Conrail, a United States railroad, was one of the largest freight carriers in the nation. It operated about 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) of rail routes in 14 Eastern and Midwestern states, the District of Columbia, and the Canadian province of Quebec. The name Conrail stands for Consolidated Rail Corporation.
Congress provided for the organization of Conrail through the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973. The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 authorized Conrail to take over the operations of the bankrupt Penn Central Transportation Company and five other bankrupt railroads. These railroads included the Erie Lackawanna, Reading, and Lehigh Valley. The Penn Central had been formed in 1968 by the merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads. Conrail was technically a private corporation. But the U.S. government provided loans and loan guarantees to Conrail and named a majority of its directors.
The Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981 gave Conrail greater flexibility to eliminate unprofitable routes and improve worker productivity. Under the act, the federal government acquired nearly all the company’s stock. In 1987, the United States government sold all its Conrail stock to private investors. In 1998, the government approved the division of Conrail’s assets between two other railroads—CSX and Norfolk Southern. These railroads absorbed most of Conrail’s assets, but they still operate Conrail jointly as a local rail freight company serving New Jersey, Detroit, and Philadelphia.
