12 Facts About Empire Service

Empire Service is an Inter-city rail service operated by Amtrak within the state of New York in the United States.

Empire Service is one of four New York-based train routes that Amtrak operates with funding from the New York State Department of Transportation with the other three routes being the Adirondack, Maple Leaf, and Ethan Allen Express.

Today's Empire Service is the descendant of numerous routes dating to 1869, when Cornelius Vanderbilt merged his Hudson River Railroad with the New York Central Railroad, thus linking New York City with Albany.

Empire Service name was restored on June 11,1972, and individual names were added to the trains along the corridor on May 19,1974.

Empire Service was restored permanently on the old Water Level Route with the reintroduction of the old New York Central train, the Lake Shore Limited, on October 31,1975.

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All service along the Empire Corridor was consolidated under the Empire brand on October 28,1995.

From July 10 through September 1,2017, six Empire Service trains used Grand Central Terminal as part of Amtrak's work to make repairs at Penn Station.

All trains using the Empire Service Connection, excluding the Lake Shore Limited, again operated into Grand Central Terminal from May 26 to September 4,2018, to allow work on the Empire Service Tunnel, the Spuyten Duyvil movable bridge, and Track 19 in New York City's Penn Station.

Empire Service operates over CSX Transportation, Metro-North Railroad, and Amtrak trackage:.

Presently, the Empire Service usually operates with a single GE P32AC-DM locomotive, four to five Amfleet coaches, and a business class car.

The Empire Service utilizes dual-mode locomotives due to a longstanding ban on diesel operations in the Penn Station tunnels.

Empire Service has been a long-standing candidate for high-speed rail and electrification.