Influence of Passenger Rail on the BosWash Megalopolis Corridor ...

<strong>Influence</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Passenger</strong> <strong>Rail</strong> on the BosWash Megalopolis Corridor
automated scheduled passenger service (Houk, 2006). In 1833, the Boston and Albany <strong>Rail</strong>road
was developed as the first continuous track with automated signals, replacing the old-fashioned
handwritten train orders (Condit, 1977). As the rail system continued to advance, the
government began to implement regulations such as The Federal <strong>Rail</strong>way Safety Appliances Act
<strong>of</strong> 1893 which required automatic air brakes, automatic couplers, and standardization <strong>of</strong> the
location/specifications for employee-used appliances (Houk, 2006). In 1903, the state <strong>of</strong> New
York prohibited the operation <strong>of</strong> steam locomotives on Manhattan Island forcing the rail
companies to switch to diesel engines (Houk, 2006). Diesel powered locomotives enabled the
trains to travel at maximum speeds <strong>of</strong> approximately sixty miles per hour providing passengers a
safe yet efficient travel option (Houk, 2006). By the 1920’s the northeastern United States
passenger rail service reached its peak as a fast, comfortable, and feasible mode for travel to and
from the cities (Von Eckardt, 1964).
As rail owners continued to build rail lines, the passenger train companies, separate from
the owners, began to emerge within the Megalopolis corridor. The passenger train companies
owned right-<strong>of</strong>-ways to the track, meaning their trains were allowed to travel on the designated
rail lines. The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) was formed when eight individual
locomotive companies merged to build an electric locomotive which <strong>of</strong>fered scheduled
transportation services from New Jersey to New York (Houk, 2006). The Pennsylvania <strong>Rail</strong>road
Company connected the state <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania to New York and built the Pennsylvania Station in
New York City. The New York Central <strong>Rail</strong>road added the largest train station in the world,
Grand Central Station, located in Manhattan serving New York City and Connecticut as well as
its western lines (Houk, 2006). These companies provided not only safe and comfortable rail
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