Lehigh Line (Conrail)

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Lehigh Line
A CSX commercial train passes Prospect Avenue in Piscataway, New Jersey
Overview
Status	Operational (1999 - present)
Owner	Conrail Shared Assets Operations (Split between CSX and Norfolk Southern)
Locale	Northeastern New Jersey
Termini	Oak Island Yard in Newark, New Jersey Port Reading Junction in Manville, New Jersey
Stations	Union station (NJ Transit) and Roselle Park station, both are operated by New Jersey Transit
Service
Type	Freight rail
System	Conrail Shared Assets Operations (Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation), (with Canadian Pacific trackage rights)
Operator(s)	Conrail Shared Assets Operations (Split between CSX and Norfolk Southern) and New Jersey Transit
History
Opened	1999 (spun off from the original Lehigh Line)
Technical
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

The Conrail Lehigh Line is a railroad line in New Jersey that is part of Conrail Shared Assets Operations under the North Jersey Shared Assets Area division. The line runs from CP Port Reading Junction in Manville to Oak Island Yard in Newark. The line is double-track and signaled through its entire length. The line began operations in 1999 using former existing tracks from Manville to Newark that was once part of the original Lehigh Line which is still in existence and is owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Railway.^[1]

The original Lehigh Line was built by the Lehigh Valley Railroad and opened in 1855 in the Lehigh Valley. The line later expanded all the way to Buffalo, New York and then to Jersey City which was later retracted to Newark. The original Lehigh Line and the rest of the Lehigh Valley Railroad was merged into Conrail in 1976 and was downsized in the New York and Pennsylvania. The original Lehigh Line was inherited by Norfolk Southern Railway in 1999 but it did not include the Manville to Newark tracks.