The Long Dock Tunnel is a freight rail tunnel in Jersey City, New Jersey that is part of the North Jersey Shared Assets Area and used by CSX Transportation on the National Docks Secondary. The single track (formerly dual track) tunnel runs through Bergen Hill, a section of the lower New Jersey Palisades in Hudson County. [1]
The tunnel was built under the oversight of engineer James P. Kirkwood and was started in 1856 and opened in 1861, [2] costing 57 lives to build. [3] The new tunnel formed became route for both the Erie and Delaware-Lackawanna railroads to reach their respective stations, the Pavonia Terminal and Hoboken Terminal, located on the North River (Hudson River). [4] [5] [6]
The tunnel runs 4,311 feet (1,314 m) long, 23 feet (7.0 m) high, and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. Eight shafts, 70–90 feet (21–27 m) in depth were sunk down from atop the Palisades to reach the tunnel. [7]
In 1910 the Erie Railroad replaced the Long Dock Tunnel with the Erie Cut, though primarily for use by passenger trains. Erie freight trains continued to use the tunnel as do freight railroads to this day.
The northwestern portal is just northwest of where Kennedy Boulevard passes over New Jersey State Route 139. The southeastern portal is near State Route 139 between where it intersects Palisade Avenue and passes over Interstate 78. Part of the viaduct which carried trains to the yards and the terminals is parallel to Boyle Plaza (the entrance and exit roads for the Holland Tunnel) and now serves as an access road to Newport as the current 11th Street.
The Main Line is a commuter rail line owned and operated by New Jersey Transit running from Suffern, New York to Hoboken, New Jersey, in the United States. It runs daily commuter service and was once the north–south main line of the Erie Railroad. It is colored yellow on NJ Transit system maps, and its symbol is a water wheel.
Bergen Arches is an abandoned railroad right of way through Bergen Hill in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The New York Tunnel Extension is a combination of railroad tunnels and approaches from New Jersey and Long Island to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan.
Marion Junction is a railroad junction in western Jersey City, New Jersey. Currently, it connects CSX's River Line to Conrail's Passaic and Harsimus Line. The two lines merge towards the west, allowing through trains from upstate New York to continue towards the rest of the country. The track actually making the connection is known as the Marion Running Track.
For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area extends North to Edgewater, South to Bayonne and includes Kearny Junction and Harrison but not Newark. Many routes east of Newark are listed here.
The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from Jersey City to Northvale in northeastern New Jersey, and formerly extended further into New York State. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Railroad's Piermont Branch terminus in Piermont, New York, directly to Erie's primary terminal in Jersey City, initially Exchange Place, later Pavonia Terminal. In 1870 the line was extended to Nyack, New York, and continued to provide passenger service until 1966. After the Erie's unsuccessful merger with the Lackawanna Railroad to form the Erie-Lackawanna, ownership of the line passed into the hands of Conrail upon its formation in 1976 from a number of bankrupt railroads.
The River Line was a Conrail rail line located between Jersey City, New Jersey and Selkirk, New York, running along the west side of the Hudson Palisades and, after passing through a tunnel at Haverstraw, New York, along the west bank of the Hudson River. It was previously the New York Central's West Shore Railroad and Weehawken Branch. The River Line has since been split into several sections, following the 1999 division of Conrail assets between Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation.
The New Jersey Midland Railway was a 19th-century predecessor to the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that operated in Northern New Jersey and Orange County, New York.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Station was the intermodal passenger terminal for the Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR) vast holdings on the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey. By the 1920s the station was called Exchange Place. The rail terminal and its ferry slips were the main New York City station for the railroad until the opening in 1910 of New York Pennsylvania Station, made possible by the construction of the North River Tunnels. It was one of the busiest stations in the world for much of the 19th century.
Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River located in the Harsimus section of Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened in 1861 and closed in 1958 when the Erie Railroad moved its passenger services to nearby Hoboken Terminal. The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway also ran commuter trains from the terminal and various street cars, ferries and the underground Hudson and Manhattan Railroad serviced the station. The station was abandoned in 1958 and demolished in 1961. The site was eventually redeveloped into the Newport district in the late 20th century.
Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet.
Weehawken Terminal was the waterfront intermodal terminal on the North River in Weehawken, New Jersey for the New York Central Railroad's West Shore Railroad division, whose route traveled along the west shore of the Hudson River. It opened in 1884 and closed in 1959. The complex contained five ferry slips, sixteen passenger train tracks, car float facilities, and extensive yards. The facility was also used by the New York, Ontario and Western Railway. The terminal was one of five passenger railroad terminals that lined the Hudson Waterfront during the 19th and 20th centuries; the others were located at Hoboken, Pavonia, Exchange Place and Communipaw, with Hoboken being the only one still in use.
Port Imperial is a community centered around an intermodal transit hub on the Weehawken, New Jersey, waterfront of the Hudson River across from Midtown Manhattan, served by New York Waterway ferries and buses, Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, and NJT buses. The district lies under and at the foot of Pershing Road, a thoroughfare traveling along the face of the Hudson Palisades, which rise to its west. The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs along the shoreline and is abutted by recently constructed residential neighborhoods, Lincoln Harbor to the south and Bulls Ferry to the north.
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.
The North Bergen Yard is freight rail yard and intermodal terminal in North Bergen, New Jersey parallel to Tonnelle Avenue between 49th and 69th Streets. Located within the North Jersey Shared Assets Area, the facility is part of CSX Transportation (CSXT) and the origination point of its CSX River Subdivision at the southern end of the Albany Division. On its west side, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW) runs the length of the yard and operates a bulk transloading operation immediately adjacent to it.
The Newark Branch was a branch of the Erie Railroad in New Jersey, United States, running between Jersey City and Paterson and passing through the Broadway Section in North Newark, the origin of its name. Inaugurated in the 1870s, the line was last used for passenger service on September 30, 1966, but continues to be used for freight service on a portion of its length.
The Edgewater Branch was a branch of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that ran about 3.174 miles (5.108 km) through eastern Bergen County, New Jersey in the United States. Starting from a rail junction at the Little Ferry Yard, it went east through the Edgewater Tunnel to Undercliff to the Hudson Waterfront.
Ridgefield Park station, also known as West Shore Station, was a railroad station in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, at the foot of Mount Vernon Street served by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYSW) and the West Shore Railroad, a division of New York Central (NYCRR). The New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W) had running rights along the West Shore and sometimes stopped at Ridgefield Park. First opened in 1872 it was one of three passenger stations in the village, the others being the Little Ferry station to the south and Westview station to the north. Service on the West Shore Railroad began in 1883. The station house, built at a cost $100,000 opened in 1927. Southbound service crossed Overpeck Creek and continued to terminals on the Hudson River waterfront where there was connecting ferry service across the Hudson River to Manhattan. Northbound near Bogota the parallel NYSW and West Shore lines diverge and continue into northern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York. Passenger service ended in 1966.
The Bergen Tunnels are a pair of railroad tunnels with open cuts running parallel to each other under Bergen Hill in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. Originally built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W), they are used by New Jersey Transit Rail Operations (NJT) trains originating or terminating at Hoboken Terminal.
North Bergen was a railroad station in North Bergen, New Jersey, United States known Homestead for most of its existence. It as built in the mid 19th century and served by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (#1059) and the Erie Railroad's Northern Branch (#1903).
