History of the Empire Connection

[jis]

I found this very informative Blog on the building and commencement of service on the Empire Connection into Penn Station...

https://history.amtrak.com/blogs/blog/making-connections
Introduction of the planned Metro North Service and construction of a couple of planned suburban stations on it will be the next step in its evolution.

 

[neroden]

For much earlier history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Line

It was a passenger line when the Hudson River Railroad was formed in 1849, and was the route for all trains along the east shore of the Hudson river prior to 1871 when Vanderbilt rerouted them into GCT. The original passenger station was downtown, at Chambers St and Hudson St. There were stations all along it. The passenger stations mostly disappeared when the line was elevated in the 1930s.