 | ||
Harold Interlocking is a large railroad junction located in New York City. It is the busiest rail junction in the United States. It serves the Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains, the Long Island Rail Road, and New Jersey Transit. The junction is being rebuilt to address congestion problems and occasional accidents.
Contents
Location and operation
The junction is located in Queens, east of the East River Tunnels and next to Amtrak’s Sunnyside Yard. During the rush hour period, over 40 trains per hour pass through the interlocking; and a total of 783 trains each weekday. In addition to Amtrak trains, the interlocking serves the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and New Jersey Transit (NJT), which uses the yard for train storage.
Congestion
The complexity of the junction and the large volume of traffic has caused frequent delays and occasional accidents in this portion of the Northeast Corridor.
History
The Pennsylvania Railroad built the Harold Interlocking in 1908 as part of the New York Tunnel Extension project, which built Pennsylvania Station, the North River Tunnels (under the Hudson River), the East River Tunnels and Sunnyside Yard.
Planned improvements
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began construction of several infrastructure improvements to the junction area in 2009, however a major project to redesign and rebuild the interlocking required additional funding. In May 2011, a $294.7 million federal grant was awarded to address congestion at the interlocking. The work will allow for dedicated tracks to the New York Connecting Railroad right of way for Amtrak trains arriving from or bound for New England, thus avoiding NJT and LIRR traffic. A grade-separated route is being constructed for Northeast Corridor Trains. MTA is constructing and managing the improvement project concurrently with the adjacent East Side Access Project, which will add additional connections.