The Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad owns a long railroad line running along the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, before ...

waterfront in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was created in 1889 to allow any Philadelphia railroad to access the waterfront. The railroad, which does not operate any trains itself, is currently maintained by

Conrail Shared Assets Operations Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail ( reporting mark CRCX), an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Area ...

and used by

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. ...

and

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

Operations

The Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad (PBL) is a non-operating railroad and exists solely as a real estate

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. PBL directly owns or has an interest in 6.5 miles of railroad infrastructure plus an additional 10 miles of trackage rights over a joint railroad, as well as other fee simple owned property and right of way within the Port of Philadelphia. Railroad trackage is used by

and

(NS) to access the Philadelphia waterfront. PBL track is also leased to

(CSAO), who provides line maintenance. North of South Street, CSAO, which serves as a switching company for CSX and NS, has exclusive use of the line. There is currently little activity on PBL trackage north of the Columbus Boulevard ports on the

near Southwark; however, projects are being proposed and considered that will, if put through and take action on, significantly increase the line's freight traffic. Currently underway is a deal with

Kinder Morgan Kinder Morgan, Inc. is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. The company specializes in owning and controlling oil and gas pipelines and terminals. Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates approximately ...

to transport large tanker car trains of liquified natural gas (LNG) from western Pennsylvania to tanker ships at Tioga Marine Terminal in northern Philadelphia. Another project is the proposed Southport in what is now the abandoned northern portion of the

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the ci ...

. The project it will transport container traffic, adjacent to CSX's South Philadelphia Yard. A third project is passenger service to the Live! Hotel and Casino Philadelphia in south Philadelphia. Proposed service would operate in the median of Delaware Avenue/Columbus Bouelvard along the Delaware River waterfront, including the resurfaced section between Spring Garden Street and Allegheny Avenue near Port Richmond Yard is.

History

PBL was created in 1889 with the purpose of allowing any Philadelphia railroad to have access to the Port of Philadelphia. The railroad was used as a way to fight the railroad empire of 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 ...

(PRR), trying to bring other railroads to gain access to the Philadelphia waterfront via a right-of-way that PRR not yet taken. From September 5, 1982 to December 17, 1995, a

heritage trolley Conservation and restoration of rail vehicles aims to preserve historic rail vehicles. Trains It may concern trains that have been removed from service and later restored to their past condition, or have never been removed from service, like UP ...

using historic cars operated along the tracks in the

Penn's Landing Penn's Landing is a waterfront area of Center City Philadelphia along the Delaware River. Its name commemorates the landing of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania in 1682. The actual landing site is farther south in Chester, Pennsylvani ...

area between the

Benjamin Franklin Bridge The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, originally named the Delaware River Bridge and known locally as the Ben Franklin Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Owned and ...

and Pier 51. The trolley used newly installed

overhead wires An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipment ...

and poles and was operated by the Buckingham Valley Trolley Association.Price, J.H. (February 1983). "Museum News". '' Modern Tramway and Light Rail Transit'', pp. 38–40.

Ian Allan Publishing Ian Allan Publishing was an English publisher, established in 1942, which specialised in transport books. It was founded by Ian Allan. In 1942 Ian Allan, then working in the public relations department for the Southern Railway at Waterloo st ...

Light Rail Transit Association The Light Rail Transit Association (LRTA), formerly the Light Railway Transport League (LRTL), is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to advocate and encourage research into the retention and development of light rail and tramway/street ...

(UK). ISSN 0144-1655. Wires and poles were dismantled shortly after service ceased.."Museum News" section. '' Light Rail & Modern Tramway'', June 1996, p. 235. Ian Allan Publishing/Light Rail Transit Association. ISSN 0964-9255. In 2009 PBL sued the developer of SugarHouse Casino for building on property on which the city had granted to PBL in 1890. While the lawsuit was pending, PBL petitioned the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Interstat ...

(STB) for a declaratory order confirming that PBL retained its right-of-way and would continue to do so unless STB granted an application for abandonment of that rail line. STB ultimately denied the petition, finding that PBL had neither constructed nor operated a rail line on the property being used by SugarHouse and that it had presented no evidence that it had failed to support its argument "that a right-of-way granted by a municipality, but never exercised or developed or otherwise perfected under the Transportation Act of 1920 . . . must be authorized to be abandoned y the Board under 49 U.S.C.§10903 before it may be dissolved."''Philadelphia Belt Line R.R.—Petition for Declaratory Order'', slip opinion at 4, 6 (STB decision served Aug. 4, 2010).

References

{{Pennsylvania railroads Pennsylvania railroads Railway companies established in 1889 1889 establishments in Pennsylvania