Hudson Subdivision

The Amtrak Hudson Line, also known as the CSX Hudson Subdivision, is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation and leased by Amtrak in the U.S. state of New York.[1] The line runs from Poughkeepsie north along the east shore of the Hudson River to Rensselaer and northwest to Hoffmans via Albany and Schenectady[2] along a former New York Central Railroad line. From its south end, CSX has trackage rights south to New York City along the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line. The Hudson Line junctions the Castleton Subdivision in Stuyvesant, Amtrak's Post Road Branch in Rensselaer, and the Carman Subdivision in Schenectady. Its northwest end is at a merge with the Mohawk Subdivision.[3][4]

Amtrak Hudson Line
Albany–Rensselaer station, a station on the Amtrak Hudson Line
Overview
Other name(s)	CSX Hudson Subdivision
Status	Operational
Owner	CSX Transportation
Locale	Upstate New York
Termini	Poughkeepsie Schenectady
Stations	5
Service
Type	Higher-speed rail
System	Amtrak CSX Transportation
Services	5
Operator(s)	Amtrak
Rolling stock	P32AC-DM
Technical
Line length	93.9 mi (151.1 km)
Number of tracks	1-2
Character	At-grade
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	110 mph (180 km/h)
Route map Hudson Line (Empire Corridor) to Grand Central Terminal Poughkeepsie Hyde Park Staatsburgh Rhinecliff–Kingston Barrytown Tivoli Germantown Linlithgo Greendale Hudson Greendale Stockport Newton Hook Stuyvesant Schodack Subdivision Schodack Landing Castleton Subdivision Castleton Berkshire Subdivision Post Road Branch Albany–Rensselaer Former Troy & Greenbush Railroad Livingston Avenue Bridge (Hudson River) Port Subdivision Albany Union Station Carman Subdivision Schenectady Canadian Pacific Railway Mohawk River Selkirk Subdivision Selkirk Subdivision (Empire Corridor)

The entirety of the line overlaps with the Empire Corridor, one of Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration's candidate lines for future high-speed rail.

History

The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad opened a line from Albany to Schenectady in 1831.[5] The Utica and Schenectady Railroad opened from Schenectady west to Utica in 1836, including the present Hudson Subdivision west of Schenectady.[6] On the east side of the Hudson River, the Hudson River Railroad opened from New York City north to Rensselaer in 1851.[7] The original Hudson River crossing was the Hudson River Bridge, but the Livingston Avenue Bridge, the current crossing, opened in 1902.[8] The entire line became part of the New York Central, later Penn Central, and finally Conrail, through leases, mergers, and takeovers. The line was then assigned to CSX in the 1999 breakup of Conrail.

In October 2011, CSX and Amtrak reached an agreement for Amtrak to lease the line between Poughkeepsie and Schenectady, with Amtrak assuming maintenance and capital responsibilities. CSX will retain freight rights over the line, which hosts two freights a day. Amtrak will use federal funds to double track the line between Rennselaer and Schenectady, and add an additional station track at the Albany-Rennsalaer station. Amtrak sees the lease as key to improving Empire Service speeds and frequencies.[9] Amtrak officially assumed control on December 1, 2012, with trains in the section now dispatched by the Amtrak Control and Command Center in New York City.[1]

Services

Current service

As a segment of the Empire Corridor, the Hudson Line carries five Amtrak trains. The Empire Service, Lake Shore Limited, and Maple Leaf operate over the entire Hudson Line, while the Adirondack and Ethan Allen Express use the line southeast of the Delaware and Hudson Railway junction in Schenectady. The trackage west of that junction is owned by Amtrak and used by CSX via trackage rights.

The Hudson Line has four stations: Schenectady Intermodal Station, Albany–Rensselaer station, Hudson station, and Rhinecliff–Kingston station. Schenectady and Rensselaer are served by all five Amtrak services, while Hudson and Rhinecliff are bypassed only by the Lake Shore Limited. Poughkeepsie station is also part of the Amtrak Hudson Line, although Metro-North owns trackage up to a point 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the station.

Former service

Service on the line was originally established as the Hudson River Railroad in 1846, and later became part of the New York Central Railroad. Following New York Central's 1968 merger and 1970 bankruptcy, Conrail assumed responsibility to the line. Conrail abandoned all non-Amtrak stations in 1981, and when the Metro-North Railroad was established in 1983 to take over operations of what became the Hudson Line, service did not resume.

Stations

HD refers to the Hudson Division, the New York Central (and later Conrail) line that preceded to Metro-North's Hudson Line.

Location	Station	Station opened	Closed opened	Line services						Connections
				ES	ML	LS	AD	EA	HD
Poughkeepsie	Poughkeepsie	February 18, 1918[10]		●	●	●	●	●	●	Metro-North Railroad: Hudson Line City of Poughkeepsie Transit: Main Street Dutchess County LOOP: A, B, C, D, E, Poughkeepsie Commuter Connection
Hyde Park	Hyde Park	1914[11]	1981						●
Staatsburg	Staatsburgh		1981						●
Rhinecliff	Rhinecliff–Kingston	1914[12]		●	●		●	●	●
Barrytown	Barrytown		1981						●
Tivoli	Tivoli		1960						●
Germantown	Germantown		1981						●
Livingston	Linlithgo		1981						●
Greenport	Greendale		1981						●
Hudson	Hudson	1874[12]		●	●		●	●	●
Stockport	Stockport		1981						●
Stuyvesant	Newton Hook		1981						●
	Stuyvesant	1880[13]	1981						●
Schodack Landing	Schodack Landing		1981						●
Castleton-on-Hudson	Castleton		1981						●
Rensselaer	Albany–Rensselaer	1968		●	●	●	●	●		Capital District Transportation Authority: NX Northway Express, 114, 214
Albany	Albany Union Station	1900[14]	1968						●
Schenectady	Schenectady Intermodal Station	October 17, 2018[15]		●	●	●	●	●		Capital District Transportation Authority: 351, 353, 354, 355, 370, 763, 905 BusPlus

See also

• List of CSX Transportation lines

References

1. "Governor Cuomo Announces Hudson Rail Line Lease" (Press release). Albany, New York: New York State. December 4, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
2. CSX Timetables: Hudson Subdivision
3. http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/HN-Hudson_Sub
4. CSX Transportation (November 1, 2004). "Albany Division, Timetable No. 4" (PDF).
5. "PRR Chronology, 1831" (PDF). (70.4 KiB), June 2004 Edition
6. "PRR Chronology, 1836" (PDF). (93.3 KiB), June 2004 Edition
7. "PRR Chronology, 1851" (PDF). (67.7 KiB), March 2005 Edition
8. "6) Livingston Avenue Bridge Rehabilitation". Capital District Transportation Committee. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
9. Eric Anderson (October 18, 2011). "Amtrak leasing track corridor". Times-Union. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
10. Howe, Patricia; Katherine Moore (February 25, 1976). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, Poughkeepsie Railroad station". Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
11. "Hyde Park Station History". January 25, 2003. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
12. "Building Great American Stations". Amtrak. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
13. Thomas E. Rinaldi, Rob Yasinsac (2006). Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape, p.71. UPNE. ISBN 9781584655985. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
14. Liebs, Chester H. (July 1970). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Albany Union Station". Archived from the original on September 14, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2011. and Accompanying two photos, exterior, from 1905 and undated
15. "Governor Cuomo Announces Grand Opening of Schenectady Train Station". Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. October 17, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.