page_title: Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island
section_title: Early days
hierarchical_section_title: Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island / History / Early days
caption_attribution_description: English: The Western Electric complex, now called Westbeth, seen from Washington Street, with train on High Line in 1936.
context_page_description: From the start of railroading in America through the first half of the 19th century, New York City and Long Island were major areas for rail freight transportation. However, their relative isolation from the mainland United States has always posed problems for rail traffic. Numerous factors over the late 20th century have caused further declines in freight rail traffic. Efforts to reverse this trend are ongoing, but have met with limited success.
  The New York and Atlantic Railroad currently operates all rail freight on the Long Island Rail Road's rights-of-way in Long Island. CSX Transportation also operates within New York City, as do several shortline railroads including a car float across the harbor.
context_section_description: In part because of its easily accessible harbor and its canal connections to the interior, New York City and its surrounding area early on became the largest regional economy in North America. As railroads developed in the 19th century, serving New York City market was vital, but problematic. The Hudson River, a mile-wide (1.6 km) estuary near the city, a section also called the North River, presents a formidable barrier to rail transportation. As a result, most railroads terminated their routes at docks on the New Jersey shore (see 1900 map). Ferries brought rail passengers to and from the city, while car float barges carried freight cars across the Hudson—on the order of one million carloads of freight per year.
  One exception was a New York Central Railroad line on the east bank of the Hudson that extended into Manhattan for freight service. The West Side Line, as it was called, brought freight cars to docks, warehouses and industries along Manhattan's west shore. Its southern portion included the High Line, a grade-separated viaduct that replaced the street-level railroad tracks on what was then known as "Death Avenue".
  In the early 20th century, the Hudson barrier was surmounted by tunneling for passenger rail—and with the construction of the Holland Tunnel in 1927, the George Washington Bridge in 1931, and the Lincoln Tunnel in 1937—by creating fixed crossings for automobiles and trucks as well. Trucks could deliver freight anywhere in the city without requiring a railroad siding. The rail tunnels required electric propulsion, limiting their use for freight. A rail freight tunnel from Staten Island to Brooklyn was proposed, but never completed.
  Rail freight traffic east of the Hudson that did not cross by barge had to go north some distance to cross the river by bridge. The first rail crossing of the Hudson was the Poughkeepsie Bridge built in 1888.  The New York Central crossed just south of Albany, New York, where it continued west paralleling the Erie Canal to create the Water Level Route which competed with the Pennsylvania Railroad's more direct route that had to cross the Allegany Mountains. Even though the Poughkeepsie Bridge was closer to the city, it was less used.
caption: Train on the High Line viaduct passing underneath Manhattan's Bell Laboratories Building in 1936
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