Amtrak owns the trackage after that fork, the West Side Line. The corridor had been part of the main line of the New York Central Railroad; it was the eastern leg of the NYC's famed "Water Level Route" to Chicago. The corridor passed to Penn Central in 1968 upon the NYC's merger with the Pennsylvania Railroad, and passed to Conrail in 1976. In a series of purchases in the 1980s and 1990s, Amtrak bought the Bronx–Manhattan segment, Metro-North acquired the Poughkeepsie–Bronx segment, and CSX acquired the remainder when it split Conrail's assets with Norfolk Southern, in 1999. On October 18, 2011, Amtrak and CSX announced an agreement for Amtrak to lease, operate and maintain the CSX-owned trackage between Poughkeepsie and Schenectady. Amtrak officially assumed control of the line on December 1, 2012. Later, Amtrak bought the segment between Schenectady and Hoffmans from CSX. Current services The busiest segment of the Empire Corridor is between New York City and Albany with multiple trains per day. Amtrak The following trains operate along the varied segments of the corridor: Empire Service: local service along the entire corridor from New York City to . Most trains operate along the southern segment between New York and , with two trains in each direction continuing west to Niagara Falls daily. Maple Leaf: daily service from New York City to , operating on the entire corridor. Lake Shore Limited: daily service from New York City to , splitting from the corridor at . A section of this train splits-off at Albany–Rensselaer to serve Boston. Adirondack: daily service from New York City to , splitting from the corridor in Schenectady. Ethan Allen Express: daily service from New York City to , splitting from the corridor in Schenectady. Berkshire Flyer: weekly summer service between New York City and , reversing direction and splitting from the corridor at Albany–Rensselaer. Commuter rail Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, from Poughkeepsie, New York to Grand Central Terminal, New York, comprises the corridor between Poughkeepsie to south of Riverdale. Freight service Freight service is provided by CSX Transportation. Stations All stations are in the state of New York. See also New York high-speed rail High-speed rail in the United States West Side Line References External links Empire Corridor, New York State Department of Transportation Empire Corridor section of the Federal Railroad Administration website Rail infrastructure in New York (state) High-speed railway lines in the United