Beacon Line

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Metro-North Railroad's Beacon Line is a non-revenue line connecting all three of the railroad's main revenue lines east of the Hudson River, in order from east-to-west: the Hudson Line, Harlem Line and New Haven Line.

[edit] Route geography in New York

The Beacon Line is so-named because its western terminus is a short distance south of the Beacon station. In this Google Map you can see where the Beacon Line branches slightly to the west from the Hudson Line. It heads south for a short distance, then turns eastward to cross over the Hudson Line via a trestle.

Between the Hudson and Harlem Lines, the Beacon runs a rather winding route, visible from many popular highways in Dutchess County. Interstate 84 crosses overhead just east of Exit 12 in Fishkill. U.S. Route 9 and NY 52 have a grade crossings with the line, also in Fishkill. In Hopewell Junction, the line has grade crossings with NY 82 and NY 376, before it passes underneath NY 82 for a second time. Motorists on the Taconic State Parkway will spot the Beacon Line crossing underneath the highway between the NY 52 exit and the Carpenter Road intersection. The next several miles are mostly rural areas, with the line going around mountains rather than tunneling through them.

In Towners, the Beacon Line finally crosses the Harlem Line (Google Map) but there is no interlocking between the two lines here. Rather, the Beacon Line turns south, running nearly parallel to the Harlem Line for a few miles as they straddle Ice Pond. Eventually, a single-track connection runs northeast from the Harlem Line to the Beacon Line. In this Google Map, the lines do not appear to touch, but switch to "Satellite" photo mode and you'll see the interlocking. The Beacon Line is the easternmost of these tracks.

Continuing south from this junction, the Beacon Line continues nearly parallel to the Harlem for a few more miles, finally turning eastward in Brewster, New York. Here, the line crosses underneath Interstate 84 once more, then underneath Interstate 684, and underneath Interstate 84 a second time, all within just a couple miles. Despite the line's limited usage, grade crossings are avoided with all other roads in Brewster, thanks to underpasses or overpasses.

[edit] Route geography in Connecticut

Heading east from Brewster, the line runs almost parallel with Interstate 84, and even closer to U.S. Routes 6 and 202, which overlap here as they cross the state border into Connecticut. Shortly after the border, Routes 6 and 202 cross over the railroad, putting it right between the 6/202 concurrency and Interstate 84. A few miles further east, the line runs past the Danbury Fair Mall, before turning north and then east to the Danbury station on the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line. In this Google Map, the Beacon Line enters from the northwest and the Danbury Branch comes in from the southeast, to the Danbury Station. As the map indicates, running a train between the Danbury Branch and the Beacon Line requires a reverse move.

Ignoring that reverse move, the line does continue on, but Metro-North does not own the tracks east of Danbury.

[edit] Purpose

The Beacon Line was purchased by Metro-North so it could keep the right-of-way intact for possible future use.[1] It also serves as a route to move trains between Metro-North's various service and maintenance facilities, without the need to move trains all the way down to New York City, the only other place all three east-of-Hudson lines are connected.

However, the high cost of maintaining a rail line, especially one that does not generate revenue, is a chief reason the Beacon Line is not used very often. On a popular website frequented by Metro-North employees and fans [2], there has been discussion that certain bridges along the line are out of service, and Metro-North has not allocated funding for necessary repairs. This means trains cannot currently run the entire route from Beacon to Danbury until such repairs are made and the line passes required safety inspections.

Another reason the Beacon Line is seldom used is because it is not electrified. It also intersects all three mainlines north of the point where each line's own electrification ends. Trains that run exclusively on electricity would need to be towed by diesel-fueled engines in order to make use of the Beacon Line, a procedure that would likely take more time and money than running the trains (on their own power) down to New York City, then back up to their destination (such as the railroad's massive Croton Yard shop facility).