Essex–Hudson Greenway

In 1878, New York and Greenwood Lake Railway, was created from a consolidation of several smaller railroads, with service provided by the Erie Railroad In 1887, the Erie created a new subsidiary, the Arlington Railroad, to create a new, more direct ROW in the Kearny Meadows between the Hackensack River and Passaic River. In 1897, it opened the DB Draw over the Hackensack and the WR Draw over the Passaic providing the company a modernized ROW from its Pavonia Terminal through the Long Dock Tunnel and across the Meadows. The eastern portion in Hudson County was also used by the Newark Branch. The property was acquired directly in 1943 by the Erie. In 1960 the Erie merged with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to create the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and services were consolidated at Hoboken Terminal via the Bergen Tunnels. Conrail operated commuter rail on the line from 1976 to 1982 on behalf of the New Jersey Department of Transportation to 1982, when New Jersey Transit Rail Operations took over. When Conrail was split in 1999 Norfolk Southern Railway came into possession of the line. NJ Transit provided communter service on its Boonton Line until 2002, when eastern part (Montclair to Hoboken) closed after a new alignment, the Montclair Connection, was built and Montclair-Boonton Line services began. Service at three stations was discontinued. Service at other stations on the line had previously been curtailed. ==Abandonment of ROW and purchase by state==

Although the ROW was not officially abandoned, proponents of early efforts to create a greenway called the plan the Ice & Iron Rail Trail because of its historical use as a freight line carrying iron and ice from western New Jersey to the Port of New York and New Jersey. In 2020, Norfolk Southern (NS) officially abandoned an section (milepost WD 2.9 to milepost WD 11.5) of the rail line and the Open Space Institute (OSI) reached a preliminary sale agreement with NS for the property. They commissioned Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects to develop a framework plan, produced in March 2023. In 2021 NJ Transit authorized a study to use a portion the rail ROW as bus "transitway". The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which manages state parks and forests, acquired the property on August 19, 2022. The state purchased the ROW from NS for $65 million. It is expected site preparation will begin in 2023, with initial opening about one year later. ==Route==

At its eastern end the greenway will start in Croxton in Jersey City () just west of U.S. Route 1/9, near the Bergen Arches, a disused rail tunnel, with potential connection to the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway. At the west in Montclair it will terminate near the Montclair-Boonton Line near Bay Street station (). In Secaucus it will run concurrently with the planned route of the Hackensack River Greenway. In Essex County a portion would run concurrently with the September 11th National Memorial Trail. The East Coast Greenway in would be partially re-routed to align with new greenway. • Saint Peter's Cemetery • site of the demolished Hudson Generating Station • Penhorn Creek • Riverbend Wetlands Preserve • Portal Bridge (Northeast Corridor – Amtrak and NJ Transit) • Lewondowski Bridge – New Jersey Turnpike Eastern Spur • Laurel Hill County Park • DB Draw • Hackensack River • Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area/Kearny Brackish Marsh • New Jersey Turnpike Western Spur • Saw Mill Creek Mud Flats • Belleville Turnpike • Arlington station site • West Arlington station site • Kearny Riverbank Park • Passaic River • WR Draw • McCarter Highway • Woodside • North Newark station site • Forest Hill • Second River • Branch Brook Park • Rowe Street station site • Garden State Parkway • Bloomfield Cemetery • Benson Street station site ==See also==

New Jersey Meadowlands with landfill.jpg|Kearny Meadows West Arlington Station site.JPG|West Arlington station site KearnyRiverbankParkboathouse.JPG|WR Draw over Riverbank Park, Passaic River, and McCarter Highway North Newark sta NY&GL platform cloudy jeh.jpg|Broadway North Newark Benson Street Station - February 2015.jpg|Benson Street station site Rowe Street Station.jpg|ROW at Rowe Street station site == References ==