Editing Northern Branch (section)

== Route guide ==
[[File:BabbittNorthernBranchRiverLine 03.jpg|thumb|Northern Branch passes under the River Line at Babbitt, North Bergen]]
[[Image:Current north Hudson County railroads.png|thumb|300px|right|A map of the Northern Branch and surrounding railroads. The Northern Branch is the light blue line running almost straight from near the bottom of the map towards the top.]]
The Marion Running Track is a short elevated track connecting the Passaic and Harsimus Line towards [[Kearny, New Jersey|Kearny]] with the Northern Branch. It was built around 1994; prior to its opening, trains accessing the Northern Branch had to go to [[Journal Square]] and reverse direction, and the connection included a [[grade crossing]] of Newark Avenue (which the new connection overpasses). For these reasons, most freight trains instead used the River Line, passing through the Palisades in tunnels twice.

Another grade crossing still exists at Saint Paul's Avenue, under the [[Pulaski Skyway]] and [[U.S. Highway 1-9 Truck (Jersey City)|Truck US 1-9]]. This is now the only grade crossing on the Northern Running Track. Just north of this crossing, a second track begins; the line is double-tracked from here to the north end.

North of there, the line passes under the former [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad]], now part of [[New Jersey Transit]]'s Hoboken Division in the middle of [[West End Junction (NJ Transit)|West End Junction]]. These bridges were built in 1907, before which the tracks crossed at grade.

Just north of the NJ Transit overpasses, the line enters [[Bergen Junction]], and two tracks split to the west from the main line, which heads northwest to Croxton Yard.

Soon the line passes over County Road on a rather old bridge. It then passes under Secaucus Road, whose bridge opened on May 20, 2002.<ref>{{cite press release| url=http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=PressReleaseTo&PRESS_RELEASE_ID=502| title=SECAUCUS ROAD PROJECT DEBUTS| publisher=NJ Transit| date=May 20, 2002 |access-date=October 3, 2008 }}</ref> The [[New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway]] begins at the [[Land Bridge Terminal]], just north of Secaucus Road, and parallels the Northern Running Track, just to the west, all the way to its end.

The next three overpasses, over which pass the [[Northeast Corridor]], [[Route 3 (New Jersey)|Route 3]], and [[Route 495 (New Jersey)|Route 495]], have never been grade crossings. The next overpass, [[Paterson Plank Road]], opened on April 22, 2002.<ref>{{cite press release| url=http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=PressReleaseTo&PRESS_RELEASE_ID=485| title=PATERSON PLANK ROAD PROJECT DEBUTS IN HUDSON COUNTY| publisher=NJ Transit| date=April 22, 2002 |access-date=October 3, 2008 }}</ref>

The Northern Running Track ends at [[North Bergen Yard]], at what has been called [[Granton Junction]], and is now CP 2. From here, it splits into two CSX lines, the Bergen Subdivision (which was part of Conrail's River Line until most of Conrail's assets were split), and CSX's Northern Branch. The Bergen Subdivision soon becomes the River Subdivision, and leads along the west side of the [[Hudson River]] towards [[Albany, New York]].

Beginning at CP 2, the CSX-owned Northern Branch is a lightly used freight spur that passes through eastern [[Bergen County, New Jersey]], terminating at the state line in [[Northvale, New Jersey|Northvale]].  The line's tracks have been removed beginning at the New York border.  However, the right-of-way continues as a [[rail trail]] heading north as several names - the Joseph B. Clarke Rail-Trail to Piermont, the [[Old Erie Path]] to Grand View, and the Raymond G. Esposito Trail to Nyack. There are proposals to use the right-of-way north of [[Englewood, New Jersey]] the state line as a rail trail connecting to the [[Hudson River Valley Greenway]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Zurita|first=Anthony|date=March 6, 2019|url=https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/2019/03/06/northern-valley-greenway-project-holds-information-session/3070351002/|title=Bergen County residents voice opinions on proposed recreational rail path|work=North Jersey Record}}</ref>