Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Architecture
"Its Cargo Is People": Repositioning Commuter Rail As Public Transit To Save The New York–New Haven Line, 1960–1990, Seamus C. Joyce-Johnson
"Its Cargo Is People": Repositioning Commuter Rail As Public Transit To Save The New York–New Haven Line, 1960–1990, Seamus C. Joyce-Johnson
Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award
This essay explores the creation of the Metro-North Railroad in 1983 as a public agency to provide commuter train services on the New York–New Haven Line. The essay begins by bringing out the central role commuter rail services played in the negotiations over the New Haven Railroad’s bankruptcy in the 1960s. I argue that New Haven Line’s near liquidation during the bankruptcy prompted advocacy from commuters, urban planners, and politicians that pushed back against the trend towards automobile-centric urban transportation planning. In the next section, I use the New Haven Line’s subsequent operation in the 1970s under subsidy arrangements with …