Northeast Corridor

For the agglomeration of metropolitan areas, see article on "BosWash megalopolis" The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railway line with overhead wires running from Washington, DC to Boston, Massachusetts, passing through Baltimore, Maryland, Wilmington, Delaware, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Newark, New Jersey, New York, New York, New Haven, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island. Currently operated and mostly owned by Amtrak, the NEC offers the only true high-speed rail service in the United States (the Acela Express). Several commuter rail agencies, including MARC, SEPTA, NJ Transit, Metro-North, Shore Line East and MBTA, also provide local service along the Northeast Corridor.

History

The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is most notably defined today by its railway electrification system and its primary mission of facilitating passenger rail service. Many portions of today's NEC were first created as portions of small independent railroad lines, much in the same manner as the growth of railroads throughout North America occurred. By the early 20th century, what is now the NEC was controlled and developed primarily by two large railroads, the New Haven, and the Pennsylvania.

New York Terminal electrification projects

The significant electrification projects of the steam railroads in the area which is now the NEC began with the major terminals in the busy New York City area. The Grand Central Terminal project of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) was the earlier, followed by Pennsylvania Station of its arch rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad. Both terminal electrification projects were very successful. Soon, expansions of electrified territory spread outward from these major projects.

NEC northern section: New York to Boston

The expansion of New York Central's electrified territory went north and west up the Hudson River Valley, an area which is still served by electrification in modern times, but is not part of today's NEC. However, Grand Central Terminal was also served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (more often called simply the "New Haven"). The northern section of today's NEC was built by the New Haven to connect Grand Central Terminal in New York to Boston, Massachusetts. The entire main line from New York City to New Haven, Connecticut was being put under catenary by 1914. An electrification of the portion north of New Haven to Providence, Rhode Island and Boston, Massachusetts was also planned, but financial problems delayed the work for over 75 years, until modern times.

NEC southern section: New York to Washington DC

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR, often called simply "the Pennsy"), undertook a major electrification project beginning in 1928 to connect New York to Philadelphia. By 1931, the decision had been made to extend the electrification south to Washington, D.C.. The installation of the catenary and wires was completed all the way to Union Station in Washington D.C. in 1935, forming the southern section of today's NEC.

Penn Central and Amtrak: forming the NEC

The northern and southern sections were essentially joined at New York by the line of the New York Connecting Railroad through Queens and across the Hell Gate Bridge. They were operated almost entirely independently of each other until the merger of the PRR and the New Haven into Penn Central Transportation in 1968 and 1969 respectively, and the establishment of Amtrak in 1971. Amtrak assumed ownership of most of the Northeast Corridor, which accounts for much of its ridership, from the bankrupt Penn Central in 1976. Amtrak's New York City passenger operations were moved from Grand Central Terminal and consolidated at Pennsylvania Station, which it owns.

Preparing for Acela Express

In preparation for the new higher-speed Acela Express trains, Amtrak substantially upgraded the portion of the Northeast Corridor north of New York Penn Station in the early 1990s. Grade crossings were eliminated, some bridges were rebuilt, and curves were modified. Beginning in 1996, the electrification was extended north along the 157-mile (253 km) section of track between New Haven, Connecticut and Boston, Massachusetts.

Predecessor NEC railroads

For a more detailed history of the Northeast Corridor, and the earlier railroads operating along it, see the following articles:

Ownership

Track

With primarily passenger services, the Northeast Corridor is a cooperative venture between Amtrak and various state agencies. Amtrak currently owns the Northeast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and New Rochelle, New York. The segment of the NEC between New Rochelle, New York and New Haven, Connecticut is owned by the Metro North Railroad. Amtrak also owns the section between New Haven, Connecticut and the Rhode Island-Massachusetts state line. However, the final northern segment (in Massachusetts) is owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Stations

Amtrak owns Pennsylvania Station in New York and Union Station in Washington.

Current Amtrak Service

As of mid-December 2004, 55 round-trip Amtrak trains use the busiest part of the Corridor, between New York and Philadelphia, every weekday, with an extra one on Wednesday and Friday (Cardinal). 349 round trips use this part per week. The following Amtrak lines run along the Northeast Corridor:

Non-Amtrak Commuter Rail Services

In addition to Amtrak, several commuter rail agencies operate passenger service using the Northeast Corridor tracks. These are: Many other bus and rail commuter services interchange passengers with Amtrak and these commuter agencies at stations along the Northeast Corridor.

Grade crossings

Due to the high-speed nature of Acela Express service, which uses the whole line, grade crossings are highly discouraged, and most have been eliminated. The remaining ones use preventative measures such as four-quadrant gates, except in New London, Connecticut, whose three crossings are very close to the station. The following 11 crossings remain, all in southeastern Connecticut:

Station listing

  • Amtrak lines: AE=Acela Express, CD=Cardinal, CK=Clocker, CL=Carolinian, CS=Crescent, KS=Keystone, LS=Lake Shore Limited, ML=Metroliner, PL=Palmetto, RG=Regional, SM=Silver Meteor, SS=Silver Star, TR=Three Rivers, VT=Vermonter (note that not all trains of that designation necessarily stop at all marked stations)
  • MARC: Served by MARC Penn Line trains.
  • MBTA: Served by MBTA Attleboro-Stoughton Line trains.
  • MTA: Served by MTA Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line trains.
  • NJT: Served by New Jersey Transit Northeast Corridor Line trains.
  • SEPTA: Served by SEPTA Regional Rail R7 and R2 trains.
  • SLE: Served by Connecticut Shore Line East trains.
ilepost City Station Amtrak colspan="2"|Other Connections
owspan="11"|MA ||rowspan=5|Boston||South Station||AE RG LS||MBTA||||MBTA Red Line, commuter rail to Plymouth, Middleborough
|Back Bay Station||AE RG LS||MBTA||||MBTA Orange Line, commuter rail to Worcester
26 Ruggles ||MBTA||||MBTA Orange Line
23.5 Forest Hills ||MBTA
20.5 Hyde Park ||MBTA
17.5 Dedham
Westwood		 Route 128 AE RG MBTA
14 Canton Canton Junction ||MBTA||||MBTA commuter rail to Stoughton
10.5 Sharon Sharon ||MBTA
04 Mansfield Mansfield ||MBTA
97 rowspan=2|Attleboro Attleboro ||MBTA
92 South Attleboro ||MBTA
|190.5||state line
owspan="4"|RI ||Providence||Providence||AE RG||MBTA
|Warwick||T. F. Green Airport||||MBTA||||not yet open
|South Kingstown||Kingston||RG
|Westerly||Westerly||RG
owspan="27"|CT ||Stonington||Mystic||RG
|New London||New London||AE RG||||SLE
|Old Saybrook||Old Saybrook||RG||||SLE
|Westbrook||Westbrook||||||SLE
|Clinton||Clinton||||||SLE
|Madison||Madison||||||SLE
|Guilford||Guilford||||||SLE
|Branford||Branford||||||SLE
|rowspan=2|New Haven||State Street Station||||MTA||SLE
|Union Station||AE RG VT||MTA||SLE||Amtrak to Hartford and Springfield
|Milford||Milford||||MTA
|Stratford||Stratford||||MTA||||Metro-North to Waterbury
|Bridgeport||Bridgeport||RG VT||MTA||SLE
|rowspan=2|Fairfield||Fairfield||||MTA
|Southport||||MTA
|rowspan=2|Westport||Green's Farms||||MTA
|Westport||||MTA
|rowspan=3|Norwalk||East Norwalk||||MTA
|South Norwalk||||MTA||||Metro-North to Danbury
|Rowayton||||MTA
|rowspan=2|Darien||Darien||||MTA
|Noroton Heights||||MTA
|Stamford||Stamford||AE RG VT||MTA||SLE||Metro-North to New Canaan
|rowspan=4|Greenwich||Old Greenwich||||MTA
|Riverside||||MTA
|Cos Cob||||MTA
|Greenwich||||MTA
owspan=7|NY ||||Port Chester||||MTA
|||Rye|||||MTA
|||Harrison||||MTA
|||Mamaroneck||||MTA
|||Larchmont||||MTA
|||New Rochelle||RG||MTA||||Metro-North to Grand Central
||New York City||Penn Station||AE CD CK CL CS KS ML PL RG SM SS TR VT||||NJT||Long Island Rail Road, NYCT A, C, E, 1, 2, 3, 9, Amtrak trains to Albany, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago
owspan=18|NJ 5 Secaucus Secaucus Junction ||||NJT||NJT to Hoboken and northern New Jersey

7		 Kearny Kearny Junction ||||||NJT joins from Hoboken Terminal
.5 rowspan=3|Newark Penn Station AE CD CK CL CS KS ML PL RG SM SS TR VT ||NJT||Newark City Subway, PATH
0.5 CP Hunter ||||||NJT Raritan Valley Line splits to High Bridge
|Newark Airport||CK KS RG||||NJT||AirTrain
3 rowspan=2|Elizabeth North Elizabeth ||||NJT
4 Elizabeth ||||NJT
7.5 Linden Linden ||||NJT
9.5 rowspan=2|Rahway Rahway ||||NJT
0 Perth Amboy Junction ||||||NJT North Jersey Coast Line splits to Bay Head
|Woodbridge||Metropark||AE CK CL KS ML RG VT||||NJT
6 Metuchen Metuchen ||||NJT
8.5 Edison Edison ||||NJT
1.5 rowspan=2|New Brunswick New Brunswick CK KS RG ||NJT
|Jersey Avenue Station||||||NJT
7.4 West Windsor Princeton Junction CK KS ML RG ||NJT||NJT Princeton Branch to Princeton
|Hamilton||Hamilton||||||NJT
7.1 Trenton Trenton AE CD CK CL CS KS ML RG SM SS TR VT SEPTA NJT
|57.7||state line
owspan=26|PA 63.6 Tullytown Levittown ||SEPTA
6.8 Bristol Bristol ||SEPTA
9.7 |Bristol Township Croydon ||SEPTA
1.3 rowspan=2|Bensalem Eddington ||SEPTA
2.5 Cornwells Heights CK KS RG SEPTA
4.6 rowspan=8|Philadelphia Torresdale ||SEPTA
7.2 Holmesburg Junction ||SEPTA
8.2 Tacony ||SEPTA
0.1 Bridesburg ||SEPTA
5.1 North Philadelphia CK KS RG SEPTA
8.1
0		 Zoo Tower
.5 30th Street Station AE CD CK CL CS KS ML PL RG SM SS TR VT SEPTA ||NJ Transit to Atlantic City, Market-Frankford Line, SEPTA to Philadelphia suburbs, Amtrak trains to Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Chicago
|University City||||SEPTA||||SEPTA to Philadelphia International Airport
.1 Darby Darby ||SEPTA
.5 rowspan=2|Sharon Hill Curtis Park ||SEPTA
.2 Sharon Hill ||SEPTA
.7 Folcroft Folcroft ||SEPTA
.3 Glenolden Glenolden ||SEPTA
.0 Norwood Norwood ||SEPTA
.7 Prospect Park Prospect Park ||SEPTA
0.4 rowspan=2|Ridley Park Ridley Park ||SEPTA
1.1 Crum Lynne ||SEPTA
2.3 Eddystone Eddystone ||SEPTA
3.4 rowspan=2|Chester Chester Transportation Center ||SEPTA
5.5 Highland Avenue Station ||SEPTA
6.7 Marcus Hook Marcus Hook ||SEPTA
|18.2||state line
owspan=4|DE 19.6 ||Claymont||||SEPTA
6.8 ||Wilmington||AE CD CL CS ML PL RG SM SS VT||SEPTA
|||Churchmans Crossing||||SEPTA
8.7 ||Newark||RG||SEPTA
|41.5||state line
owspan=12|MD 59.5 ||Perryville||||MARC
5.5 ||Aberdeen||RG||MARC
5.6 ||Edgewood||||MARC
4.2 ||Martin Airport||||MARC
5.7 rowspan=2|Baltimore Penn Station AE CD CL CS ML PL RG SM SS VT MARC ||Maryland Transit Administration light rail
9.4 West Baltimore ||MARC
03.0 ||Halethorpe||||MARC
07.7 ||BWI Rail Station||AE CD CL ML RG VT||MARC||||Maryland Transit Administration light rail
13.6 ||Odenton||||MARC
19.4 ||Bowie State||||MARC
24.7 ||Seabrook||||MARC
26.1 ||New Carrollton||RG VT||MARC||||WMATA Orange Line
|131.4||state line
owspan=2|DC 135.9
1.1		 rowspan=2|Washington C Tower
.0 Union Station AE CD CL CS ML PL RG SM SS VT MARC ||VRE commuter rail, WMATA Red Line, Amtrak trains to Virginia, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami
See Silver Service/Palmetto for continuation south

References

Books

  • Middleton, William D. (1974) When The Steam Railroads Electrified (1st ed.). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Co. ISBN 0-89024-028-0

Other Sources

 

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