History - Conrail

Brief History of Consolidated Rail CorporationRailroads were the country’s primary source of freight transportation prior to 1930. Between 1930 and 1960, railroads were detrimentally affected by the growth of air and truck transportation. In the east, railroads were financially harmed by the collapse of coal traffic in the 1960s as the country shifted to oil. As a result, between 1967 and 1972, six major northeastern railroads went bankrupt. To address the imminent collapse of freight and passenger traffic in the east as a result of the railroad bankruptcies, Congress passed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1974 (the “3R Act”). The 3R Act provided interim funding to the bankrupt railroads and created Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) as a government-funded private company. Under the Act, the United States Railway Association (USRA) prepared a Final System Plan, identifying the rail lines from the bankrupt railroads that would be transferred to Conrail. The Final System Pla...