Jersey City Branch

The Jersey City Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The line ran from the Philadelphia to New York Main Line in Harrison east to Exchange Place on the Jersey City waterfront. [Pennsylvania Railroad, PDFlink| [http://prr.dementia.org/documents/newyork_reg_ett_1958.pdf New York Region employee timetable] |9.23 MiB , April 27, 1958] The branch generally followed the original New Jersey Rail Road main line to Exchange Place, bypassed in 1910 by the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad.

West of Waldo Yard, the line is now used by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson. The elevated trackage over Railroad Avenue (now Christopher Columbus Drive) east of Waldo Yard has been removed.

History

The New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company opened the line from Exchange Place west to Newark in 1834. [PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1834%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1834] |79.7 KiB , June 2004 Edition] A number of realignments produced a straighter track, with the final realignment, a new passenger line from Harrison to east of the new bridge (now the PATH Lift Bridge) over the Hackensack River, opening in 1900. [PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1900%20Mar%2005.pdf PRR Chronology, 1900] |59.2 KiB , March 2005 Edition] (The old freight line still exists as part of the Passaic and Harsimus Line.) The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now PATH) began operating over the line west of Waldo Yard on October 1, 1911, [PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1911%20Mar%2005.pdf PRR Chronology, 1911] |49.6 KiB , March 2005 Edition] the last PRR passenger train used the branch on November 17, 1961, [PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1961%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1961] |63.5 KiB , June 2004 Edition] and the elevated portion was removed in December 1963. [PDFlink| [http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1963%20June%2004.wd.pdf PRR Chronology, 1963] |60.1 KiB , June 2004 Edition]

References