Editing Hell Gate Bridge (section)

===Services===

==== Passenger rail ====
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The bridge's two western tracks are part of the [[Hell Gate Line]] and are used for ''[[Acela Express]]'' and ''[[Northeast Regional]]'' service between New York and Boston.<ref name="Amtrak p151" /> The speed limit for passenger trains is {{Convert|50|mph}} on the bridge itself and {{Convert|60|mph}} on the approach viaducts.<ref name="Greenstein p. 50" /> Past the bridge, the Hell Gate Line continues north to [[New Rochelle, New York|New Rochelle]], where it merges with the mainline portion of [[Metro-North Railroad]]'s [[New Haven Line]], and south to [[Harold Interlocking]], where it merges with the [[Long Island Rail Road]]'s [[Main Line (Long Island Rail Road)|Main Line]].<ref name="The New York Times 2004 h812">{{cite web |title=Amtrak's Wariness Imperils Grand Central-L.I.R.R. Link |date=February 1, 2004 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/nyregion/amtrak-s-wariness-imperils-grand-central-lirr-link.html |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=March 8, 2024 |archive-date=March 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308205855/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/01/nyregion/amtrak-s-wariness-imperils-grand-central-lirr-link.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The bridge has traditionally been used by long-distance trains.<ref name="p899011711">{{cite news |last1=Wood |first1=Francis |last2=Dorman |first2=Michael |date=May 2, 1962 |title=Set Rapid Transit Test on 1 LIRR Line |work=Newsday |page=1 |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|899011711}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Lubasch |first=Arnold H. |date=May 2, 1962 |title=5 Commuter Rail Projects Offered by 3-State Agency |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/05/02/archives/5-commuter-rail-projects-offered-by-3state-agency-3-states-propose.html |access-date=March 7, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308222545/https://www.nytimes.com/1962/05/02/archives/5-commuter-rail-projects-offered-by-3state-agency-3-states-propose.html |url-status=live}}</ref> It has also hosted occasional commuter services, such as special Metro-North services from Connecticut to the [[Meadowlands station]] in New Jersey.<ref name="PCAC2009">{{Cite web |date=Oct 2009 |title=Going the Distance: Transportation Mobility in the New York Metropolitan Region |url=https://pcac.org/app/uploads/2014/09/Going-the-Distance.pdf |access-date=March 7, 2024 |publisher=Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee |page=20 |archive-date=April 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240404034614/https://pcac.org/app/uploads/2014/09/Going-the-Distance.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Healy 2016 i391" /> Before the opening of the [[Empire Connection]] in 1991,<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 7, 1991 |title=Travel Advisory; Grand Central Trains Rerouted To Penn Station |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/travel/travel-advisory-grand-central-trains-rerouted-to-penn-station.html |access-date=March 7, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 27, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227094340/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/travel/travel-advisory-grand-central-trains-rerouted-to-penn-station.html |url-status=live}}</ref> all Amtrak trains traveling from New York Penn Station to upstate New York and New England had to use the bridge.<ref name="n142902122">{{Cite news |last=Richterman |first=Anita |date=September 6, 1979 |title=Problem Line |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition-problem-line/142902122/ |access-date=March 7, 2024 |work=Newsday |pages=151 |archive-date=March 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307233710/https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-suffolk-edition-problem-line/142902122/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1962, a regional transportation committee proposed running commuter rail trains from Connecticut to New York Penn Station via the Hell Gate Bridge,<ref name="p899011711" /> in advance of the [[1964 New York World's Fair]].<ref name="n142898080">{{Cite news |date=January 15, 1963 |title=Good Transit Facilities Assured in Westchester |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-reporter-dispatch-good-transit-facil/142898080/ |access-date=March 7, 2024 |work=The Reporter Dispatch |pages=45 |archive-date=March 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240307234057/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-reporter-dispatch-good-transit-facil/142898080/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The proposal was again studied in 1969<ref name=":27">{{Cite book |last= |first= |title=An Assessment of the Transit Service Potential of Inactive Railroad Rights-of-way and Yards Final Report |date=October 1991 |publisher=New York City Department of City Planning |isbn= |location= |pages=104, 128, 130}}</ref> and 1973,<ref name="n142899845" /> but the [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] (MTA) initially dismissed the commuter-rail plan as infeasible.<ref name="n89677657">{{Cite news |last=McLaughlin |first=Peter |date=June 17, 1973 |title=Trains to Penn Station Proposed by 3 Officials |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/89677657/ |access-date=March 7, 2024 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |pages=242}}</ref> A plan to run some New Haven Line trains over the bridge was again proposed in the 1990s;<ref name="p203891319">{{cite magazine |last1=Middleton |first1=William D |last2=Wolinsky |first2=Julian |date=Nov 1998 |title=The regional/commuter rail outlook |magazine=Railway Age |page=G13 |pages= |volume=199 |issue=11 |id={{ProQuest|203891319}}}}</ref> the main obstacle to the plan was a lack of track space at Penn Station.<ref name="p896790519" /> The MTA studied the plan in 2000s as part of the [[Penn Station Access]] project, along with new stations on the Hell Gate Line in the Bronx.<ref name="The New York Times 2002 t822">{{cite web |date=June 26, 2002 |title=Watching as the Trains Pass, Then Having to Take the Bus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/26/nyregion/watching-as-the-trains-pass-then-having-to-take-the-bus.html |access-date=March 8, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="mta">{{cite web |title=Penn Station Access Study |publisher=[[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] |date=September 2009 |url=http://www.mta.info/mta/planning/psas/overview.html |access-date=April 12, 2008}}</ref> Amtrak and the MTA reached an agreement regarding track usage rights in 2019,<ref>{{cite web |title=Metro-North riders will finally get Penn Station access |website=am New York |last=Castillo |first=Alfonso A. |date=January 22, 2019 |url=https://www.amny.com/transit/metro-north-penn-station-1.26282571 |access-date=January 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123121355/https://www.amny.com/transit/metro-north-penn-station-1.26282571 |archive-date=January 23, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Spivack |first=Caroline |title=MTA to build new Metro-North stations linking Bronx to Penn Station |website=Curbed NY |date=January 22, 2019 |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2019/1/22/18193340/bronx-new-york-mta-metro-north-new-stations |access-date=January 23, 2019}}</ref> and construction on Penn Station Access commenced in 2022, after the completion of [[East Side Access]] freed up space at Penn Station.<ref name="NBC New York 2022">{{cite web |date=December 9, 2022 |title=4 New Metro-North Stations Break Ground in NYC. Here's When They'll Take You to Penn |url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/metro-north-to-penn-station-bronx-mta-stations-groundbreaking-begins-timeline-here/3990112/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209194027/https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/metro-north-to-penn-station-bronx-mta-stations-groundbreaking-begins-timeline-here/3990112/ |archive-date=December 9, 2022 |access-date=December 9, 2022 |website=NBC New York}}</ref> {{As of|2023}}, New Haven Line trains were expected to begin running to Penn Station in 2028.<ref name="Brachfeld 202301">{{cite web |last=Brachfeld |first=Ben |date=January 30, 2023 |title=Dispute between MTA, Amtrak could delay Penn Access megaproject bringing Metro-North to west side |url=https://www.amny.com/transit/dispute-mta-amtrak-delay-penn-access-megaproject/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130222122/https://www.amny.com/transit/dispute-mta-amtrak-delay-penn-access-megaproject/ |archive-date=January 30, 2023 |access-date=January 31, 2023 |website=amNewYork}}</ref>

There have been proposals for the bridge to carry [[rapid transit]] as well. In 1950 and again in 1954, Bronx borough president [[James J. Lyons]] proposed running a subway line between Manhattan and the Bronx via the bridge.<ref name="p875442873">{{cite news |date=December 30, 1954 |title=Bronx Head Urges Subway To Use Hell Gate Bridge |work=Newsday |page=5 |issn=2574-5298 |id={{ProQuest|875442873}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Dwyer |first=Robert |date=December 30, 1954 |title=City May Get Transit Spur Via Hell Gate |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-city-may-get-transit-spur-via/142891072/ |access-date=March 7, 2024 |work=New York Daily News |issn=2692-1251 |pages=26, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-city-may-get-transit-spur-via/142891154/ 30]}}</ref> The [[Triboro RX]] subway line, between the Bronx and Brooklyn, was proposed in the 1990s and would have used the Hell Gate Bridge.<ref name="Guse Nessen 2023 t133">{{cite web |last1=Guse |first1=Clayton |last2=Nessen |first2=Stephen |date=February 11, 2023 |title=Bronx is snubbed as MTA pursues IBX plan |url=https://gothamist.com/news/bronx-is-snubbed-as-mta-pursues-ibx-plan |access-date=March 8, 2024 |website=Gothamist}}</ref> The Triboro RX plan was scaled down after the MTA determined that it would not be feasible to operate rapid transit on the bridge when Penn Station Access was finished.<ref name="Brachfeld 202301" /><ref name="Guse Nessen 2023 t133" />

==== Freight rail ====
On the eastern side of the bridge is the New York Connecting Railroad's single-track line, which links New York City and Long Island to the North American mainland.<ref name="Greenstein p. 50" /> The track forms part of the Fremont Secondary. It carries trains of the [[CSX Transportation|CSX]], [[Canadian Pacific Railway|Canadian Pacific]], and [[Providence and Worcester Railroad|Providence & Worcester]] railroads from [[Oak Point Yard]] in the Bronx to [[Fresh Pond Yard]] in Queens,<ref name="Greenstein p. 50" /><ref name="NYSRailMap2016" /> where they connect with the [[New York and Atlantic Railway]] to Long Island.<ref name="Kilgannon 2007 s568">{{cite web |last=Kilgannon |first=Corey |date=January 31, 2007 |title=Mystery Freight Train Out of Queens? It May Soon Be a Familiar Sight |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/nyregion/31freight.html |access-date=March 8, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Another track was abandoned in the 1970s<ref name="Healy 2016 i391" /> and totally removed in the late 1990s.<ref name="Greenstein p. 50" /> The speed limit for freight trains is {{Convert|10|mph}}.<ref name="Greenstein p. 50" />