The CSX Susquehanna River Bridge is a railroad bridge that carries CSX's

Philadelphia Subdivision The Philadelphia Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. The line runs from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, southwest to Baltimore, Maryland, along a forme ...

across the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

between Havre de Grace and

Perryville, Maryland Perryville is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,361 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. The town is located near an exit for Interstate 95 in Maryland, Interstate 95, on the north side of the outlet ...

, via Garrett Island. It was built in 1907–1910 by the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...

(B&O) on the same alignment as an 1886 B&O bridge. Like its predecessor, it was the longest continuous bridge on the B&O system.

History

1866–1884: PW&B Bridge

The 1866 completion of the nearby Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore (PW&B) railroad bridge allowed trains between

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to cross the Susquehanna without the aid of a

ferryboat A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

for the first time. The B&O used

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 c ...

on the PW&B to operate trains to Philadelphia and

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

starting at about this time. In this way, the B&O was able to expand its service territory with minimal capital expenditure. In 1869, the B&O began advertising this route as the "New York and Washington Air Line Railway." Although the PW&B was an independent company at the time, the use of key sections of track in Philadelphia and New Jersey depended upon the cooperation of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

(PRR). When the B&O's president John W. Garrett was outbid by the PRR for control of the PW&B in early 1881, Garrett realized that B&O's Philadelphia and New York connections were in jeopardy. B&O began planning immediately for its own line between Baltimore and Philadelphia, where a connection to the friendly

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railr ...

would provide access to the New York area. B&O passenger trains continued crossing the river on the PW&B until the trackage rights agreement expired on October 12, 1884.

1884–1907: First B&O Bridge

B&O's new line, the

Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad The Baltimore and Philadelphia Railroad was a railroad line built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Maryland-Delaware state line, where it connected with the B&O's Philadelphia Branch to reach Baltimo ...

, was built to higher engineering standards than typical on its system, despite the company's shaky finances. At the Susquehanna, the B&O resolved to create a bridge that was superior to the PW&B bridge it formerly used. As Garrett wrote in an 1884 report:

It...will be one of the largest and most remarkable structures of its class in the world. It is the determination of the company that it shall be of the most substantial, safe and durable character. It will be in length, above low mean tide, and will rest on eleven granite piers, having their foundations on the bed-rock of the river... The foundations for six of the piers have been difficult, reaching, as they do, a depth of below low water, and necessitating the use of caissons, with air chambers, in which the men, engaged in removing the debris in order to reach bed-rock, have worked under a pressure of .

The bridge consisted of the following segments: a western approach viaduct, four Whipple deck truss spans, a through truss span over the western navigation channel, a deck truss span, a viaduct over Garrett Island, one and one Whipple deck truss spans, a through truss span over the eastern navigation channel, and finally a eastern approach viaduct. The eastern approach also crossed the PRR's

Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad The Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad (C&PD) was a railroad that operated in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It operated a main line between Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Port Deposit, Maryland, generally along th ...

. Unlike the remainder of the Philadelphia line, the bridge contained only a

single track Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

.The lengths of the three spans on the eastern side of the river are surmised from the 1914 B&O truss bridge report. The Baltimore Sun article of May 10, 1886, quoted by McCrain says the through truss section is 520 feet. The B&O report assigns this length to one of the deck truss sections instead. The bridge cost $1.7 million to construct. It was opened with a ceremonial train on May 11, 1886. Freight operations began on May 25 of that year; passenger operations followed on August 23. The first Washington to New York train to use the new route crossed on December 15. Starting in 1890, passenger trains that used the bridge were marketed under the name Royal Blue Line.

1908–present: Second B&O Bridge

In the early years of the 20th century, the iron bridges on the Philadelphia line could no longer handle the latest

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

designs at optimal speeds. The Susquehanna Bridge also required an additional track. In November 1907, the

American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsb ...

and Eyre-Shoemaker Company began renovating the structure. Timber

falsework Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support a permanent structure until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself. For arches, this is specifically called centering. Falsework includes temporary ...

was used to shore up sections of the bridge under construction, allowing construction to proceed with minimal disruption to traffic. On September 23, 1908, a coal car derailed on the bridge and struck a mobile crane. The crane collapsed, bringing down the eastern channel through truss, which sank in deep water. One person was injured and 12 cars at the end of the train were lost. The PRR granted the B&O the right to detour trains over its new double-track bridge, and so track connections between the B&O and PRR were built at Swan Creek (west of Havre de Grace) and Aiken (near Perryville). At Aiken, the steep grade between the two lines required the use of helpers. This detour was maintained while the renovations to the Susquehanna Bridge were completed. Compared to the original bridge, the new bridge has shorter and more numerous deck truss spans. The

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

is constructed of of steel and can support two tracks. Pennsylvania through truss spans are used over both navigation channels. 30 new piers were built; 10 were widened and remodeled. Three of the new piers were sunk in the west channel using the caisson process. The renovations cost more than $2 million. The new bridge opened for traffic on January 6, 1910. Passenger service east of Baltimore ended on April 26, 1958. By 1960, the entire Philadelphia line including the Susquehanna Bridge was single-tracked. Ownership of the bridge later passed to the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated u ...

and CSX along with other B&O assets.

Present status

, CSX runs about 24 trains daily on the Philadelphia Subdivision, including intermodal,

autorack An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also Flat wagon#Car transporters, car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new ...

, and general merchandise freights.