The Empire Corridor is a

passenger rail A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

corridor in

New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

running between Penn Station in

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 ...

and . Major cities on the route include Poughkeepsie, Albany,

Schenectady Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo. Much of the corridor was once part of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

's main line. Amtrak's '' Empire Service'' and ''

Maple Leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is most widely recognized as the national symbols of Canada, national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by ...

'' serve the entire length of the Empire Corridor, with the ''Maple Leaf'' continuing northwest to . The ''

Lake Shore Limited The ''Lake Shore Limited'' is an Amtrak Long Distance, overnight passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the Northeastern United States, with sections to New York City and Boston. The central segment of the route runs along the s ...

'' follows most of the corridor from New York City, diverging west to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

at the Buffalo–Depew station. The '' Berkshire Flyer'' takes the corridor to , before diverging east to , while the '' Adirondack'' and ''

Ethan Allen Express 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 north–south route with a 7-hour 35 mi ...

'' travel one stop further to , before diverging north to and , respectively.

Metro-North Railroad The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company , also branded as MTA Metro-North Railroad and commonly called simply Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State publ ...

's Hudson Line merges with the Empire Corridor in

Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx Spuyten Duyvil (, ) is a neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City. It is bounded on the north by Riverdale, Bronx, Riverdale, on the east by Kingsbridge, Bronx, Kingsbridge, on the south by the Harlem River, and on the west by the Hudson River, ...

, just south of , providing commuter rail service between

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...

and

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal station, terminal located at 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York Ci ...

in New York City. The line is electrified by both

overhead catenary An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union ...

and top-running

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a track (r ...

on the Amtrak-owned segment between Penn Station and 41st Street, as well as by under-running

on the Metro-North segment, from the merge with the Hudson Line to . The Amtrak-owned section between 41st Street and the merge with the Hudson Line is unpowered, and can only be served by diesel or dual-mode trains. The corridor is also one of ten federally designated

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

corridors in the United States. If the proposed high-speed service were to be built on the corridor, trains traveling between Buffalo and New York City could travel at speeds of up to . In the 1890s, the '' Empire State Express'' between New York City and Buffalo was about 1 hour faster than Amtrak's service in 2013. On September 14, 1891, the ''Empire State Express'' covered the between New York City and Buffalo in 7 hours and 6 minutes (including stops), averaging , with a top speed of .

Ownership

The Empire Corridor is largely owned by

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 ...

(CSX), which owns most of the trackage between Niagara Falls and Poughkeepsie.Amtrak system timetable, Fall 2010/Winter 2011, page 25 Amtrak owns trackage rights for most of the Hudson line section north of Poughkeepsie to its rail yard in Albany. South of Poughkeepsie, the Empire Corridor is coextensive with Metro-North's trackage until it forks-off between Metro-North's Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvil stations in the Bronx, to cross the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York City, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the United States mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyten Duyvi ...

over the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge and make the Empire Connection to Penn Station. Amtrak owns the trackage after that fork, the West Side Line. The corridor had been part of the main line of the

; it was the eastern leg of the NYC's famed "Water Level Route" to

. The corridor passed to

Penn Central 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 ...

in 1968 upon the NYC's merger with 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 ...

, and passed to

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

in 1976. In a series of purchases in the 1980s and 1990s, Amtrak bought the Bronx–Manhattan segment, Metro-North acquired the Poughkeepsie–Bronx segment, and CSX acquired the remainder when it split Conrail's assets with

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

, in 1999. On October 18, 2011, Amtrak and CSX announced an agreement for Amtrak to lease, operate and maintain the CSX-owned trackage between Poughkeepsie and

. Amtrak officially assumed control of the line on December 1, 2012. Later, Amtrak bought the segment between Schenectady and Hoffmans from CSX.

Current services

The busiest segment of the Empire Corridor is between New York City and Albany with twelve trains per day.

Amtrak

The following trains operate along the varied segments of the corridor: *'' Empire Service'': local service along the entire corridor from

to . Most trains operate along the southern segment between New York and , with three trains in each direction continuing west to Niagara Falls daily. *''

'': daily service from New York City to , operating on the entire corridor. *''

'': daily service from New York City to , splitting from the corridor at . A section of this train splits-off at Albany–Rensselaer to serve

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. *'' Adirondack'': daily service from New York City to , splitting from the corridor in Schenectady. *''

'': daily service from New York City to , splitting from the corridor in Schenectady. *'' Berkshire Flyer'': weekly summer service between New York City and , reversing direction and splitting from the corridor at Albany–Rensselaer.

Commuter rail

* Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, from

, New York, comprises the corridor between Poughkeepsie to south of Riverdale.

Freight service

Freight service is provided by

Stations

All stations are in the

state of New York New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...

References

External links

Empire Corridor

New York State Department of Transportation The New York State Department of Transportation'' (NYSDOT) is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, Rail transport, railroads, mass transit sys ...

Empire Corridor section
of the

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce railroa ...

website {{Coord, 43, 9, 47.6, N, 77, 36, 28.9, W, display=title Rail infrastructure in New York (state) High-speed railway lines in the United States