| Extent | Pittsburgh, PA - Chicago, IL |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | independent: 1851-1869 PRR: 1869-1871 Pennsy Co.: 1871-1918 PRR: 1918-1968 Penn Central: 1968-1976 Conrail: 1976-1999 NS: 1994-present CSX: 1999-present CFE: 2004-present |
| Other names | Main Line (Pittsburgh to Chicago) |
The Fort Wayne Line and Fort Wayne Secondary is a rail line owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad (CFE), and CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. The line runs from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania west via Fort Wayne, Indiana to Gary, Indiana[1] along what was once the Pennsylvania Railroad's Pittsburgh to Chicago Main Line.
From downtown Pittsburgh, at the west end of the Pittsburgh Line, west to the junction with CSX's Greenwich Subdivision at Crestline, Ohio, NS owns the line. Major junctions include the Conemaugh Line in northern Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Line at Rochester, Pennsylvania, the Youngstown Line at New Brighton, Pennsylvania, the Lordstown Secondary east of Alliance, Ohio, and the Cleveland Line again at Alliance.
From Crestline west to Adams junction in Allen County, Indiana (Fort Wayne Line) and beyond to the Gary, Indiana neighborhood of Tolleston (Fort Wayne Secondary), the line is owned by CSX. Since 2004 this section has been leased to and operated by RailAmerica's Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad (CFE), with NS retaining trackage rights.
The final piece, from CSX's Porter Subdivision at Tolleston northwest to NS's Chicago Line, the former LS&MS in far northwestern Gary, Indiana at Buffington, is owned by CSX with NS trackage rights, junctioning CSX's Barr Subdivision at Clarke Junction (also in northwestern Gary).
Amtrak's Capitol Limited operates over the line east of Alliance (OH).
The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad opened the line from Allegheny (Pittsburgh) west to Crestline in 1851,[2] 1852,[3] and 1853;[4] the Fort Wayne Railroad Bridge connected it to the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line in downtown Pittsburgh in 1857.[5] From Crestline west to Fort Wayne, the Ohio and Indiana Railroad opened the line in 1853[4] and 1854.[6] The Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad extended the line west to Columbia City in 1856, on July 26 the three companies merged to form the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Rail Road. The line was completed to Chicago in 1856[7] and 1858.[8]
The Pennsylvania Railroad began operating the line under lease on July 1, 1869.[9] The line was subleased to the Pennsylvania Company on April 1, 1871,[10] which operated it until January 1, 1918, when the lease was reassigned to the PRR.[11] It passed to Penn Central Transportation in 1968 and Conrail in 1976.
Conrail began routing most Chicago freight via the ex-New York Central Railroad Chicago Line, and NS bought the line from Valparaiso west to Gary on June 2, 1994, and from Warsaw to Valparaiso soon after, with trackage rights east from Warsaw to Fort Wayne, giving them an alternate to their Chicago District.
After the breakup of Conrail in 1999, CSX acquired Conrail's portion of the line from Crestline to Fort Wayne and NS's portion of the line west of Fort Wayne, giving CSX a second route to Chicago.[12] NS kept trackage rights and acquired the line east of Crestline. CFE leased the line from Tolleston to Crestline on August 1, 2004.