Empire Corridor

The Empire Corridor is largely owned by CSX Transportation (CSX), which owns most of the trackage between Niagara Falls and Poughkeepsie.^[3] 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 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 New York Central Railroad; it was the eastern leg of the NYC's famed "Water Level Route" to Chicago. The corridor passed to Penn Central in 1968 upon the NYC's merger with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and passed to Conrail 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, 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 Schenectady.^[4] Amtrak officially assumed control of the line on December 1, 2012.^[5] Later, Amtrak bought the segment between Schenectady and Hoffmans from CSX.

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

The following trains operate along the varied segments of the corridor:

• Empire Service: local service along the entire corridor from New York CitytoNiagara Falls, NY. Most trains operate along the southern segment between New York and Albany–Rensselaer, with three trains in each direction continuing west to Niagara Falls daily.
• Maple Leaf: daily service from New York City to Toronto, operating on the entire corridor.
• Lake Shore Limited: daily service from New York City to Chicago, splitting from the corridor at Buffalo–Depew. A section of this train splits-off at Albany–Rensselaer to serve Boston.
• Adirondack: daily service from New York City to Montreal, splitting from the corridor in Schenectady.
• Ethan Allen Express: daily service from New York City to Burlington, splitting from the corridor in Schenectady.
• Berkshire Flyer: weekly summer service between New York City and Pittsfield, reversing direction and splitting from the corridor at Albany–Rensselaer.

• Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, from Poughkeepsie, New YorktoGrand Central Terminal, New York, comprises the corridor between Poughkeepsie to south of Riverdale.

Freight service is provided by CSX Transportation.

All stations are in the state of New York.

• New York high-speed rail
• High-speed rail in the United States
• West Side Line

• Empire Corridor, New York State Department of Transportation
• Empire Corridor section of the Federal Railroad Administration website

43°9′47.6″N 77°36′28.9″W / 43.163222°N 77.608028°W / 43.163222; -77.608028