The Bay Ridge Branch is a

rail line Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film *Rails (film), ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini *Rail ( ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, owned by the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

(LIRR) and operated by the New York and Atlantic Railway. It is the longest freight-only line of the LIRR, connecting the

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City to Montauk. However, in LIRR maps and sche ...

and

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

's Fremont Secondary (to the Hell Gate Bridge) at

Glendale, Queens Glendale is a neighborhood in the west-central portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens. It is bounded by Forest Hills, Queens, Forest Hills to the east, Ridgewood, Queens, Ridgewood to the west, Woodhaven, Queens, ...

, with the

Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, Dyker Heights to the east, the Nar ...

Car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of Lighter (barge), lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it i ...

service provided by New York New Jersey Rail operates between Greenville Yard at

Greenville, Jersey City Greenville is the southernmost section of Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geography In its broadest definition, Greenville encompasses the area south of the Wes ...

and the

65th Street Yard The 65th Street Yard, also Bay Ridge Rail Yard, is a rail yard on the Upper New York Bay in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Equipped with two transfer bridges which allow rail cars to be loaded and unloaded onto car ...

at the Bay Ridge end of the line.

History

Early history

The first part of the line was opened by the New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad in 1876, from Bay Ridge to the crossing of the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad near New Utrecht. , April 2005 Edition An extension from New Utrecht east and northeast to New Lots opened in 1877, and at the same time the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway opened the line from New Lots north to East New York. , April 2005 Edition An extension north from East New York to Cooper Avenue (and then northwest to Greenpoint, later the Evergreen Branch) opened in 1878, , June 2006 Edition and the Long Island City and Manhattan Beach Railroad (incorporated February 24, 1883, merged with the New York and Manhattan Beach and New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica into the New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railway August 27, 1885) built from Cooper Avenue north to the

at Glendale in 1883.

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

Valuation Report, New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach

Decline

Passenger service on the line ended in 1924. The entire line was electrified, starting on July 8, 1927, for

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated principally in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

freight trains coming off the

New York Connecting Railroad The New York Connecting Railroad or NYCR is a rail line in the borough (New York City), borough of Queens in New York City. It links New York City and Long Island by rail directly to the North American mainland. Amtrak, CSX, Canadian Pa ...

( Hell Gate Bridge). , July 2004 Edition Electric operation ended on December 31, 1968.

Recent years

On June 4, 1999, Mayor

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

announced that New York City reached an agreement to open and operate the

with the New York and Atlantic Railway, which would use it as an intermodal facility to expand its customer base. The takeover of Conrail by Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation was expected to significantly increase rail freight movement into New York City. The yard was completely renovated by the

New York City Economic Development Corporation New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a public-benefit corporation that serves as the official economic development organization for New York City. NYCEDC gives its mission as strengthening business confidence in New York C ...

. The NYCEDC also began work on a two-year Cross Harbor Freight Movement Study to evaluate options for a freight tunnel.

Proposals

A proposed Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel from New Jersey to Brooklyn would use the Bay Ridge Branch to reach the rest of Long Island, with the line upgraded to double-stack clearances. The state is conducting an environmental review of the project. Another proposal would have the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

use the tracks to link Brooklyn, Queens, and

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

via the Hell Gate Bridge. In 1996 the

Regional Plan Association The Regional Plan Association is an independent, not-for-profit regional planning organization, founded in 1922, that focuses on recommendations to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness of a 31-county New York (state), New Yo ...

conducted a study to determine the feasibility of the rail link. Based on Paris's RER commuter rail system, the Triboro RX proposal would create a loop around the city. It was first proposed by the

in 1996. The proposed line, discussion of which was revived in 2012, would connect to all non-shuttle subway services. Obstacles for the proposal include the proposed Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel, the lack of

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

on the line, and the single-tracking in some parts of the line. Additionally, there is debate on where the line's northern terminus would be: some, including MoveNY, call for it to end at Hunts Point, while others suggest it end at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

Interborough Express

In mid-October 2019, the MTA announced that it would study the feasibility of restoring passenger service on the Bay Ridge Branch between Bay Ridge and Astoria, a portion of the proposed Triboro RX route. On January 23, 2020, the MTA Board awarded a $1.3 million contract to study the feasibility of restoring passenger service to this section to AECOM. In November 2021, Acting MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said that money from

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL),H.R. 3684 is a United States federal statute enacted by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Nov ...

could be used to fund the completion of the Bay Ridge Branch project. In early January 2022, as part of her

State of the State address State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

, New York governor

Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; ; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician and lawyer who has served since 2021 as the 57th governor of New York. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she is New York's List of female ...

announced that the state would move forward with the Bay Ridge Branch Line by conducting an environmental study on the Interborough Express, a corridor using the existing Bay Ridge Branch from

, to

Jackson Heights, Queens Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the borough of Queens in New York City. Jackson Heights is neighbored by North Corona to the east, Elmhurst to the south, Woodside to the west, and today northern Astoria ( Ditm ...

. The study would consider whether the line should be heavy rail (

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

regional rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

, or bus rapid transit. End-to-end travel times are expected to be 40 minutes, and weekday ridership is initially projected to be 74,000 to 88,000. The route would connect up to 17 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road. A feasibility study was also completed on January 20, 2022. Governor Hochul also announced that she had directed the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

to complete an environmental review for the Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel for freight. Hochul announced in her January 2023 address that the project would proceed as a light rail corridor. Reasons for the light rail choice include faster service, easier construction—mostly fitting in existing right of way with a short on street segment, availability of off-the-shelf rolling stock and a lower overall cost, estimated at $5.5 billion, or about $48,000 per expected daily rider. The proposed headway is 5 minutes during peak hours and 10 minutes at other times. Freight use would continue, requiring separated tracks.

Former stations

The following passenger stations once existed on the line:

References

External links

*
A visual tour of the lineHistory of the proposals for conversion to mass transit

Brooklyn / Queens Interborough Express - Proposal Announcement (January 2022)
{{Long Island Rail Road Long Island Rail Road branches Rail freight transportation in New York City Rail infrastructure in New York (state) Railway lines opened in 1876 Standard-gauge railways in the United States Transportation in Brooklyn Transportation in Queens, New York