The Port Jervis Line is a predominantly single-track commuter rail line running between Suffern and Port Jervis, in the U.S. state of New York. At Suffern, the line continues south into New Jersey on NJ Transit's Main Line. The line is operated by NJ Transit Rail Operations under a contract with Metro-North Railroad (MNR).
During weekday rush hours trains operate in express service, making stops only at New York state stations and at major stations in New Jersey where transfers can be made to services into New York City.
The line runs through some of the most remote and rural country found on the Metro-North system, and includes both its longest bridge, the Moodna Viaduct, and longest tunnel, the Otisville Tunnel. The western terminus, Port Jervis station, is located two blocks from the Delaware River, which marks the border between New York and Pennsylvania.
Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) shares the use of the track for local freight operations between Suffern and Port Jervis. The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway operates over the line between Hudson Junction (east of Campbell Hall) and Port Jervis, and onward to Binghamton over the former Erie Railroad Delaware Division (now the Central New York Railroad). The tracks have been owned by NS since the 1999 split of Conrail, but were built by the Erie and incorporated into Conrail on its formation on April 1, 1976. Metro-North leased the entire line from NS in 2003, with the possibility of outright purchase after 2006. Since 2003, MNRR immediately began a substantial track and signal improvement program in order to provide a more reliable and comfortable service, for $183 million.
History Erie Railroad use
The portions of the line from Suffern to Harriman and from Otisville to Port Jervis were built as the mainline of the New York and Erie Rail Road, opening to Port Jervis in 1848. The route south of Suffern is slightly younger (connected for through service in 1853); the original mainline ran east from Suffern to Piermont. The portion from Harriman to Otisville was built in 1906–1909 as a low-level freight bypass named the Graham Line. This portion of the line bypasses the original Erie mainline through Monroe, Chester, Goshen and Middletown.
The line, along with the Main Line through Paterson, served as a segment of the Erie Railroad's long-distance flagship trains to points west such as Binghamton, New York State's Southern Tier, Buffalo and Chicago, on daily routes such as the day train, the Erie Limited. Additional through trains to Chicago were the Pacific Express, and its east-bound counterpart, the Atlantic Express. The Lake Cities and the Atlantic Express/Pacific Express were night-time departures.Erie timetable, April 27, 1958, Tables 2, 3Erie timetable http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hbGD2mfyMkc/T7kjQd-KydI/AAAAAAAAA60/yehO5grmGoA/s1600/PassSchedNY_PortJervis.png Erie Lackawanna Long Distance Passenger Operations http://trainmanjim.tripod.com/id9.html The Erie Limited was discontinued in 1963. Other routes west were eliminated throughout the course of the 1960s. The last train west of Port Jervis, #21/#22, a daily train to Binghamton, had its final run on November 27, 1966."The Decline and Fall of E-L Passenger Service" http://rails.jimgworld.com/psngrs.html
MTA/NJ Transit use On November 14, 1973, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to subsidize existing Erie Lackawanna Railway service on the Port Jervis Line between Suffern and Port Jervis, which became part of Conrail on April 1, 1976. The MTA subsidy began on September 16, 1974. New Jersey Transit subsidized the service within New Jersey. The MTA was only responsible for paying for Conrail's operation and maintenance of the line and stations. A federal statute, the Northeast Rail Services Act of 1981, was passed, relieving Conrail of its obligation to operate commuter rail service for local and state transportation agencies after December 31, 1982. To ensure that service was not terminated, the MTA created a wholly owned subsidiary, the Metro-North Commuter Railroad.
Weekday service was added on the branch on August 17, 1982, in the form of shuttle service to and from Suffern. Four new northbound trips would operate to Middletown, leaving Suffern at 7:08 a.m., 10:35 a.m., 4:55 p.m., and 9:05 p.m., while three new southbound trips to Suffern would operate from Middletown, leaving at 5:23 a.m., 8:57 a.m., and 2:57 p.m., and one new southbound trip would leave from Tuxedo at 7:05 p.m.
On January 1, 1983, Metro-North took over the commuter operations of Conrail in the state of New York, and New Jersey Transit Rail Operations took over the commuter operations of Conrail in New Jersey. This included service west of the Hudson River, where rail lines do not connect directly with New York City. These lines pass through New Jersey, stopping at Secaucus Junction, where New Jersey Transit trains provide service to New York Penn Station multiple times per hour, and terminating at Hoboken Terminal.
In 1983, Conrail installed continuous welded rail on the line between Tuxedo and Suffern, and between Middletown and Harriman.
The MTA initially equipped the lines with second-hand equipment. In 1984, the Main Line between Harriman and Middletown was abandoned, and service was moved to the longer (by 6 miles) Graham Line, the Erie's freight cutoff. Officially, the first day of regular service on the Graham Line was April 18, 1983. Since this was the first passenger service on the Graham line, new stations were built, but without facilities in order to minimize costs. At the time this was a very unpopular move with commuters, who were used to having their trains stop right in the center of their towns. However, the MTA cited that it was responding to pressure by the towns to have the service moved out of the populated areas due to "traffic concerns" caused by the closures of the grade crossings. The Graham Line passed through no populated areas, and driving to the new stations was an additional time cost for many commuters. However, others wanted trains out of the center of the towns, and so the switch was made. The old mainline was no longer used for freight, so following the move to the Graham line, it was abandoned. The line from Harriman to Middletown is now the Orange County Heritage Trail.
On October 27, 1991, all but one pair of trains on the line now ran through to or from Hoboken instead of operating as shuttles to or from Suffern. Three Port Jervis-bound PM trains, and four Hoboken-bound AM trains began making limited stops in New Jersey. The shuttle service had been implemented in August 1982 with RDCs.
Improvements and MTA lease In the mid-1990s, as Orange County started to become a popular place for commuters, political pressure caused the MTA to start improving service and stations. In the 2000s, growth in Orange County accelerated; stations were upgraded with expanded parking lots, which became paid lots in line with the rest of the Metro-North system.
Metro-North had a handshake agreement with Conrail to purchase the line for $9.8 million in 1997, but it was not completed before the Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS) and the CSX Corporation agreed to acquire Conrail in spring 1997 for $10 billion. Metro-North had estimated it would cost $88.5 million to bring the line into a state of good repair. The acquisition was approved on July 23, 1998, and was implemented in 1999. As part of the transaction, the Port Jervis Line went under the control of NS.
In April 2002, Norfolk Southern told Metro-North that it would not renew the existing trackage agreement between the two parties, which was set to expire on December 31, 2003. The agreement had required Norfolk Southern to maintain the line at a standard to permit Metro-North trains to operate between 60 and 79 miles per hour in exchange for Metro-North's paying the railroad at the going cents-per-mile rate. Metro-North paid Norfolk Southern $583,420 in 2002. Norfolk Southern no longer wanted to spend money maintaining the line to such a standard when it only operated two slow freight trains a day over the line.
On January 22, 2003, the Metro-North Railroad Committee of the MTA Board approved a 49-year lease of the entire line from Norfolk Southern. Metro-North would take over responsibility for maintaining the line. The lease would cost Metro-North $500,000 in 2003, increasing to $1.5 million in 2004, $3 million in 2005, and $3 million subject to an adjustment in the consumer price index every three years. Either side could begin negotiations to sell the line to Metro-North in 2006, when NS would stop leasing the line from a subsidiary of Conrail, and would be in a position to sell. As part of the deal, Norfolk Southern would retain exclusive free trackage rights to operate freight trains over the line, and would be exempted from county and town property taxes. On January 30, the full MTA Board approved the lease. The lease took effect on April 1, 2003.
In January 2003, after plans to lease the line were announced, agency staff began creating an inventory of the rail line to prioritize capital upgrades. In August, it was reported that Metro-North would install continuous welded rail on seven miles of the line, with five miles of it being between Howells and Otisville, with the rest south of Harriman. The project, which was to be completed by the start of winter, was intended to improve signal reliability, reduce maintenance costs, and permit smoother rides. This would be the railroad's first major project to improve the line since its lease took effect.
Also in 2003, Secaucus Junction station opened, reducing travel time to Midtown. Metro-North covered $53 million of the cost of that project, and spent $75 million to upgrade stations on the line and order new train cars in anticipation of the project. The opening of Secaucus was expected to increase ridership by 1,000 people a day, but that did not materialize with changes in commuting patterns after the September 11 attacks.
Hurricane Irene
Service north of Suffern was suspended due to severe damage from Hurricane Irene on August 28, 2011. 14 miles of the line were damaged. The roadbed was washed away, signal cables were exposed or went underwater, bridge structures were exposed, the right of way along the Ramapo River eroded, and track was damaged. There were eight washouts on the line near Harriman, and 50 overall. On August 29, Metro-North President Howard Permut said that it would take months to repair the line. Shuttle bus service began being offered to all stations on September 12. An emergency $500,000 contract was granted to AECOM to analyze the conditions of structures and tracks along the 14-mile section with damage.
Shuttle train service between Harriman and Port Jervis started on September 19, and full train service resumed on November 28, 2011, one month earlier than anticipated. While repairs were initially estimated to cost $60 million, that projection was reduced to $30 to $40 million in November 2011.
Future expansion and improvements In 2008, Metro-North and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) began a joint feasibility study of a possible branch from the line to Stewart International Airport, which the Port Authority had taken over the year before, ending a seven-year privatization experiment. The PANYNJ withdrew from the study after its first phase, having decided that express bus service could meet the same needs much more cheaply. Metro-North is continuing the study on its own. Future improvements for the line include the completion of the cab-signaling system and the construction of a yard near Salisbury Mills to relieve pressure on the Suffern yard.
In a 2013 report, the MTA revealed that planning was underway for installing a second track between Sloatsburg and the Moodna Viaduct, and for the construction of a midway yard on the line.