Bay Ridge Branch

Bay Ridge Branch
	Looking west from 14th Avenue in Borough Park, Brooklyn
Overview
Type	Freight
System	Long Island Rail Road
Status	Active
Locale	Brooklyn and Queens, New York City
Termini	65th Street Yard; Bushwick Junction
Stations	17 (all former)
Operation
Opened	1876[1]
Completed	1883[2]
Owner	Long Island Rail Road
Operator(s)	New York and Atlantic Railway
Events
Passenger service ended	1924[3]
Electrification installed	1927[4]
Electrification removed	1968
Technical
Number of tracks	1–2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map
	NYCR Fremont Secondary
	to Hell Gate Bridge
	Manhattan
	Beach Junction
	NYNJ Rail via 1st Avenue
	to South Brooklyn Marine Terminal

The Bay Ridge Branch is a rail line owned by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and operated by the New York and Atlantic Railway in New York City. It is the longest freight-only line of the LIRR, connecting the Montauk Branch and CSX Transportation's Fremont Secondary (to the Hell Gate Bridge) at Glendale, Queens with the Upper New York Bay at Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Car float service provided by New York New Jersey Rail operates between Greenville Yard at Greenville, New Jersey and the 65th Street Yard at the Bay Ridge end of the line.^[5]

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.^[1]

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.^[6] An extension north from East New York to Cooper Avenue (and then northwest to Greenpoint, later the Evergreen Branch) opened in 1878,^[7] 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 Montauk Branch at Glendale in 1883.^[2]

Passenger service on the line ended in 1924.^[3] The entire line was electrified, starting on July 8, 1927, for New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad freight trains coming off the New York Connecting Railroad (Hell Gate Bridge).^[4] Electric operation ended on December 31, 1968.

Triple track sharing an open cut with BMT Sea Beach Line (left)

Crossing Ralph Avenue

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.

Another proposal would have the New York City Subway use the tracks to link Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx via the Hell Gate Bridge.^[8] In 1996 the Regional Plan Association conducted a study to determine the feasibility of the rail link.^[9] 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 Regional Plan Association in 1996. The proposed line, discussion of which was revived in 2012, would connect to all non-shuttle subway services.^[10] Obstacles for the proposal include the proposed Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel, the lack of electrification 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^[11] plan it to end at Hunts Point,^[8] while others suggest it end at Yankee Stadium.^[10]

Former stations

The following passenger stations once existed on the line:^[12]

Station	Date opened	Date closed	Notes
Bay Ridge	1893	May 14, 1924	Connection to 65th Street Yard
Third Avenue	June 2, 1883	May 14, 1924
Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad Crossing	June 2, 1883	1894	Crossing with the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad
Parkville	June 2, 1883	1884	Connection to the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad^[13]
Manhattan Beach Junction	1884	1915	Former junction with the Manhattan Beach Branch
Kings County Central Junction	June 29, 1878	late 1878
Vanderveer Park	1878	May 14, 1924	Originally Flatlands
Kouwenhoven	July 18, 1877	May 14, 1924
Rugby	1888	May 14, 1924	Originally Ford's Corners
New Lots Road	July 18, 1877	1897
East New York	July 18, 1877	May 14, 1924	Junction with Atlantic Branch Originally Manhattan Crossing
Bushwick Avenue	July 18, 1877	1897	Originally Central Avenue
Cooper Avenue Junction	May 16, 1878	May 1882	Junction with Evergreen Branch
Cypress Avenue	1888	May 14, 1924	Originally Dummy Crossing, then Ridgewood
Myrtle Avenue	May 16, 1878	1924
Bushwick Junction	June 2, 1883	1894	Junction with Lower Montauk Branch Originally Fresh Pond Continues as New York Connecting Railroad

References

1 2 "PRR Chronology, 1876" (PDF). (116 KiB), April 2005 Edition
1 2 Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Report, New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Archived June 26, 2002, at Archive.is
1 2 "INVENTORY OF DECKING OPPORTUNITIES OVER TRANSPORTATION PROPERTIES Final Report: 6.2: TRANSIT AND RAILROAD OPEN CUTS: BROOKLYN" (PDF). nyc.gov. New York City Department of City Planning. September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2015.
1 2 "PRR Chronology, 1927" (PDF). (100 KiB), July 2004 Edition
↑ http://www.joc.com/port-news/us-ports/us-ports-set-receive-millions-improve-freight-fluidity_20160706.html
↑ "PRR Chronology, 1877" (PDF). (156 KiB), April 2005 Edition
↑ "PRR Chronology, 1878" (PDF). (126 KiB), June 2006 Edition
1 2 "How About A Subway Linking Brooklyn, Queens & The Bronx WITHOUT Manhattan?". Gothamist. August 22, 2013. Archived from the original on August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
↑ Third Regional Plan Summary Archived July 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
1 2 "The surprising return of the three-borough 'X line' subway - Capital New York". capitalnewyork.com.
↑ MoveNY home page
↑ "Bay Ridge line". lirrhistory.com.
↑ Manhattan Beach Division Timetable; June 1884 (TrainsAreFun)

External links

Route map:

Media related to Bay Ridge Branch (Long Island Rail Road) at Wikimedia Commons
A visual tour of the line
Additional images and commentary
History of the proposals for conversion to mass transit
Study and proposal for integration within NYC subway system
Proposal for cross harbor freight tunnel

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[PRRC_1876-1] 1 2 "PRR Chronology, 1876" (PDF). (116 KiB), April 2005 Edition

[icc-2] 1 2 Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Report, New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Archived June 26, 2002, at Archive.is

[NYCDCP-BklynOpenCut-3] 1 2 "INVENTORY OF DECKING OPPORTUNITIES OVER TRANSPORTATION PROPERTIES Final Report: 6.2: TRANSIT AND RAILROAD OPEN CUTS: BROOKLYN" (PDF). nyc.gov. New York City Department of City Planning. September 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2015.

[PRRC_1927-4] 1 2 "PRR Chronology, 1927" (PDF). (100 KiB), July 2004 Edition

[5] ttp://www.joc.com/port-news/us-ports/us-ports-set-receive-millions-improve-freight-fluidity_20160706.html

[PRRC_1877-6] "PRR Chronology, 1877" (PDF). (156 KiB), April 2005 Edition

[PRRC_1878-7] "PRR Chronology, 1878" (PDF). (126 KiB), June 2006 Edition

[gothamist-8] 1 2 "How About A Subway Linking Brooklyn, Queens & The Bronx WITHOUT Manhattan?". Gothamist. August 22, 2013. Archived from the original on August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2013.

[9] Third Regional Plan Summary Archived July 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.

[capitalny-10] 1 2 "The surprising return of the three-borough 'X line' subway - Capital New York". capitalnewyork.com.

[11] MoveNY home page

[12] "Bay Ridge line". lirrhistory.com.

[13] Manhattan Beach Division Timetable; June 1884 (TrainsAreFun)