The Post Road Branch is a
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
line owned and operated by
Amtrak
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 nine cities in Canada ...
in the U.S. state of
New York. The line runs from a junction with
CSX Transportation's
Berkshire Subdivision
The Berkshire Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and New York. The line runs from near Springfield, Massachusetts west to Schodack, New York, (near Albany) along a former New York Cen ...
in
Castleton-on-Hudson, New York
Castleton-on-Hudson is a village located in the southwestern part of the town of Schodack in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 1,473 at the 2010 census. The village is southeast of Albany.
As of 2019, Castleton-On-H ...
, northwest to CSX's
Hudson Subdivision
The Amtrak Hudson Line, also known as the CSX Hudson Subdivision, is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation and leased by Amtrak in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs from Poughkeepsie north along the east shore of the Hudson River ...
at
Rensselaer, New York, (near
Albany) along a former
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
line. Freight service is provided by
CSX Transportation, who calls it the Post Road Subdivision, via
trackage rights
Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies.
Operating
Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...
.
The Boston branch of Amtrak's long-distance ''
Lake Shore Limited
The ''Lake Shore Limited'' is an overnight Amtrak intercity passenger train that runs between Chicago and either New York City or Boston via two sections east of Albany. The train began service in 1975; its predecessor was Amtrak's Chicago– ...
'' operates over the Post Road Branch, as does the seasonal ''
Berkshire Flyer.''
History
The
Albany and West Stockbridge Railroad
The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pa ...
opened the line in 1842 as part of a line between
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Albany.
[ , May 2004 Edition] The line became part of the
Boston and Albany Railroad
The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pa ...
and
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...
through leases and mergers. With the opening of the
Hudson River Connecting Railroad in 1924, it became a minor branch, with through freight using the new
Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge around Albany. On April 30, 1972,
Penn Central Transportation
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...
removed the track on the Post Road Branch, forcing passenger trains to make a reverse movement along the current
Schodack Subdivision. The abandoned line was assigned to
Amtrak
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 nine cities in Canada ...
in the 1976 formation of
Conrail, and
Amtrak
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 nine cities in Canada ...
reopened it on October 28, 1979
with
Conrail trackage rights
Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies.
Operating
Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...
for freight. These rights were assigned to
CSX Transportation in the 1999 breakup of
Conrail.
See also
*
List of CSX Transportation lines
CSX Transportation owns and operates a vast network of rail lines in the United States east of the Mississippi River. In addition to the major systems which merged to form CSX – the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, L ...
References
{{Attached KML
Amtrak lines
CSX Transportation lines
Rail infrastructure in New York (state)
Boston and Albany Railroad lines