Program is a C$3.0 billion regional transportation project for Metro Vancouver that is being managed by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation. The ministry introduced the Gateway Program on January 31, 2006, as a means to ...

, an infrastructure-improvement program along the NEC.

History

NY Tunnel Extension & Connections PRR 1912

The

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

s were built in 1907 by the

as part of its New York Tunnel Extension project, which included the

Portal Bridge The Portal Bridge is a two-track moveable swing-span railroad bridge over the Hackensack River in Kearny and Secaucus, New Jersey, United States. It is on the Northeast Corridor just west of Secaucus Junction and east of the Sawtooth Bridges. Ow ...

and the North River Tunnels. The bridges are east of the former Manhattan Transfer station.

Junctions and interlockings

At this stretch of the Northeast Corridor, the rights-of-way of Amtrak, NJ Transit, PATH, and Conrail converge, run parallel, and re-align. Amtrak Bridge No. 7.80 carries two NEC tracks over four NJ Transit commuter rail tracks used by the Montclair-Boonton Line, the Morristown Line and the

Gladstone Branch The Gladstone Branch (also known as the Gladstone Line) is a commuter rail line operated by NJ Transit from Gladstone station, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, to either Hoboken Terminal or New York Penn Station. It is one of two branches of th ...

. Amtrak Bridge No. 7.96 carries the two NEC tracks over one track of

's Newark–World Trade Center line and the single track

(CRCX) Center Street Branch freight rail line. There is no junction with PATH. East of the bridges at "Swift Interlocking" (MP 7.2) it is possible for NJ Transit

Midtown Direct The Kearny Connection is a railroad junction in Kearny, New Jersey that allows passenger trains from New Jersey Transit's Morris and Essex Lines to enter Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) and travel to and from New York Penn Station. The junctio ...

trains on the

Morris and Essex Lines The Morris & Essex Lines are a group of former Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad (DL&W) railroad lines in New Jersey now owned and operated by NJ Transit. The lines include service offered on the Morristown Line and the Gladstone Branch. P ...

and Montclair-Boonton Line to enter (via Track 5) and leave the

. "Hudson Interlocking" (MP8.3) and the single track limited-use NJ Transit "Red Bridge", part of the Waterfront Connection, allows trains access to the NEC when travelling to or from

Newark Penn Pennsylvania Station (also known as Newark Penn Station) is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, ...

in the west. It is generally used by NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line or Raritan Valley Line trains access to Hoboken Terminal on the Hudson Waterfront.

Replacement and expansion to four tracks

The Sawtooth Bridges, considered a part of major bottleneck in the busiest section of the Northeast Corridor, are slated for replacement as part of the

, an infrastructure improvement program along 10 miles of the rail line between Newark and New York. The plans call for expansion of the right-of-way to four tracks and would also include the construction of new bridges in the

Kearny Meadows Kearny may refer to: People *Cresson Kearny (1914–2003, American author and researcher **Kearny fallout meter ** Kearny air pump * Eleanor Kearny Carr (1840–1912), American planter and political hostess, First Lady of North Carolina *Jillian ...

over Newark Turnpike and Belleville Turnpike. Initial stages of replacement of the nearby

over the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...

began in 2019. In March 2020, the

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

(FRA) issued an environmental assessment. Construction would involve the building of a new bridge (Sawtooth Bridge North), where service would be transferred during the demolition of existing Sawtooth Bridge south and building of its replacement. The project will also build new viaduct for NJ Transit Track 5. As of 2020, the projected year for completion was 2029.

References

External links

Gateway ProgramAmtrak Gateway ProgramNortheast Corridor Investment Plan 2017
{{Northeast Corridor navbox Amtrak bridges Bridges completed in 1907 NJ Transit bridges Pennsylvania Railroad bridges Railroad bridges in New Jersey Bridges in Hudson County, New Jersey Kearny, New Jersey Northeast Corridor

History

Junctions and interlockings

Replacement and expansion to four tracks

See also

References

External links