Beacon Line
The Metro-North Railroad's Beacon Line is a non-revenue line connecting the railroad's three revenue lines east of the Hudson River. From west to east, the lines that connect are Hudson Line, Harlem Line, and the Danbury Branch of the New Haven Line. It was purchased by Metro-North in 1995 for $4.2 million from Maybrook Properties, a subsidiary of the Housatonic Railroad, to preserve it for future use, training, and equipment moves. Maybrook Properties purchased the line from Conrail after Conrail withdrew from the Danbury, Connecticut, freight market in 1992.
| Beacon Line | |
|---|---|
Beacon Line, Churchill Street, Beacon, New York | |
| Overview | |
| Status | Out of Service |
| Owner | Housatonic Railroad (Connecticut) Metro-North (New York) |
| Locale | Dutchess County, New York, Putnam County, New York and Fairfield County, Connecticut |
| Termini | |
| Stations | none |
| Service | |
| Type | Commuter rail line |
| System | Metro-North |
| Operator(s) | Metro-North |
| Technical | |
| Track length | 47 miles (76 km) |
| Character | single track |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
On February 26, 2021, Metro-North announced it would file with the Surface Transportation Board to seek an adverse discontinuance of the Housatonic Railroad's trackage rights over the line, allowing MNR to abandon the line and convert it to an interim trail. In recent months, several studies have been underway to bring Metro-North service between Danbury and Southeast.