New York and New Haven Railroad
| Locale |
New York Connecticut |
|---|---|
| Dates of operation | 1849–1872 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The New York and New Haven Railroad (NY&NH) was a railroad connecting New York City to New Haven, Connecticut along the shore of Long Island Sound. It opened in 1849, and in 1872 it merged with the Hartford & New Haven Railroad to form the New York, New Haven & 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. The first all-rail New York City-Boston lines ran north via the predecessors to the New York Central and Boston & Albany (B&A) railroads. Other routes involved combined water and rail routes, some going east via the Long Island Rail Road, other departing the East River waterfront of New York for ports in Connecticut, Rhode Island, or Massachusetts. However, railroad technology soon improved, and the NY&NH was chartered June 20, 1844 to build such a line from New York to New Haven, where it would connect to the Hartford & New Haven Railroad, which itself connected to the future B&A at Springfield.
Construction began September 1847 and the first train operated by January 1849. A March 17, 1848 agreement gave the NY&NH trackage rights over the New York & Harlem Railroad from Williamsbridge (now part of the Bronx) south into New York City.
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