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84-627: Conrail ( reporting mark CR ), formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation , was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do business as an asset management and network services provider in three Shared Assets Areas that were excluded from the division of its operations during its acquisition by CSX Corporation and

168-695: A 2-digit code indicating the vehicle's register country . The registered keeper of a vehicle is now indicated by a separate Vehicle Keeper Marking (VKM), usually the name of the owning company or an abbreviation thereof, which must be registered with the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) and the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and which is unique throughout Europe and parts of Asia and Northern Africa. The VKM must be between two and five letters in length and can use any of

252-649: A 51 percent share in the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad . In the years leading to 1973, the freight railroad system of the Northeastern United States was collapsing. Although government-funded Amtrak took over intercity passenger services on May 1, 1971, railroad companies continued to lose money due to extensive government regulations, expensive labor costs, competition from other transportation modes, declining industrial business and other factors. The largest railroad in

336-557: A bill to nationalize the bankrupt railroads. The Association of American Railroads , which opposed nationalization, submitted an alternate proposal for a government-funded private company. Judge Fullam forced the Penn Central to operate into 1974, when, on January 2, after threatening a veto , President Richard Nixon signed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 into law. The "3R Act," as it

420-493: A former Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (PRR Panhandle Route line), while Norfolk Southern got the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line and Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad from Jersey City, New Jersey , to Cleveland, and the rest of the former NYC main line west to Chicago, Illinois . Thus the Conrail "X" was neatly split in two, CSX getting one diagonal from Boston to St. Louis and Norfolk Southern

504-609: A heavy debt burden. Therefore, it initially declined interest in joining the Consolidated Rail Corporation ( Conrail ) takeover of the other major bankrupt eastern lines. The preliminary (PSP) and final (FSP) system plans for Conrail showed the EL being merged into the Chessie System . Also, by 1975, the economy in the eastern United States was gravely affected by the 1973 oil crisis , quashing any hopes of

588-464: A hyphen. Some examples: When a vehicle is sold it will not normally be transferred to another register. The Czech railways bought large numbers of coaches from ÖBB. The number remained the same but the VKM changed from A-ÖBB to A-ČD. The UIC introduced a uniform numbering system for their members based on a 12-digit number, largely known as UIC number . The third and fourth digit of the number indicated

672-700: A predecessor of the CNW, from which the UP inherited it. Similarly, during the breakup of Conrail , the long-retired marks of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and New York Central Railroad (NYC) were temporarily brought back and applied to much of Conrail's fleet to signify which cars and locomotives were to go to CSX (all cars labeled NYC) and which to Norfolk Southern (all cars labeled PRR). Some of these cars still retain their temporary NYC marks. Because of its size, this list has been split into subpages based on

756-405: A standardized rulebook called Northeast Operating Rules Advisory Committee (NORAC). This significantly increased operational flexibly, allowing crews to operate on any territory they were qualified on, instead of additionally needing multiple operating rules qualifications. Additionally, standardized signal rules allowed Conrail to standardize signaling hardware and operation across its system. In

840-414: A tenant. Western Hills Express (5703) With Conrail's increasing success, it decided to merge the company with another railroad, so it approached CSX Transportation about buying Conrail. CSX's bid for Conrail, however, drew the attention of Norfolk Southern Railway which, fearing that CSX would come to dominate rail traffic in the eastern US, made a bid of its own leading to a takeover battle between

924-507: A terminal operating company owned by both CSX and NS. The Conrail Shared Assets Operations arrangement was a concession made to federal regulators who were concerned about the lack of competition in certain rail markets and logistical problems associated with the breaking-up of Conrail operations as they existed in densely-populated areas with many local customers. The smaller Conrail operation that exists today serves rail freight customers in these markets on behalf of its two owners. A fourth area,

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1008-626: Is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania . The society aims to preserve and restore equipment, items pertaining to, and photographs of Conrail specifically and of American railroading in general. As of 2022, the group publishes a quarterly magazine and a calendar, as well as other occasional mailings. Previous conventions have been held in Altoona, Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , Cleveland , and Warren, Ohio . More recent preservation activities include completion of

1092-578: Is ownership of the three Shared Assets Areas in New Jersey , Philadelphia , and Detroit . Both CSX and NS have the right to serve all shippers in these areas, paying Conrail for the cost of maintaining and improving trackage . They also make use of Conrail to perform switching and terminal services within the areas, but not as a common carrier , since contracts are signed between shippers and CSX or NS. Conrail also retains various support facilities including maintenance-of-way and training, as well as

1176-644: The Chessie System , which would help spur competition in Conrail's territory. Chessie, however, could not reach an agreement with EL labor unions , and in February 1976 announced that it would not be buying the EL section. The USRA hurriedly assigned large amounts of trackage rights to the Delaware and Hudson Railway , allowing it to compete in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , and Washington, D.C. , markets. The State of Michigan decided to keep operational

1260-585: The East , CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), agreed in 1997 to acquire the system and split it into two roughly-equal parts (alongside three residual shared-assets areas), returning rail freight competition to the Northeast by essentially undoing the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad that created Penn Central . Following approval by

1344-499: The Hudson River . The northeast's railroads, including the EL, were all beginning to decline because of over-regulation, subsidized highway and waterway competition, commuter operations and market saturation (i.e., too many railroad lines competing for what market was remaining). The closure in the 1960s of old multi-story factories in the eastern cities, followed by the decline of the domestic automobile and steel industry in

1428-810: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority service district (transferred to the Boston and Maine Railroad , under contract to the MBTA, in March 1977). Pursuant to the Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981, Conrail operated the remainder until 1983 when these services were transferred to state or metropolitan transit authorities. The transit authorities purchased the track and right-of-way on which their commuter operations ran, leaving Conrail freight operations as

1512-655: The Norfolk Southern Railway . The federal government created Conrail to take over the potentially profitable lines of multiple bankrupt carriers, including the Penn Central Transportation Company and Erie Lackawanna Railway . After railroad regulations were lifted by the 4R Act and the Staggers Act , Conrail began to turn a profit in the 1980s and was privatized in 1987. The two remaining Class I railroads in

1596-572: The Norfolk and Western Railway , which had bought the railroad. On April 1, the assets were transferred as a condition of the proposed but never-consummated merger between the N&;W and Chesapeake and Ohio Railway . Dereco also owned the Delaware & Hudson Railway at the time. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes destroyed many miles of track and related assets, especially in northeastern Pennsylvania and New York State's Southern Tier. The cost of repairs, and

1680-486: The Northeast Corridor , further improving its finances. In 1984, the government put its 85% share up for sale. Bids were received from Alleghany Corporation , Citibank , an employee buyout , Guilford Transportation Industries , Norfolk Southern Railway and a consortium headed by J. Willard Marriott . On February 8, 1985, Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole announced Norfolk Southern Railway as

1764-668: The Raritan River Railroad (1980) were also included (See list of railroads transferred to Conrail for a full list). It was approved by Congress on November 9, and on February 5, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, which included this Final System Plan, into law. The EL had been formed in 1960 as a merger of the Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad . It too

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1848-556: The Surface Transportation Board , CSX and NS took control in August 1998, and on June 1, 1999, began operating their respective portions of Conrail. The old company remains a jointly-owned subsidiary, with CSX and NS owning respectively 42% and 58% of its stock , corresponding to how much of Conrail's assets they acquired. Each parent, however, has an equal voting interest . The primary asset retained by Conrail

1932-669: The TTX Company (formerly Trailer Train Company) is named for its original reporting mark of TTX. In another example, the reporting mark for state-funded Amtrak services in California is CDTX (whereas the usual Amtrak mark is AMTK) because the state transportation agency ( Caltrans ) owns the equipment used in these services. This may also apply to commuter rail, for example Metrolink in Southern California uses

2016-688: The 1970s, eroded much of the EL's traditional traffic base. Also, due to government regulation policy formulated in the late 19th century, the EL and other railroads could not immediately abandon long-distance passenger runs, despite the fact that competition from airlines , bus lines and the private automobile made them unprofitable. However, the EL did post profits in the mid and late-1960s through heavy cost-cutting (reduction of parallel services), equipment modernization, suburban industrial development, increased piggy-back trailer traffic and steady reduction of long-distance passenger train service, which ended on January 6, 1970. Also, additional rail traffic

2100-543: The 2010s, as railroads upgraded their signals for Positive Train Control compliance. Today, most Northeastern railroads associated with former Conrail lines have maintained standardization of all systems as vertical color light signals using NORAC rules. Conrail Shared Assets Operations continues to use the tri-light as its standard signal type. Amtrak uses a colorized version of PRR position light signals called "Position Color Lights". The Conrail Historical Society, Inc.,

2184-513: The 26 letters of the Latin alphabet . Diacritical marks may also be used, but they are ignored in data processing (for example, Ö is treated as though it is O ). The VKM is preceded by the code for the country (according to the alphabetical coding system described in Appendix 4 to the 1949 convention and Article 45(4) of the 1968 convention on road traffic), where the vehicle is registered and

2268-568: The AAR, maintains the active reporting marks for the North American rail industry. Under current practice, the first letter must match the initial letter of the railroad name. As it also acts as a Standard Carrier Alpha Code , the reporting mark cannot conflict with codes in use by other nonrail carriers. Marks ending with the letter "X" are assigned to companies or individuals who own railcars, but are not operating railroads; for example,

2352-481: The Conrail breakup was agreed upon, and neither NS or CSX wanted 'their' locomotives to be equipped with markers. Similarly, the standard-cab SD70, Conrail's final order of locomotives, were ordered to NS specifications, and were in Norfolk Southern's preferred numbering series (the 2500's), which they retained after the breakup. When Conrail was formed, it acquired many different railways, and as typical in

2436-443: The EL being able to independently compete with government-rehabilitated Conrail lines. Therefore, the EL petitioned and was accepted into Conrail at the last minute. In 1976, much of the company's railroad assets were thus purchased by the federal government and combined with other companies' railroad assets to form Conrail. An independent Erie Lackawanna Estate continued in existence for several years thereafter. This estate liquidated

2520-576: The EL's Employees Timetable Number 3, New York Division, showed its fastest comparable schedule to be 28 hours and 45 minutes. By 1973, the Penn Central's fastest piggyback service between these points was shown in the Official Guide to be 26 hours and 15 minutes, while the EL's Employees Timetable Number 4 showed that the EL's fastest comparable schedule was 29 and 1/2 hours. After its 1972 bankruptcy, EL management attempted to plot an independent course, anticipating financial reorganization without

2604-581: The EL's marginal non-railroad assets and distributed the railroad purchase funds to satisfy much of the large debt burden that the EL and its predecessors had accumulated. The EL's creditors gained more by selling the line's assets than by continuing its traditional business operations. The Erie Lackawanna's former commuter services are operated by NJ Transit and Metro-North ; non-electrified service operates to and from Hoboken Terminal; electrified lines use both Hoboken Terminal and Pennsylvania Station as terminals. Metro-North and NJ Transit share operation of

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2688-568: The Erie and the DL&;W, started to consolidate facilities on the Hudson River waterfront and across southern New York State in 1956, four years before formal corporate merger. The Lackawanna route was severely affected by the decline of anthracite and cement traffic from Pennsylvania by the late 1940s. The Erie was burdened by the continuing loss of high-tariff fruit and vegetable traffic from

2772-577: The North American rail industry, signaling was not standardized between these railways. This caused problems for Conrail, which had to "qualify" train crews on as many as seven different signaling systems and operating rules. The varying systems included the PRR position light signals , the NYC searchlight signals and tri-light signals, and the EL tri-light and semaphore signals. Conrail, and other eastern railroads which required multiple operating rules, came up with

2856-650: The Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981 (NERSA), which amended portions of the 3R Act by exempting Conrail from liability for any state taxes and requiring the Secretary of Transportation to make arrangements for the sale of the government's interest in Conrail. After NERSA was implemented, Conrail, under the aggressive leadership of L. Stanley Crane began to improve and reported taxable income between $ 2 million and $ 314 million each year from 1983 through 1986. Conrail's government-funded rebuilding of

2940-754: The Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Lines, while NJ Transit operates the Main, Montclair-Boonton, Morristown, Bergen County, and Gladstone Lines. Track reconstruction is underway that could restore regular service along the Lackawanna Cut-Off from Port Morris Junction, New Jersey to the Pennsylvania border at the Delaware River (28.45 miles) and extend service into northeastern Pennsylvania, possibly as far as Scranton. The Erie portion of

3024-614: The Staggers Act, railroads, including Conrail, were freed from the requirement to continue money-losing services. Conrail began turning a profit by 1981, the result of the Staggers Act freedoms and its own managerial improvements under the leadership of L. Stanley Crane, who had been chief executive officer of the Southern Railway . While the Staggers Act helped immensely in allowing all railroads to more-easily abandon unprofitable rail lines and set their own freight rates, it

3108-682: The VKM BLS. Example for an "Einheitswagen" delivered in 1957: In the United Kingdom, prior to nationalisation, wagons owned by the major railways were marked with codes of two to four letters, these codes normally being the initials of the railway concerned; for example, wagons of the Great Western Railway were marked "G W"; those of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway were marked "L M S", etc. The codes were agreed between

3192-583: The Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad. Most trackage in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois is a thing of the past. In September 2015, Norfolk Southern revealed EMD SD45-2 1700, which had been painted back to its as-built Erie Lackawanna color scheme at Chattanooga, Tennessee . This is the second unit from an NS predecessor painted back into its original colors. In 2019, as part of its 40th anniversary, New Jersey Transit wrapped ALP-45DP 4519 and

3276-541: The acquiring company discontinues the name or mark of the acquired company, the discontinued mark is referred to as a "fallen flag" railway. Occasionally, long-disused marks are suddenly revived by the companies which now own them. For example, in recent years, the Union Pacific Railroad has begun to use the mark CMO on newly built covered hoppers, gondolas and five-bay coal hoppers. CMO originally belonged to Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway ,

3360-631: The cosmetic restoration of N7E caboose 21165 and a partnership with the B&;O Railroad Museum to restore its ex-Conrail SW7 8905. The CRHS owns four pieces of on-track equipment: 86-foot boxcar 243880 (currently under development into a stand-alone Conrail museum), cabooses 21165 and 22130, and former Triple Crown RoadRailer TCSZ 463491. A preserved Conrail ex-PRR GP30 is on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania . To mark its 30th anniversary, Norfolk Southern painted 20 new locomotives with

3444-412: The dilapidated infrastructure and rolling stock it inherited from its six predecessors succeeded by the end of the 1970s in improving the physical condition of tracks, locomotives and freight cars . However, fundamental economic regulatory issues remained, and Conrail continued to post losses of as much as $ 1 million a day. Conrail management, recognizing the need for more regulatory freedoms to address

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3528-464: The early years of Conrail, the NYC "small-back" searchlight was adopted as the systemwide standard for new signal installations and replacements. The standard signal was quickly changed to the NYC tri-light. This move was done to decrease maintenance requirements, as searchlight signals need moving parts to switch between colors, unlike tri-lights, which have individual lamps. Many signals from previous railroads were re-used though, as new signaling hardware

3612-556: The economic issues, were among the parties lobbying for what became the Staggers Act of 1980, which significantly loosened the Interstate Commerce Commission 's rigid economic control of the rail industry. This allowed Conrail and other carriers the opportunity to become profitable and strengthen their finances. The Staggers Act allowed the setting of rates that would recover capital and operating cost (fully allocated cost recovery) by each and every route mile

3696-448: The first letter of the reporting mark: A railway vehicle must be registered in the relevant state's National Vehicle Register (NVR), as part of which process it will be assigned a 12-digit European Vehicle Number (EVN). The EVN schema is essentially the same as that used by the earlier UIC numbering systems for tractive vehicles and wagons , except that it replaces the 2-digit vehicle owner's code (see § Europe 1964 to 2005 ) with

3780-537: The former Monongahela Railway in southwest Pennsylvania , was originally owned jointly by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , Pennsylvania Railroad and Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad . Conrail absorbed the company in 1993, and assigned trackage rights to CSX, the successor to the B&O and P&LE. With the Conrail breakup, those lines are owned by NS, but the CSX trackage rights are still in place. Since Conrail

3864-406: The full Ann Arbor Railroad , of which Conrail would run only the southernmost portion. Michigan bought it and the whole line was operated by Conrail for several years until it was sold to a short line . Conrail was incorporated in Pennsylvania on October 25, 1974, and operations began on April 1, 1976. The federal government owned 85%, with employees owning the remaining 15%. The theory was that if

3948-399: The lights above the deck. Red marker lights (not class lights, which are multi-color) were also a preference of Conrail. Most locomotives that went to CSX retained their marker lights, while Norfolk Southern quickly removed them. All Conrail locomotives that went to CSX and NS have been either retired or repainted. The last unit to wear "Conrail Blue", NS 8312, was retired in 2014. Conrail was

4032-624: The loss of revenue, forced the company into bankruptcy , filing for reorganization under Section 77 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act on June 26. The completion of the Interstate 80 highway across Pennsylvania and New Jersey by 1971 added to the Erie Lackawanna's financial problems, as it diverted piggyback traffic previously garnered from less than truckload shipping companies such as Navajo and Cooper-Jarrett. EL

4116-574: The merger on Sept. 13, 1960, and on Oct. 17 the Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad merged to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. The EL struggled for most of the 16 years it existed. The two railroads that created it were steadily losing passengers, freight traffic and money, and were heavily-burdened by years of accumulated debt and extensive, money-losing commuter operations. These two historic lines,

4200-417: The new Consolidated Rail Corporation. Unlike most railroad consolidations, only the designated lines were to be taken over. Other lines would be sold to Amtrak, various state governments, transportation agencies, and solvent railroads. The few remaining lines were to remain with the old companies along with all previously-abandoned lines, many stations, and all non-rail related properties, thus converting most of

4284-537: The new companies, and NS also acquired the CR reporting mark. Operations under CSX and NS began on June 1, 1999, bringing Conrail's 23-year existence to an end. As the names indicated, CSX acquired the former New York Central Railroad main line from New York City and Boston, Massachusetts , to Cleveland, Ohio , and the former Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (NYC Big Four) line to Indianapolis, Indiana (continuing west to East St. Louis, Illinois ) on

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4368-431: The northeast already financially vulnerable from the expanding U.S. Interstate Highway System , the line was severely weakened fiscally by the extent, duration and record flood levels due to Hurricane Agnes in 1972. It would never recover. Most of the corporation's holdings became part of Conrail in 1976, ending its sixteen years as an independent operating railroad company. The Interstate Commerce Commission approved

4452-548: The old companies into solvent property-holding companies. The plan was unveiled on July 26, 1975, consisting of lines from Penn Central and six other companies—the Ann Arbor Railroad (bankrupt 1973), Erie Lackawanna Railway (1972), Lehigh Valley Railroad (1970), Reading Company (1971), Central Railroad of New Jersey (1967) and Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (1972). Controlled railroads and jointly-owned railroads such as Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and

4536-554: The only railroad to receive EMD SD80MACs (an order from the Chicago & North Western was cancelled when that company merged with Union Pacific ) and were separated evenly between CSX and NS. Conrail had a different paint scheme for these locomotives and also the SD70MAC , with a large white, cone-shaped line on the front, bearing "Conrail Quality" lettering. The SD70MACs were not fitted with marker lights, as they were ordered after

4620-538: The original Mainline between Port Jervis and Binghamton is operated by the CNYK . The Lackawanna Railroad mainline west of Portland is operated by the Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad to Scranton ; then by Norfolk Southern north to Binghamton. Norfolk Southern also operates from Binghamton to Buffalo on the Erie mainline, with the former Chicago mainline that heads west at Hornell operated by

4704-504: The other from New York to Chicago. The two lines cross at a bridge southeast of downtown Cleveland ( 41°26′49″N 81°37′37″W  /  41.447°N 81.627°W  / 41.447; -81.627 ), where the former Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad crosses over the NYC's former Cleveland Short Line Railway around the south side of Cleveland. In three major metropolitan areas – North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit – Conrail Shared Assets Operations continues to serve as

4788-518: The owner of a reporting mark is taken over by another company, the old mark becomes the property of the new company. For example, when the Union Pacific Railroad (mark UP) acquired the Chicago and North Western Railway (mark CNW) in 1995, it retained the CNW mark rather than immediately repaint all acquired equipment. Some companies own several marks that are used to identify different classes of cars, such as boxcars or gondolas. If

4872-405: The owner, or more precisely the keeper of the vehicle. Thus each UIC member got a two-digit owner code . With the introduction of national vehicle registers this code became a country code. Some vehicles had to be renumbered as a consequence. The Swiss company BLS Lötschbergbahn had the owner code 63. When their vehicles were registered, they got numbers with the country code 85 for Switzerland and

4956-549: The paint schemes of predecessor railroads. The first, on March 15, 2012, was GE ES44AC #8098 in Conrail blue with the "can opener" logo. In July 2023, CSX unveiled GE ES44AH unit #1976, which was repaired and repainted at the CSX shops in Waycross , GA with a CSX dark blue and yellow color scheme on the front (nose) and cab of the locomotive, and the light blue Conrail scheme with the Conrail Quality logo throughout

5040-406: The railroad it is traveling over, which shares the information with other railroads and customers. In multinational registries, a code indicating the home country may also be included. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) assigns marks to all carriers, under authority granted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board , Transport Canada , and Mexican Government. Railinc , a subsidiary of

5124-497: The railroad operated. There would be no more cross-subsidization of costs between route-miles (that is, revenue on profitable route segments were not used to subsidize routes where rates were set at intermodal parity, yet still did recover fully-allocated costs). Finally, where current and/or future traffic projections showed that profitable volumes of traffic would not return, the railroads were allowed to abandon those routes, shippers and passengers to other modes of transportation. Under

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5208-556: The railways and registered with the Ministry of Railways , Government of India . Erie Lackawanna Railway The Erie Lackawanna Railway ( reporting mark EL ), known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad . The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route". Like many railroads in

5292-762: The railways and registered with the Railway Clearing House . In India, wagons owned by the Indian Railways are marked with codes of two to four letters, these codes normally being the initials of the railway divisions concerned along with the Hindi abbreviation; for example, trains of the Western Railway zone are marked "WR" and "प रे"; those of the Central Railway zone are marked "CR" and "मध्य", etc. The codes are agreed between

5376-439: The region, Penn Central (PC), declared bankruptcy in 1970, after less than three years of existence. Formed in 1968 by the merger of the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad (and supplemented in 1969 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad ), the PC was created with almost no plans to merge the varied corporate cultures, and the resulting company was a hopelessly-entangled mess. At its lowest point, PC

5460-609: The reporting mark SCAX because the equipment is owned by the Southern California Regional Rail Authority —which owns the Metrolink system—even though it is operated by Amtrak. This is why the reporting mark for CSX Transportation , which is an operating railroad, is CSXT instead of CSX. Private (non-common carrier) freight car owners in Mexico were issued, up until around 1990, reporting marks ending in two X's, possibly to signify that their cars followed different regulations (such as bans on friction bearing trucks) than their American counterparts and so their viability for interchange service

5544-453: The rest of the locomotive. It was numbered #1976 in homage to the year of Conrail's creation. In August 2023, MTA Metro–North Railroad unveiled locomotive #201, a GE P32AC-DM , wrapped in a yellow and blue scheme worn by Conrail's EMD FL9 units between 1976 and 1982. In October 2024, New Jersey Transit unveiled EMD GP40PH-2B #4208 in Conrail blue with the "can opener" logo, similar to Norfolk Southern #8098. NJT stated that Conrail

5628-491: The service was improved through increased capital investment , the economic basis of the railroad would be improved. During its first seven years, Conrail proved to be highly unprofitable, despite receiving billions of dollars of assistance from Congress. The corporation declared enormous losses on its federal income tax returns from 1976 through 1982, resulting in an accumulated net operating loss of $ 2.2 billion during that period. Congress once again reacted with support by passing

5712-410: The state of New Jersey during the late 1960s for adequate subsidy and for the purchase of new engines and coaches. The EL also gained a lucrative contract with United Parcel Service in 1970, which led to the operation of five dedicated intermodal trains daily between New Jersey and Chicago. The Erie Lackawanna Railway was formed on March 1, 1968, as a subsidiary of Dereco, the holding company of

5796-419: The successful bidder. After considerable debate in Congress, the Conrail Privatization Act of 1986 was signed into law by President Reagan on October 21, 1986. However, in August 1986, Norfolk Southern had withdrawn its bid citing Congressional delays and taxation changes. The government decided that its interest in Conrail would then be sold by the then-largest initial public offering in US history. The sale

5880-527: The two railroads. In 1997, however, the two railroads struck a compromise agreement to jointly acquire Conrail and split most of its assets between them, with Norfolk Southern acquiring a larger portion of the Conrail network via a larger stock buyout. Under the final agreement approved by the Surface Transportation Board , Norfolk Southern acquired 58 percent of Conrail's assets, including roughly 6,000 Conrail route miles, and CSX received 42 percent of Conrail's assets, including about 3,600 route miles. The buyout

5964-491: The western states into the New York City region as highways improved in the 1950s. Both lines were also affected by the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959, which allowed ocean-going cargo ships to travel between European, African and South American ports and cities on the Great Lakes , such as Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Duluth, Chicago, etc. The DL&W had previously carried much traffic to and from ocean ships, having its own port facilities at Hoboken Terminal on

6048-592: Was able, however, to land large contracts with UPS because of its ability to move piggyback traffic between Chicago and the New York metropolitan area more reliably, although not faster than Penn Central (and formerly, New York Central ). For example, in 1971, the Penn Central advertised a 24 and 1/2 hour piggyback service from Metro New York to Metro Chicago in the Official Guide of the Railways , while

6132-691: Was approved by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) (successor agency to the Interstate Commerce Commission(ICC) and took place on August 22, 1998. Under the control of lawyer-turned-CEO Tim O'Toole , the lines were transferred to two newly formed limited liability companies , to be subsidiaries of Conrail but leased to CSX and Norfolk Southern, respectively New York Central Lines (NYC) and Pennsylvania Lines (PRR). The NYC and PRR reporting marks , which had passed to Conrail, were also transferred to

6216-408: Was bankrupt, but was somewhat stronger financially than the others. It was ruled reorganizable under Chapter 77 on April 30, 1974 (as had the Boston and Maine Railroad ), but on January 9, 1975, with no end to its losses in sight, its trustees reconsidered and asked for inclusion. The Final System Plan assigned a major section of the EL, from northern New Jersey west to northeast Ohio , to be sold to

6300-570: Was called, provided interim funding to the bankrupt railroads and defined a new Consolidated Rail Corporation under the Association of American Railroads ' plan. The 3R Act also formed the United States Railway Association (USRA), another government corporation , taking over the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission with respect to allowing the bankrupt railroads to abandon unprofitable lines. The USRA

6384-459: Was divided between Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation in 1999, all remaining locomotives have been successively repainted, and many remain in service. CR units had unique features such as "Bright Future" blue paint, flashing ditch lights, and Leslie RS-3L horns. Another key spotting feature is ditch lights mounted under the locomotive's front deck. This is a preference different from Norfolk Southern and CSX, which order locomotives with

6468-566: Was effective from March 26, 1987, when Conrail's stock, worth $ 1.65 billion, was sold to private investors. Conrail inherited the commuter rail operations of its predecessor lines. It relinquished several during the 1970s, including the Erie Cleveland–Youngstown service (discontinued in 1977), the Pennsylvania Railroad Chicago–Valparaiso service (transferred to Amtrak in 1979), and the services within

6552-577: Was expensive, and Conrail faced financial difficulty. As mentioned above, significant projects took place to reduce trackage, oftentimes removing double-track with automatic block signals in favor of single track with centralized traffic control (CTC). Conrail also installed CTC across much of the former PRR multi-track mainline, which had relied on local towers to operate signals and control track. Conrail spent its entire existence installing tri-light signals (using NORAC rules) across much of its system. Many Conrail-installed signaling locations were removed in

6636-580: Was impaired. This often resulted in five-letter reporting marks, an option not otherwise allowed by the AAR. Companies owning trailers used in trailer-on-flatcar service are assigned marks ending with the letter "Z", and the National Motor Freight Traffic Association , which maintains the list of Standard Carrier Alpha Codes, assigns marks ending in "U" to owners of intermodal containers . The standard ISO 6346 covers identifiers for intermodal containers. When

6720-458: Was incorporated on February 1, 1974, and Edward G. Jordan, an insurance executive from California , was named president on March 18 by Nixon. Arthur D. Lewis of Eastern Air Lines was appointed chairman on April 30, and the remainder of the board was named on May 30 and sworn in on July 11. Under the 3R Act, the USRA was to create a "Final System Plan" to decide which lines should be included in

6804-524: Was losing over $ 1 million a day and trains were becoming lost all over the railroad. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes damaged the rundown Northeast railway network and threatened the solvency of other railroads, including the somewhat more solvent Erie Lackawanna (EL). In mid-1973, officials with the bankrupt Penn Central threatened to liquidate and cease operations by year's end if they did not receive government aid by October 1. This threat to US freight and passenger traffic galvanized Congress to quickly create

6888-582: Was temporarily diverted to the EL because of service problems on the troubled Penn Central lines, which the EL largely paralleled. The EL built a state of the art diesel engine repair facility in Marion, Ohio , and upgraded a large car repair shop in Meadville, Pennsylvania . As to its money-losing suburban passenger train services in the New York City metropolitan region, the EL had come to terms with

6972-463: Was the predecessor to NJ Transit Rail Operations and that many of the original lines, stations and rolling stock were inherited from Conrail in 1983. Reporting mark In North America , the mark, which consists of an alphabetic code of two to four letters, is stenciled on each piece of equipment, along with a one- to six-digit number. This information is used to uniquely identify every such rail car or locomotive, thus allowing it to be tracked by

7056-412: Was under Crane's leadership that Conrail truly became a profitable operation. Soon after Crane took office in 1981 he shed another 4,400 miles from the Conrail system in the following two years, which accounted for only 1% of the railroad's overall traffic and 2% of its profits while saving it millions of dollars in maintenance costs. NERSA relieved Conrail of its requirement to provide commuter service on

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