The Southern Tier Line is a
railroad line owned and operated by the
Norfolk Southern Railway in the
U.S. states of
New York and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
. A mostly former
Erie Railroad
The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake ...
line, it is suggested that the line runs from
Suffern, New York northwest to
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
as it shares trackage with
Metro-North Railroad’s
Port Jervis Line from Suffern to Port Jervis; NS owns the Suffern to Port Jervis trackage and leases it to Metro-North so it can maintain it for its Port Jervis Line passenger operation. From its east end, NS has
trackage rights south on the
New Jersey Transit Main and
Bergen County Lines to
Conrail's
North Jersey Shared Assets Area.
From Port Jervis to Binghamton, the line is leased to and maintained by the
Central New York Railroad, part of the
Delaware Otsego Corporation. It junctions with the
Lake Erie District at its west end. Along the way it meets the
Corning Secondary Corning may refer to:
People
* Corning (surname)
Places
In Canada:
* Corning, Saskatchewan
In the United States of America:
* Corning, Arkansas
* Corning, California
* Corning, Indiana
* Corning, Iowa
* Corning, Kansas
* Corning, Michiga ...
at
Corning, New York.
History
The oldest piece of the line, from Suffern to Newburgh Junction in
Woodbury, New York, opened in 1841 as part of the
New York and Erie Rail Road. Extensions opened to
Port Jervis and
Binghamton in 1848,
Owego in 1849, and
Dunkirk (leaving the Southern Tier Line at
Hornell
Hornell is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Steuben County, New York, Steuben County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early set ...
) in 1851. At the Buffalo end, the
Attica and Buffalo Railroad opened from Buffalo east to
Attica in 1842, but was part of the
New York Central Railroad system until 1852, when it was sold to the
Buffalo and New York City Railroad east of
Depew. Also in 1852, the Buffalo and New York City Railroad built southeast from Attica to Hornell and west from Depew to Buffalo.
[ , March 2005 Edition] The entire line became part of the Erie Railroad through leases and mergers.
A small part of the line, from
East Corning west through
Corning to
Painted Post
Painted Post is a village in Steuben County, New York. The village is in the town of Erwin, west of the city of Corning. The population was 1,809 at the 2010 census. The name comes from a Seneca carved post found by explorers at the junction o ...
, is not the former Erie but the former
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, opened in 1882 by the
New York, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. After the Erie and Lackawanna merged to form the
Erie-Lackawanna Railroad
The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Rout ...
, that portion of the former Erie was abandoned and traffic was rerouted to the ex-Lackawanna.{{Fact, date=February 2007 The EL was taken over by Conrail in 1976, and in the 1999 Conrail breakup the Southern Tier Line was assigned to Norfolk Southern.
References
Norfolk Southern Railway lines
Erie Railroad
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
Rail infrastructure in New York (state)
Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania
Erie Railroad lines