OnTrack | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Syracuse, New York | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transit type | Suburban rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of lines | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of stations | 3 (full time) 2 (flag stops) 3 (seasonal) 3 (proposed but never opened) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Began operation | October 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ended operation | March 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of vehicles | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
OnTrack was a suburban rail line that operated in Syracuse, New York, from 1994 to 2008. The line ran from the Carousel Center (today's Destiny USA) on the city's north side via Armory Square and Syracuse University to Colvin Street, with summer weekend service south to Jamesville, mainly using 1950s-era diesel railcars. [1] [2]
The line was the result of a public-private partnership between the state of New York, Onondaga County and the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW), a Class II regional freight carrier. [3] The NYSW received tax breaks and grants in exchange for operating passenger service on the Syracuse line. Although OnTrack was initially successful, ridership declined and was ultimately discontinued due to inadequate rush hour service, poor publicity and failure to connect to Syracuse's Amtrak and intercity bus routes. [4]
In recent years, there have been proposals to complete the line and restart passenger service, potentially as a light rail system. [5] [6]
Starting in the late 19th century, an extensive series of electric interurban railways served the Syracuse region, but by the 1930s local rail service ceased, and was replaced by buses and automobiles. [7] In the 1990s, Syracuse University graduate Robert Colucci proposed converting for passenger service a roughly 10-mile (16 km) segment of the old Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's Syracuse–Binghamton line [3] between Carousel Center (now Destiny USA) in the north and Jamesville in the south. [8] At the time, the little-used right of way was owned by Conrail which considered it a financial burden, so it was sold for $1 to the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (IDA). [9] The Onondaga IDA leased the track to the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW) at a bargain rate, and allowed the NYSW to use it for freight service on the condition that a passenger rail service be run at least 250 days per year with 1,250 round trips. [9] In addition, the NYSW received a $400,000 tax break from the state of New York in order to cover operating costs. [9] [1]
Since the rail infrastructure was already in place, the state of New York provided a $4.5 million grant to purchase rolling stock (four 1950 Budd Rail Diesel Cars) and construct passenger stations along the former freight line. [9] OnTrack was incorporated on September 24, 1994 [10] and the primary service (known as the "City Express") [3] began in October between Syracuse University and Carousel Center, ten times a day and seven days a week. OnTrack initially exceeded expectations, carrying 45,757 passengers in its first three months of service. [11] However, the line never turned a profit, and relied on state subsidies and volunteers to keep it running. [5]
With the initial success of the line, NYSW proposed expansions to the service, including a 2002 proposal for intercity service from Syracuse to Binghamton, stopping at several OnTrack stations as well as Cortland. [12] However, the schedule was not optimized for commuter usage. Rather, the train was meant to bring visitors to popular destinations such as downtown museums and restaurants, weekend excursion trips to Jamesville Beach Park, the "Santa Train", [13] and the "Orange Express" special service for Carrier Dome events. [3] [11]
A high priority project was a connection to the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center, where it could link directly to Amtrak and local/intercity buses, and the adjacent new Alliance Bank Stadium (now known as NBT Bank Stadium) and CNY Regional Market, which would make the line much more useful for commuters. [14] This would require the construction of a new bridge over Park Street (State Route 370), so that local trains would not interfere with operations on the CSX (formerly New York Central) main line. [3] Centro, Syracuse's local transportation agency, began construction on the bridge in 1998, and also prepared a platform at the Walsh Transportation Center to allow direct transfer between OnTrack and Amtrak trains. [1] [15] Congressman Jim Walsh approved a $3 million grant for the project. [16] However, CSX objected due to concerns that construction might destabilize the adjacent freight rail bridge across Park Avenue. [13] The bridge project never came to fruition, and more than 300 tons of steel budgeted for construction were scrapped. [13]
By the mid-2000s, ridership had dropped greatly due to the lack of continued publicity. Services were reduced, which led to further decrease in patronage. By 2003 the train ran only four days a week. [3] It was found that NYSW had used large amounts of state grants and tax breaks to fund freight service and repair track on its other lines, rather than for OnTrack as the money had been intended. [17] Another reason for the lack of growth in ridership was the lack of stations in residential areas, limiting the line's use by commuters. [1] In 2007 service had been cut to weekends only and ridership had declined to 50 passengers per day, [1] far short of the 500 per day required to be profitable. NYSWR chairman Walter Rich, one of OnTrack's major proponents, died in 2007, and the railroad's interest in continuing OnTrack service diminished. [13] Regular service was terminated indefinitely in July 2007. [17] The Orange Express ran its last train in March 2008. [18] The line continues to be used, infrequently, by freight trains. [5]
The OnTrack route starts at Destiny USA in the north, and runs along the south shore of Onondaga Lake and under I-690 before turning southeast through the Westside neighborhoods of Syracuse, roughly paralleling Erie Boulevard. It passes directly through downtown Syracuse near Armory Square, turning south along Onondaga Creek, then through the Southside and under I-81 where it skirts the west side of the Syracuse University campus and Oakwood Cemetery to Colvin Street. [19] [20] The line then turns east through rolling countryside along I-481, leaving the city of Syracuse, and then south again towards Jamesville and along the western shore of Jamesville Reservoir to Jamesville Beach Park. Within Syracuse, the line passes through a mix of residential, commercial, retail and light industrial areas; south of Brighton Avenue and the city limits it traverses mostly undeveloped rural land. [3]
The entire line north of Jamesville is grade-separated, and in downtown Syracuse most of the line is elevated. The line is single-tracked with passing sidings at Armory Square (old Downtown station) and Jamesville. The section south of Syracuse University was only used by special excursion trains, although in 1999 when parts of Interstate 81 were temporarily closed for construction, the federal government briefly subsidized free commuter service between Jamesville and downtown. [21] Only four of the stations (Carousel Center, Armory Square, Syracuse University and the unfinished station at Alliance Bank Stadium) had covered platforms. The regular fare was $1.50, [22] and the fare for the Orange Express was $4 (from Armory Square) or $5 (from Carousel Center). [23]
Name | Miles (km) from RTC [24] | Type | Description | Photo | Current owners |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Central New York Regional Market | n/a | n/a | Regional farmer's market. Planned, but never built. | n/a | |
Alliance Bank Stadium (NBT Bank Stadium) | 0.46 (0.74) | Covered platform | Home of the Syracuse Chiefs minor league baseball team. Built but never opened. Demolished in 2022. | Station demolished, property owned by NBT Bank | |
William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center | 0.00 | Covered platform | Connections to Amtrak, Greyhound, Trailways and local Centro buses. A dedicated, fully covered platform and link to the transportation center was completed, but never connected to the rest of the system. | Intermodal Transportation Center, Inc, a subsidiary of Centro | |
Carousel Center (Destiny USA) | 0.59 (0.95) | Covered platform | New York's largest shopping mall. | Pyramid Group, owners of Destiny USA | |
600 Erie Place | 3.30 (5.31) | Flag stop, no platform | For the Westside neighborhood. | ||
Armory Square - Downtown Syracuse | 3.84 (6.18) | Covered platform | Elevated station on Armory Square, a major nightlife area with many small shops and restaurants, and close to downtown jobs. | Platform is still owned by NYSW; the building is owned by a private company and was once the DL&W Depot. | |
Syracuse University - Carrier Dome | 5.01 (8.07) | Covered platform | Serving the University Hill neighborhood, about a quarter-mile (0.4 km) from Carrier Dome. Final destination for the Orange Express. | NYSW | |
Colvin Street | 5.66 (9.11) | Open platform | For the Brighton and Outer Comstock neighborhoods. City Express trains only served this stop if called. [22] | Stairs are owned by the City of Syracuse; platform is owned by NYSW. | |
Rock Cut Road (seasonal) | 9.88 (15.91) | Flag stop, no platform | |||
Jamesville Village (seasonal) | 10.69 (17.21) | Flag stop, no platform | Track owned by NYSW; station that serviced the flag stop is owned by the town. | ||
Jamesville Beach (seasonal) | 12.39 (19.95) | Open platform | Popular swimming and boating area along Jamesville Reservoir. |
OnTrack was operated with four Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDC-1) "Buddliners" built in the 1950s. [1] All OnTrack cars were owned by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway and returned to NYSW upon the demise of the commuter rail service. By 2008, the RDCs were either sold or out of service. [25] The Orange Express required longer trains and used retired Metra passenger cars, pulled by various NYSW locomotives.
The rolling stock has been scrapped or sold to other companies. Most stations are sitting abandoned. Many people agree that the only reason that OnTrack was not profitable was due to lack of service hours during rush hour, as well as there being no physical connection between the William J. Walsh Transportation Center and the rest of the line.
Although a connection was planned and was under construction, plans halted soon after construction began, as Conrail claimed that the construction to the bridge was weakening their bridge next to it. [26] The metal to build the bridge was scrapped and sold in 2013, long after the rail lines' demise.
Local authorities have discussed the possibility of renewed OnTrack service, perhaps as a light rail system. Eric Ennis, an economic development specialist for the city of Syracuse, has cited new development in the University Hill neighborhood, a residential boom in downtown, and the expansion of Destiny USA as potential sources of increased ridership. [5] New stations in the low-income neighborhoods the line passes through would increase mobility for carless residents. [5] The Syracuse Regional Airport Authority, which operates Syracuse Hancock International Airport, has also considered the potential benefits of restarting OnTrack service with an extension to the airport. [6]
In June of 2023, the tax break for NYSW ended. Onondaga County sent NYSW a bill of $290,000. There is a pending legal battle about the assessment of the property. [27]
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and trak, the latter itself a sensational spelling of track.
The Empire Service is an inter-city rail service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States. The brand name originated with the New York Central Railroad in 1967. Trains on the line provide frequent daily service along the 460-mile (740 km) Empire Corridor between New York City and Niagara Falls via Albany, the state capital.
Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is a commuter rail service that connects outlying small cities of Northern Virginia to Union Station in Washington, D.C. It operates two lines which run during weekday rush hour only: the Fredericksburg Line from Spotsylvania, Virginia, and the Manassas Line from Broad Run station in Bristow, Virginia. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 1,537,000, or about 6,600 per weekday as of the first quarter of 2024.
The Ethan Allen Express is a daily passenger train operated by Amtrak in the United States between New York City and Burlington, Vermont, via Albany, New York. One daily round trip is operated on a 310-mile (500 km) north–south route with a 7-hour 35 minute scheduled running time. The train is subsidized by New York and Vermont for the portion north of Albany. It is named for Vermont cofounder and American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen.
The Trinity Railway Express (TRE) is a commuter rail service in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Texas, United States. It was established by an interlocal agreement between Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Trinity Metro. Each transit authority owns a 50% stake in the joint rail project and contractor Herzog Transit Services operates the line. The TRE began operating in December 1996.
Tri-Rail is a commuter rail service linking Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in Florida, United States. The Tri prefix in the name refers to the three counties served by the railroad: Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Tri-Rail is managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA) along CSX Transportation's former Miami Subdivision; the line is now wholly owned by the Florida DOT. The 80.0-mile-long (128.7 km) system has 19 stations along the Southeast Florida coast, and connects directly to Amtrak at numerous stations, to Metrorail at the Metrorail Transfer station, Miami Airport station, and MiamiCentral, and to Brightline at MiamiCentral.
The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway, also sometimes referred to as New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, Susie-Q or the Susquehanna, is a Class II American freight railway operating over 400 miles (645 km) of track in three Northeastern states, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The Vermonter is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between St. Albans, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., via New York City. It replaced the overnight Montrealer, which terminated in Montreal until 1995. Amtrak receives funding from the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont for Vermonter operations north of New Haven.
Shore Line East (SLE) is a commuter rail service which operates along the Northeast Corridor through southern Connecticut, United States. The rail service is a fully owned subsidiary of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) and is operated under the CT Rail brand. SLE provides service seven days a week along the Northeast Corridor between New London and New Haven; limited through service west of New Haven to Bridgeport and Stamford has been suspended since 2020. Cross-platform transfers to Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line trains are available at New Haven for service to southwestern Connecticut and New York City. Pre-COVID, around 2,200 riders used the service on weekdays.
The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by SEPTA and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its suburbs and satellite towns and cities. It is the sixth-busiest commuter railroad in the United States, and the busiest outside of the New York, Chicago, and Boston metropolitan areas. In 2016, the Regional Rail system had an average of 132,000 daily riders and 118,800 daily riders as of 2019.
The Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC), also known as the Budd car or Buddliner, is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily adopted for passenger service in rural areas with low traffic density or in short-haul commuter service, and were less expensive to operate in this context than a traditional diesel locomotive-drawn train with coaches. The cars could be used singly or coupled together in train sets and controlled from the cab of the front unit. The RDC was one of the few DMU trains to achieve commercial success in North America. RDC trains were an early example of self-contained diesel multiple unit trains, an arrangement now in common use by railways all over the world.
The Atlantic City Line (ACL) is a commuter rail line operated by NJ Transit (NJT) in the United States between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Atlantic City, New Jersey, operating along the corridor of the White Horse Pike. It runs over trackage that was controlled by both the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. It shares trackage with SEPTA and Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) until it crosses the Delaware River on Conrail's Delair Bridge into New Jersey.
The BNSF Line is a Metra commuter rail line operated by the BNSF Railway in Chicago and its western suburbs, running from Chicago Union Station to Aurora, Illinois through the Chicago Subdivision. In 2010, the BNSF Line continued to have the highest weekday ridership of the 11 Metra lines. While Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, the BNSF line's color on Metra timetables is "Cascade Green," in honor of the Burlington Northern Railroad.
The Black Hawk was an Amtrak passenger train service that operated from 1974 to 1981 between Chicago, Illinois, and Dubuque, Iowa, via Rockford, Illinois. The original Black Hawk operated over the Illinois Central route, now the Canadian National's Chicago Central/Iowa Zone.
The Waterbury Branch is a branch of the Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, running north from a junction in the Devon section of Milford to Waterbury, Connecticut. Originally built as the Naugatuck Railroad, it once continued north to Winsted. The part north of Waterbury is now leased from CTDOT by the Railroad Museum of New England, which operates excursion trains from Thomaston station through their operating subsidiary Naugatuck Railroad ; this name was chosen in homage of the original railroad. The trackage ends in Torrington, but Metro-North service on the branch ends at Waterbury. There are conceptual plans to extend service from its current terminus in Waterbury to Hartford via Bristol and New Britain. Currently, riders that want to continue to New Britain and Hartford have to transfer to an express bus operated by CTtransit at Waterbury. All trains on this branch operate as shuttles between Waterbury and Bridgeport.
The Budd SPV-2000 is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit railcar built by the Budd Company between 1978 and 1981 for use on North American commuter railroads. The design was a successor to Budd's popular Rail Diesel Car (RDC) but based on the body of the Amfleet passenger car. It did not prove a success: Budd built 31 cars and they proved mechanically unreliable.
The William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center (RTC) is an Amtrak intermodal transit station serving the Syracuse area. It is owned and operated by Intermodal Transportation Center, Inc, a subsidiary of Centro, and is also served by Greyhound Lines, Megabus, and Trailways. Local and regional bus transportation is provided by Centro. Various taxi firms provide service to the Center, as well.
The Hartford Line is a train service run by Amtrak primarily between Springfield, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut, along Amtrak's New Haven–Springfield Line.
Redondo Junction, California is the site of an Amtrak maintenance facility. It is located 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south of Los Angeles Union Station, southwest of Boyle Heights near Washington Boulevard and the Los Angeles River.
Syracuse station was the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western's railroad station in Syracuse, New York. It was housed in different buildings in succession. It hosted trains going north to Oswego, New York on the Lake Ontario coast by way of the DLW's acquisition, the former Oswego and Syracuse Railroad; and it also hosted trains going south to Binghamton on the route of the former Syracuse and Binghamton Railroad, and further to Hoboken, New Jersey.