History
The line began operations in 1999 when the existing tracks from Manville to Newark automatically broke away from the original Lehigh Line when Norfolk Southern Railway acquired the original Lehigh Line in the Conrail split between NS and CSX Transportation.
The original Lehigh Line (which is still in existence) was built by the Lehigh Valley Railroad and opened in 1855 in the Lehigh Valley. The original Lehigh Line was the Lehigh Valley's first line and served as the body of the railroad until it built or acquired other rail lines. The original Lehigh Line later expanded in the northwest to Buffalo, New York and expanded east to Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The line's route switched to Newark, New Jersey when new tracks were constructed to the Northeast passed South Plainfield, New Jersey; the new tracks between South Plainfield and Newark became the new mainline and the old part of the line which extends from South Plainfield to Perth Amboy became a branchline. The line's new tracks to the Northeast was extended again to Jersey City, New Jersey but was later pushed back to Newark again.
The original Lehigh Line and the rest of the Lehigh Valley Railroad was absorbed into Conrail in 1976 and was downsized over the years in New York and Pennsylvania. The original Lehigh Line lost its existing tracks from Manville to Newark when Norfolk Southern Railway acquired it in the Conrail split with CSX Transportation in order for both Norfolk Southern and its competitor CSX to have equal competition in the Northeast. The Manville to Newark tracks became a new rail line called the Conrail Lehigh Line.
Norfolk Southern along with its competitor CSX own the new rail line under a joint venture called Conrail Shared Assets Operations; the joint venture is the same company that operated the former Conrail railroad, just reorganized as a terminal railroad under Norfolk Southern and CSX ownership. For historical purposes, the Manville to Newark tracks is considered a new rail line and the Norfolk Southern part is considered the original line.
Canadian Pacific Railway has trackage rights on both the original Lehigh Line and the Conrail Lehigh Line.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846, for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, wares, merchandise, and minerals in Pennsylvania and the railroad was incorporated and established on September 20, 1847, as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company.
NJ Transit Rail Operations is the rail division of NJ Transit. It operates commuter rail service in New Jersey, with most service centered on transportation to and from New York City, Hoboken, and Newark. NJ Transit also operates rail service in Orange and Rockland counties in New York under contract to Metro-North Railroad. The commuter rail lines saw 45,838,200 riders in 2022, making it the third-busiest commuter railroad in North America and the longest commuter rail system in North America by route length.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central, Jersey Central Lines or New Jersey Central, was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of the Northeastern United States.
Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail, an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Areas, where it serves as a contract local carrier and switching company for its owners, CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway. When most of the former Conrail's track was split between these two railroads, the three shared assets areas were kept separate to avoid giving one railroad an advantage in those areas. The company operates using its own employees and infrastructure but owns no equipment outside MOW equipment.
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 business as an asset management and network services provider in three Shared Assets Areas that were excluded from the division of its operations during its acquisition by CSX Corporation and the Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Raritan Valley Line is a commuter rail service operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) which serves passengers in municipalities in Union, Somerset, Middlesex and Hunterdon counties in the Raritan Valley region in central New Jersey, United States. The line's most frequent western terminus is Raritan station in Raritan. Some weekday trains continue farther west and terminate at the High Bridge station, located in High Bridge. Most eastbound trains terminate in Newark; passengers bound for New York make a cross-platform transfer. A limited number of weekday trains continue directly to New York.
The Aldene Connection is a connection between two railroad lines in the Aldene neighborhood of Roselle Park, New Jersey, United States, one formerly belonging to the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), the other formerly of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The connections allow trains on the New Jersey Transit Raritan Valley Line to travel from Cranford and points west through stations in Roselle Park and Union to the Hunter Connection in Newark, which in turn allows access to the Northeast Corridor and Newark Penn Station.
The Port Reading Railroad was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1890 and completed its main line in 1892. It was controlled throughout its corporate life by the Reading Company. The Port Reading Railroad's line was conveyed to Conrail in 1976, and is today the Port Reading Secondary.
Roselle Park is a New Jersey Transit railroad station in Roselle Park, New Jersey. Located on the Conrail Lehigh Line which is owned by Conrail Shared Assets Operations on West Lincoln Avenue between Chestnut Street and Locust Street, it is served by Raritan Valley Line trains that travel between Newark Penn Station and Raritan. There is also limited service between High Bridge and New York Penn Station and one weekday morning train to Hoboken Terminal.
Union is a NJ Transit railroad station in Union, New Jersey. Located on the Conrail Lehigh Line, Union is served by Raritan Valley Line trains that travel between Newark Penn Station and Raritan. There is also limited service to and from High Bridge and New York Penn Station and one morning train to Hoboken Terminal. The physical structures of the station are owned by NJ Transit; however, the land remains the property of Conrail Shared Assets Operations, which is in turn owned by Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Corporation.
The Trenton Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The line runs from CP NICE in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, northeast to Port Reading Junction in Manville, New Jersey, along a former Reading Company line.
The Harrisburg Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The line runs from Philadelphia west to Harrisburg.
Oak Island Yard is a freight rail yard located north of Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal and Newark International Airport in an industrial area of Ironbound, Newark, New Jersey at 91 Bay Ave., United States. The sprawling complex includes engine house, classification yard, auto unloading terminal, and maintenance facilities. It has ten reception tracks, an automated hump, 30 relatively short classification tracks, and nine departure tracks. In 1999, it classified 800 to 1000 cars per day.
National Docks Secondary is a freight rail line within Conrail's North Jersey Shared Assets Area in Hudson County, New Jersey, used by CSX Transportation. It provides access for the national rail network to maritime, industrial, and distribution facilities at Port Jersey, the Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY), and Constable Hook as well as carfloat operations at Greenville Yard. The line is an important component in the planned expansion of facilities in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The single track right of way comprises rail beds, viaducts, bridges, and tunnels originally developed at the end of the 19th century by competing railroads.
Point-No-Point Bridge is a railroad bridge crossing the Passaic River between Newark and Kearny, New Jersey, United States, in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The swing bridge is the fourth from the river's mouth at Newark Bay and is 2.6 miles (4.2 km) upstream from it. A camelback through truss bridge, it is owned by Conrail as part of its North Jersey Shared Assets and carries the Passaic and Harsimus Line used by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern. River Subdivision accesses the line via Marion Junction. Conrail is replacing the bridge, which was opened in 1901. Work began in November 2022.
Morristown & Erie Railway is a short-line railroad based in Morristown, New Jersey, chartered in 1895 as the Whippany River Railroad. It operates freight rail service in Morris County, New Jersey and surrounding areas on the original Whippany Line between Morristown and Roseland, as well as the Morris County-owned Dover & Rockaway Branch, Chester Branch, and High Bridge Branch. The M&E also operated the Maine Eastern Railroad from November 2003 to December 31, 2015.
The Lehigh Line is a railroad line in Central New Jersey, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway. The line runs west from the vicinity of the Port of New York and New Jersey in Manville, New Jersey via Conrail's Lehigh Line to the southern end of Wyoming Valley's Coal Region in Lehigh Township, Pennsylvania.
Port Reading Junction is a major rail junction (MANS) in Manville, New Jersey serving rail freight travelling between the Port of New York and New Jersey in Gateway Region of western New Jersey and points to the south and west. It is the site of Manville Yard.
The Port Reading Secondary, also known as the Port Reading Branch, is a railway line in New Jersey. It runs 16.0 miles (25.7 km) from a junction with the Lehigh Line in Bound Brook, New Jersey, to Port Reading, New Jersey, on the Arthur Kill. Originally built by the Port Reading Railroad and part of the Reading Company system, today the line belongs to Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO).
