Northern Branch

Northern Branch
Northern Branch in Northvale, New Jersey
Overview
Termini
History
Opened1859
Closed1966 (passenger service)
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge
Old gauge6 ft (1,829 mm)
Northern Branch
Miles
29.0
Nyack
28.5
South Nyack
27.1
Grand View
25.8
Piermont
Erie Pier
24.7
Sparkill
Tappan
State line
22.7
Northvale
21.9
Norwood
20.2
Closter
19.2
Demarest
18.2
Cresskill
17.0
Tenafly
16.0
Hudson Avenue
15.0
Englewood
Sheffield Avenue
12.5
Leonia
11.5
Palisades Park
Morsemere
10.2
Ridgefield
9.3
Fairview
NYS&W mainline
8.5
Babbitt
6.9
New Durham
6.1
North Bergen
5.7
Susquehanna Transfer
NECPRR NEC
BCL (Erie Main line)
DL&W connection
Erie Boonton Line
Pavonia Terminal
(closed 1958)
Hoboken Terminal

Post-1958 detour

The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from Jersey City to Northvale in northeastern New Jersey, and formerly extended further into New York State. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Railroad's Piermont Branch terminus in Piermont, New York, directly to Erie's primary terminal in Jersey City, initially Exchange Place, later Pavonia Terminal. In 1870 the line was extended to Nyack, New York, and continued to provide passenger service until 1966. After the Erie's unsuccessful merger with the Lackawanna Railroad to form the Erie-Lackawanna, ownership of the line passed into the hands of Conrail upon its formation in 1976 from a number of bankrupt railroads (including the E-L).

The line survives as two separate but connected sections. The Northern Running Track is an approximately two-mile-long freight railroad line in Hudson County, New Jersey. It runs from the Passaic and Harsimus Line at Marion Junction in western Jersey City north to the North Bergen Yard and the CSX Transportation's River Subdivision. North of the rail yard the Northern Branch diverges from the River Subdivision and continues north to the New York state line as a minor spur.

The Northern Branch Corridor Project is a NJ Transit proposal to restore passenger service on the line as an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail from the current Tonnelle Avenue terminus in North Bergen to Englewood.