Rochester Subdivision

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The Rochester Subdivision is a railroad line owned by New York Central Lines LLC and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs from Syracuse west to Buffalo^[1] along the former New York Central Railroad main line. At its east end, west of downtown Syracuse, the line becomes the Mohawk Subdivision. It intersects the West Shore Subdivision, 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.

Amtrak's Empire Service, Lake Shore Limited, and Maple Leaf operate over the entire Rochester Subdivision.

[edit] History

The oldest part of the Rochester Subdivision is from Rochester southwest to Batavia, opened in 1837 by the Tonawanda Railroad.^[2] The portion of the line from Rochester east to Brighton was opened in 1841 by the Auburn and Rochester Railroad; the rest of the original route to Syracuse was less direct than the current line.^[3] The two lines were connected in Rochester in 1844.^[4] The Buffalo and Rochester Railroad built from Depew east to Batavia in 1852, replacing the old longer route via Attica.^[5] In 1853, the New York Central Railroad built a more direct route from Syracuse to Rochester, meeting the old route east of Rochester at Brighton.^[6] Most of the line once had four tracks, and while much of the rail bed is still wide enough to support such infrastructire, 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.