The was a
Railroad connecting
New York City to
New Haven, Connecticut along the shore of the
Long Island Sound . It opened in
1849 , and in
1872 it merged with the
Hartford And New Haven Railroad to form the
New York, New Haven And Hartford Railroad . The line is now the
Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line and part of
Amtrak 's
Northeast Corridor .
In the early days of railroads, building a line along the north shore of the
Long Island Sound was considered difficult due to the many rivers that fed into it. Thus the first
New York City -
Boston lines went either south (the
Long Island Rail Road ) or north (the predecessors to the
Boston And Albany Railroad ). However, railroad technology soon improved, and the New York and New Haven Railroad was chartered
June 20 ,
1844 to build such a line from New York to
New Haven , where it would connect to the
Hartford And New Haven Railroad , which itself connected to the future
Boston And Albany Railroad at
Springfield .
map of surveyed route]]
The company was organized
May 19 ,
1846 , and construction began
September 1847 ; the full line opened
January 1849 . A
March 17 ,
1848 agreement gave the company
Trackage Rights over the
New York And Harlem Railroad from
Williamsbridge (now part of
The Bronx ) south into New York City (along the line that now ends at
Grand Central Terminal ).
On
July 11 ,
1848 , the recently opened
New Haven And Northampton Railroad , running north from New Haven to
Plainville , was leased to the NY&NH. On
February 16 ,
1850 , the second part of the line to
Granby was also leased; the rest of the line north into
Massachusetts was never leased. Both leases expired
June 30 ,
1869 , and the company operated independently until
1887 , when the
New York, New Haven And Hartford Railroad leased it.
The eastern half of the north shore line, from New Haven east to
New London , was chartered in
1848 as the
New Haven And New London Railroad , opening in
1852 . In
1856 it was consolidated with the unbuilt
New London And Stonington Railroad to form the
New Haven, New London And Stonington Railroad , which was leased by the
New York, Providence And Boston Railroad in
1859 . The part east to
Stonington was never built (instead being built by the NYP&B), and the company was reorganized as the
Shore Line Railway in
1865 . The NY&NH leased it on
November 1 ,
1870 as an eastern extension of its line.
On
September 7 ,
1870 the NY&NH and
Hartford And New Haven Railroad agreed to consolidate into one continuous line from New York to
Springfield, Massachusetts . This merger happened on
July 24 ,
1872 , forming the
New York, New Haven And Hartford Railroad . The line has since passed into
Penn Central ,
Conrail and is now mostly part of
Amtrak 's
Northeast Corridor , with additional passenger service provided by
Metro-North Railroad .
