Staten Island Railway

The Staten Island Railway was founded in 1851 as a way to connect the island to Cornelius Vanderbilt’s ferry to Manhattan. It was expanded in the 1880s with a North Shore Branch which connected the island to New Jersey and a South Beach Branch which ran past Fort Wadsworth to the beaches on the islands southeastern shore. The railroad served both passenger and freight traffic. In the 1920s the railroad was electrified in anticipation of a connection to the subway in Brooklyn but the tunnel was never built. After World War II ridership dropped as more residents chose to drive or take cheaper buses over the new bridges to New Jersey. Service on the North Shore and South Beach Branches was ended in 1953, though the North Shore Branch was (and still partially is) still used for freight. Plans have been floated to reactive the North Shore Branch as rail or bus rapid transit but so far nothing has been done.

This poster shows the existing Main Line and two former branches, the North Shore Branch to Port Ivory and the South Beach Branch to Wentworth Ave.

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