Port Morris Branch Melrose - Oak Point NYC PC CR CSX

[Kurt]

Parts of the ROW have been built over around Brook Avenue and East 156 Street in the Bronx. Never gonna get around that building, and I doubt anyone will pay to tunnel under it. Triboro Rx is a pipe dream...its never gonna happen considering the Second Avenue subway phase II if funded will not start construction until sometime around 2019. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8179251 ... a=!3m1!1e3

[Jeff Smith]

So I'm guessing CSX may have sold off parts of the property; I doubt they'd allow encroachment.

[Ridgefielder]

I can't say for sure without driving over there, but from looking closely at the aerials and Google street view I think that building on 156th/Brook Ave. is built on a platform over the ROW, same as the buildings on Park between 156th and 162nd that bridge over the Harlem Division. I find it hard to believe that the City of New York would let a ROW like that be sold off and encroached upon- it's too valuable.

[Jeff Smith]

Official abandonment: https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... -county-ny" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Public filing: CSX Transportation, Inc.-Abandonment Exemption-in Bronx County, N.Y.

A Notice by the Surface Transportation Board on 02/08/2019

CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSXT), has filed a verified notice of exemption under 49 CFR pt. 1152 subpart F—Exempt Abandonments to abandon an approximately 1.8-mile rail line on its Port Morris Branch, Albany Division, between milepost QVP 0.0 and milepost QVP 1.8 in Bronx County, N.Y. (the Line).[1] The Line traverses U.S. Postal Service Zip Codes 10456, 10455, and 10454.

CSXT has certified that: (1) No local traffic has moved over the Line for at least two years; (2) any overhead traffic on the Line can be rerouted over other lines; (3) no formal complaint filed by a user of rail service on the Line (or by a state or local government entity acting on behalf of such user) regarding cessation of service over the Line either is pending with the Surface Transportation Board (Board) or any U.S. District Court or has been decided in favor of a complainant within the two-year period; and (4) the requirements at 49 CFR 1105.12 (newspaper publication), 49 CFR 1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental agencies), and 49 CFR 1105.7 and 1105.8 (environment and historic report), have been met.

As a condition to this exemption, any employee adversely affected by the abandonment shall be protected under Oregon Short Line Railroad—Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979). To address whether this condition adequately protects affected employees, a petition for partial revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) must be filed.

Provided no formal expression of intent to file an offer of financial assistance (OFA) has been received,[2] this exemption will be effective on March 12, 2019, unless stayed pending reconsideration. Petitions to stay that do not involve environmental issues,[3] formal expressions of intent to file an OFA under 49 CFR 1152.27(c)(2),[4] and interim trail use/rail banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 must be filed by February 15, 2019. Petitions to reopen or requests for public use conditions under 49 CFR 1152.28 must be filed by February 28, 2019, with the Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20423-0001.

A copy of any petition filed with the Board should be sent to CSXT's representative, Louis E. Gitomer, Law Offices of Louis E. Gitomer, LLC, 600 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 301, Towson, MD 21204.

If the verified notice contains false or misleading information, the exemption is void ab initio.

CSXT has filed a combined environmental and historic report that addresses the effects, if any, of the abandonment on the environment and historic resources. OEA will issue an environmental assessment (EA) by February 15, 2019. Interested persons may obtain a copy of the EA by writing to OEA (Surface Transportation Board, Washington, DC 20423-0001) or by calling OEA at (202) 245-0305. Assistance for the hearing impaired is available through the Federal Information Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Comments on environmental and historic preservation matters must be filed within 15 days after the EA becomes available to the public.

Environmental, historic preservation, public use, or trail use/rail banking conditions will be imposed, where appropriate, in a subsequent decision.

Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 1152.29(e)(2), CSXT shall file a notice of Start Printed Page 2943consummation with the Board to signify that it has exercised the authority granted and fully abandoned the Line. If consummation has not been effected by CSXT's filing of a notice of consummation by February 8, 2020, and there are no legal or regulatory barriers to consummation, the authority to abandon will automatically expire.

Board decisions and notices are available at http://www.stb.gov" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Decided: February 5, 2019.

[NYC_Dave]

Check out the references on this Wikipedia page -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spuyten_D ... s_Railroad
Attached is a New York & Harlem RR map from the 1925 NYC Annual Report which shows the Port Melrose connection at the bottom.

NewYork&HarlemRR1925.jpg (62.32 KiB) Viewed 4595 times

[Statkowski]

Don't know if it's been mentioned, but the Port Morris Branch was listed in official New Haven Railroad documents as an emergency detour route for traffic between Grand Central Terminal and the main line at New Rochelle Junction.

Pretty sure there would have been an electrified overlap with the interchange tracks having both third rail and catenary. Would have been an operational nightmare, however.