United States ," the joining of the tracks of the
CPRR and
UPRR grades at
Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, Andrew J. Russell's "East and West Shaking Hands at Laying of Last Rail." May 10, 1869. A
transcontinental railroad in the United States is any continuous rail line connecting a location on the U.S. Pacific coast with one or more of the railroads of the nation's eastern trunk line rail systems operating between the
Missouri or
Mississippi Rivers and the U.S. Atlantic coast. The first concrete plan for a transcontinental railroad in the United States was presented to Congress by
Asa Whitney in 1845. A series of transcontinental railroads built over the last third of the 19th century created a nationwide transportation network that united the country by rail. The first of these, the
"Pacific Railroad", was built by the
Central Pacific Railroad and
Union Pacific Railroad, as well as the
Western Pacific Railroad (1862–1870), to link the San Francisco Bay at
Alameda, California, with the nation's existing eastern railroad network at
Omaha, Nebraska/
Council Bluffs, Iowa—thereby creating the world's second transcontinental railroad when it was completed from Omaha to Alameda on September 6, 1869. Its construction was made possible by the US government under
Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862, 1864, and 1867. Its original course was very close to current
Interstate 80. The first transcontinental railroad was the much shorter
Panama Railroad of 1855, now part of the country of
Panama.
Transcontinental railroad " at
Promontory, Utah in 1869. The United States'
first transcontinental railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at
Council Bluffs, Iowa, with the Pacific coast at the
Oakland Long Wharf on
San Francisco Bay. Its construction was considered to be one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century. Known as the "Pacific Railroad" when it opened, it served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel and opened up vast regions of the North American heartland for settlement. Much of the original route, especially on the Sierra grade west of Reno, Nevada, is currently used by Amtrak's
California Zephyr, although many parts have been rerouted. The resulting coast-to-coast railroad connection revolutionized the settlement and economy of the
American West. It brought the western states and territories into alignment with the northern Union states and made transporting passengers and goods coast-to-coast considerably quicker, safer and less expensive. It replaced most of the far slower and more hazardous
stagecoach lines and
wagon trains. The number of emigrants taking the
Oregon and
California Trails declined dramatically. The sale of the railroad land grant lands and the transport provided for timber and crops led to the rapid settling of the "Great American Desert". The Union Pacific recruited laborers from Army veterans and
Irish immigrants, while most of the engineers were ex-Army men who had learned their trade keeping the trains running during the
American Civil War. The Central Pacific Railroad faced a labor shortage in the more sparsely settled West. It recruited
Cantonese laborers in China, who built the line over and through the
Sierra Nevada mountains and then across
Nevada to their meeting in
northern Utah. Chinese workers made up ninety percent of the workforce on the line. The
Chinese Labor Strike of 1867 was peaceful, with no violence, organized across the entire Sierra Nevada route, and was carried out according to a peaceful Confucian model of protest. The strike began with the
Summer Solstice in June, 1867 and lasted for eight days. many sought steady wages on the "Iron Road." At the height of construction, Chinese workers comprised up to 90% of the Central Pacific's workforce, totaling roughly 12,000 to 15,000 individuals. They were assigned the most hazardous tasks, including carving tunnels through the Sierra Nevada and working through high-altitude winters. Despite their vital role, they were paid significantly less than white workers. They averaged $27 to $30 per month compared to the $35 or more paid to white laborers. Furthermore, they were required to pay for their own food and lodging. However, the economic downturn following the Panic of 1873 shifted political rhetoric. Chinese workers were increasingly scapegoated by white labor groups, leading to a series of restrictive laws. The transition from reliance to exclusion was marked by the Page Act of 1875, which restricted the entry of Chinese women, and culminated in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This landmark legislation prohibited further immigration of Chinese laborers and barred them from attaining U.S. citizenship. Further restrictions followed with the Geary Act of 1892, which required Chinese residents to carry internal passports and denied them legal protections like bail in habeas corpus proceedings.
Land grants The Transcontinental Railroad required land and a complex federal policy for purchasing, granting, conveying land. Some of these land-related acts included: • One motive for the
Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico in 1853 was to obtain suitable terrain for a southern transcontinental railroad, as the southern portion of the
Mexican Cession was too mountainous. The
Southern Pacific Railroad was completed in 1881. • The
Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 (based on an earlier bill in 1856) authorized land grants for new lines that would "aid in the construction of a railroad and
telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean". • The rails of the "
first transcontinental railroad" were joined on May 10, 1869, with the ceremonial driving of the "
Last Spike" at
Promontory Summit, Utah, after track was laid over a gap between
Sacramento and
Omaha, Nebraska/
Council Bluffs, Iowa in six years by the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad. Although through train service between Omaha and Sacramento was in operation as of that date, the road was not completed to the Pacific Ocean until September 6, 1869, when the first through train reached San Francisco Bay at
Alameda Terminal, and on November 8, 1869, when it reached the terminus at
Oakland Long Wharf. Later, November 6, 1869, was deemed to be the official completion date of the Pacific Railroad. (A physical connection between Omaha, Nebraska, and the
statutory Eastern terminus of the Pacific road at Council Bluffs, Iowa, located immediately across the
Missouri River was also not finally established until the opening of UPRR railroad bridge across the river on March 25, 1873, prior to which transfers were made by ferry operated by the
Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company.) • The first permanent, continuous line of railroad track from coast to coast was completed 15 months later on August 15, 1870, by the
Kansas Pacific Railroad near its
crossing of Comanche Creek at
Strasburg, Colorado. This route connected to the eastern rail network via the
Hannibal Bridge across the Missouri River at
Kansas City completed June 30, 1869, passed through
Denver, Colorado, and north to the Union Pacific Railroad at
Cheyenne, Wyoming, making it theoretically possible for the first time to board a train at
Jersey City, New Jersey, travel entirely by rail, and step down at the Alameda Wharf on
San Francisco Bay in Oakland. This singularity existed until March 25, 1873, when the Union Pacific constructed the Missouri River Bridge in Omaha.
Subsequent transcontinental routes • Almost 12 years after
Promontory Summit, the
Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) constructed the second transcontinental railroad, building eastwards through the
Gadsden Purchase, which had been acquired from Mexico in 1854 largely with the intention of providing a route for a railroad connecting California with the Southern states. This line was completed with milestones and ceremonies in 1881 and 1883: • March 8, 1881: the SP met the Rio Grande, Mexico and Pacific Railroad (a subsidiary of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) with a "silver spike" ceremony at
Deming, New Mexico, connecting
Atchison, Kansas, to Los Angeles. • December 15, 1881: the SP met the
Texas and Pacific Railway (T&P) at
Sierra Blanca, Texas, connecting eastern Texas to
Los Angeles. • January 12, 1883: the SP completed its own southern section, meeting its subsidiary
Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway at the Pecos River in Texas, and linking
New Orleans to Los Angeles. • In
Colorado, the
3-foot gauge Denver & Rio Grande (D&RG) extended its route from
Denver via
Pueblo across the
Rocky Mountains to
Grand Junction in 1882. In central
Utah, the D&RG acquired a number of independent
narrow gauge companies, which were incorporated into the first (1881–1889)
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway (D&RGW). Tracks were extended north through
Salt Lake City, while simultaneously building south and eastward toward Grand Junction. The D&RG and the D&RGW were linked on March 30, 1883, the extension to
Ogden (where it met the Central Pacific) was completed on May 14, 1883, and through traffic between Denver and Ogden began a few days later. The
break of gauge made direct interchange of
rolling stock with
standard gauge railroads at both ends of this
bridge line impossible for several years. The D&RG in 1887 began rebuilding its mainline in standard gauge, including a new route and tunnel at
Tennessee Pass. The first D&RGW was reincorporated as the
Rio Grande Western (RGW) in June 1889 and immediately began the conversion of track gauge. Standard gauge operations linking Ogden and Denver were completed on November 15, 1890. • The
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad completed its route connecting the AT&SF at
Albuquerque, New Mexico, via
Flagstaff, Arizona, to the Southern Pacific at
Needles, California, on August 9, 1883. The SP line into
Barstow was leased by the A&P in 1884 (and purchased in 1911); this gave the AT&SF (the A&P's parent company) a direct route into Southern California. • The
California Southern Railroad (chartered January 10, 1882) was completed from
National City on
San Diego Bay via Temecula Cañon to Colton and
San Bernardino in September, 1883, and extended through the Cajon Pass to Barstow, a junction of the
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, in November, 1885. In September, 1885, the line of the Southern Pacific from Colton to Los Angeles, a distance of , had been leased by the California Central with equal rights and privileges thus allowing the Santa Fe's Transcontinental route to be completed by the connection with the California Southern and A&PRR. The SP grade was used until the completion of the California Central's own line between San Bernardino and Los Angeles in June, 1887, a distance of , which was part of the old Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad, which had been acquired by purchase. In August, 1888, the California Central completed its Coast Division south from Los Angeles to a junction with the California Southern Railroad near Oceanside, a distance of , and these two divisions formed the main line of the California Central, forming, in connection with the California Southern, a direct line between Southern California and the East by way of the Atlantic and Pacific and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroads. • The
Great Northern Railway was built without federal aid by
James J. Hill, who bought up smaller railways and consolidated them into the Great Northern. It was completed in June, 1893, and stretched from
St. Paul to
Seattle. • The
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific reached
Santa Rosa, New Mexico, from the east in late 1901, shortly before the
El Paso & Northeastern arrived from the southwest. The two were connected on February 1, 1902, thus forming an additional link between the Midwest and southern California. Through passenger service was provided by the
Golden State Limited (Chicago–Kansas City–Tucumcari–El Paso–Los Angeles) jointly operated by the Rock Island and the Southern Pacific (EP&NE's successor) from 1902 to 1968. • The
San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad completed its line connecting Los Angeles through
Las Vegas to Salt Lake City on May 1, 1905. Through passenger service from Chicago to Los Angeles was provided by Union Pacific's
Los Angeles Limited from 1905 to 1954, and the
City of Los Angeles from 1936 to 1971. • The
Western Pacific Railway (WP), financed by the Denver & Rio Grande on behalf of the
Gould System, completed its new line (the
Feather River Route) from Oakland to Ogden in 1909, in direct competition with the Southern Pacific's existing route. Through passenger service (Oakland–Salt Lake City–Denver–Chicago) was provided by the
Exposition Flyer 1939 to 1949 and its successor, the
California Zephyr 1949 to 1970, both jointly operated by the WP, the
D&RGW and the
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. • In 1909, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul (or
Milwaukee Road) completed a privately built Pacific extension to Seattle. On completion, the line was renamed the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific. Although the Pacific Extension was privately funded, predecessor roads did benefit from the
federal land grant act, so it cannot be said to have been built without federal aid. •
John D. Spreckels completed his privately funded
San Diego and Arizona Railway in 1919, thereby creating a direct link (via connection with the Southern Pacific lines) between
San Diego, California and the
Eastern United States. The railroad stretched from San Diego to
Calexico, California, of which were south of the border in
Mexico. • In 1993,
Amtrak's
Sunset Limited daily railroad train was extended eastward to
Miami, Florida, later rerouted to
Orlando, making it the first regularly scheduled transcontinental
passenger train route in the United States to be operated by a single company.
Hurricane Katrina cut this rail route in
Louisiana in 2005. The train now runs from Los Angeles to New Orleans. • For a time in 1997 and 1998, Amtrak effectively operated the Washington–Chicago
Capitol Limited and Chicago–Los Angeles
Southwest Chief as a single train.
The Gould system George J. Gould attempted to assemble a truly transcontinental system in the 1900s. The line from
San Francisco, California, to
Toledo, Ohio, was completed in 1909, consisting of the
Western Pacific Railway,
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad,
Missouri Pacific Railroad, and
Wabash Railroad. Beyond Toledo, the planned route would have used the
Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad (1900),
Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway,
Little Kanawha Railroad,
West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railway,
Western Maryland Railroad, and
Philadelphia and Western Railway, but the
Panic of 1907 strangled the plans before the Little Kanawha section in
West Virginia could be finished. The
Alphabet Route was completed in 1931, providing the portion of this line east of the
Mississippi River. With the merging of the railroads, only the Union Pacific Railroad and the
BNSF Railway remain to carry the entire route.
Canada driving the
Last Spike of
Canada's first transcontinental railway, the
Canadian Pacific Railway, in 1885 The completion of Canada's first transcontinental railway with the driving of the
Last Spike at
Craigellachie, British Columbia, on November 7, 1885, was an important milestone in
Canadian history. Between 1881 and 1885, the
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed a line that spanned from the port of Montreal to the Pacific coast, fulfilling a condition of
British Columbia's 1871 entry into the
Canadian Confederation. The City of
Vancouver, incorporated in 1886, was designated the western terminus of the line. The CPR became the first transcontinental railway company in North America in 1889 after its
International Railway of Maine opened, connecting CPR to the Atlantic coast. The construction of a transcontinental railway strengthened the connection of British Columbia and the
North-West Territories to the country they had recently joined, and acted as a bulwark against potential incursions by the United States. Subsequently, two other transcontinental lines were built in Canada: the
Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) opened another line to the Pacific in 1915, and the combined
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR)/
National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) system opened in 1917 following the completion of the
Quebec Bridge, although its line to the Pacific opened in 1914. The CNoR, GTPR, and NTR were
nationalized to form the
Canadian National Railway, which currently is now Canada's largest transcontinental railway, with lines running all the way from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast. ==South and Central America==