Penn Central Transportation
 |
|
| Reporting mark | PC |
|---|---|
| Locale |
Illinois Indiana Michigan Ohio West Virginia Pennsylvania New York New Jersey Maryland Delaware Connecticut Rhode Island Massachusetts Washington, DC Ontario Quebec |
| Dates of operation | 1968–1976 |
| Predecessor |
Pennsylvania Railroad New York Central Railroad New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad |
| Successor |
Amtrak Conrail American Premier Underwriters |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Electrification |
12.5kV 25Hz AC: New Haven-Washington, D.C./South Amboy; Philadelphia-Harrisburg; North Jersey Coast Line 700V DC: Harlem Line; Hudson Line |
| Length | 20,530 miles (33,040 kilometres) |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Website | pcrrhs.org |
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Class I railroad headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that operated from 1968 until 1976. It was created by the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads. The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad was added to the merger in 1969; by 1970, the company had filed for what was, at that time, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
The Penn Central was created as a response to challenges faced by all three railroads in the late 1960s. The northeastern quarter of the United States, these railroads' service area, was the most densely populated region of the U.S. While railroads elsewhere in North America drew a high percentage of their revenues from the long-distance shipment of commodities such as coal, lumber, paper and iron ore, Northeastern railroads traditionally depended on a mix of services, including:
These labor-intensive, short-haul services were all vulnerable to competition from automobiles and buses (for the first two services) and the trucking industry (for the remaining three), particularly where facilitated by four-lane highways. In 1956, Congress had passed, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower had signed, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. This law authorized construction of the vast Interstate Highway System, which provided an economic boost to the trucking industry.
Another significant problem was the inability of the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads to respond to market conditions. The railroad industry at the time was heavily regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and was unable to change the rates it charged shippers and passengers. Therefore, reducing costs was the only way to become more profitable. Government regulation and agreements with labor unions tightly restricted what cost-cutting could take place. A merger seemed to be a promising way out of a difficult situation.
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