The
Rochester Subdivision is a railroad line owned by
CSX TransportationCSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
in the
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The line runs from Syracuse west to Buffalo along the former
New York Central RailroadThe New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
main line. At its east end, west of downtown Syracuse, the line becomes the
Mohawk Subdivision. It intersects the
West Shore SubdivisionThe West Shore Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs from Fairport, CP-359, west to North Chili, CP-382, along a former New York Central Railroad line. Both of its ends are at the Rochester Subdivision; it provides a southern bypass...
, which provides a southern bypass of Rochester, at Fairport and North Chili. At its west end, near Depew, the line becomes the Buffalo Terminal Subdivision.
AmtrakThe National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
's
Empire ServiceThe Empire Service is a train service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States. Trains on the line provide frequent daily service along the 460-mile Empire Corridor between New York City and Niagara Falls, New York...
,
Lake Shore LimitedThe Lake Shore Limited is a daily passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. The train runs between Chicago and Albany, NY, where it divides into two sections that provide thru-service to New York and Boston...
, and
Maple Leaf operate over the entire Rochester Subdivision.
History
The oldest part of the Rochester Subdivision is from Rochester southwest to Batavia, opened in 1837 by the
Tonawanda RailroadYet another of the bewildering array of small and impermanent rail companies of the nineteenth century, the Tonawanda Railroad was Rochester's first...
. The portion of the line from Rochester east to
BrightonBrighton is a town in Monroe County, New York, USA. The population was 36,609 at the 2010 census.-History:The Town of Brighton, located on the southeast border of the city of Rochester, was originally settled approximately 1790, and formally established in 1814—earning it recognition as one...
was opened in 1841 by the
Auburn and Rochester Railroad-Introduction:The Auburn and Rochester Railroad Company was built to bring Canandaigua access to regional and national markets and sources. Extending southeast from Rochester to Geneva and Canandaigua with a trackage length of 78½ miles, its right-of-way exceeded that of the contemporaneous and...
; the rest of the original route to Syracuse was less direct than the current line. The two lines were connected in Rochester in 1844. The
Buffalo and Rochester RailroadThe Buffalo and Rochester Railroad, like many others of its day, was a short line that lasted a short time.-The gist of the idea:Initially, the germ of the idea for this line came from the perceived need for a rail line to serve Steuben and Livingston Counties in New York. Farmers and merchants in...
built from Depew east to Batavia in 1852, replacing the old longer route via Attica. In 1853, the
New York Central RailroadThe New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
built a more direct route from Syracuse to Rochester, meeting the old route east of Rochester at Brighton. Most of the line once had four tracks, and while much of the railbed is still wide enough to support such infrastructure, only two tracks are currently in service. The entire line became part of the New York Central and Conrail through leases, mergers, and takeovers, and was assigned to CSX in the 1999 breakup of Conrail.