High Line at the West Side Rail Yards

Photo by Alex S. MacLean

About

The entire historic High Line structure runs between Gansevoort Street and West 34th Street. The section between West 30th and West 34th Streets is known as the High Line at the West Side Rail Yards.

Part of New York City’s industrial history, this iconic section of the High Line offers sweeping views of the Hudson River and the Midtown skyline. It also offers a glimpse at the wild landscape that grew up on the tracks when the trains stopped running. The last train ran on the High Line in 1980, carrying a trainload of frozen turkeys.

Photo by James Shaughnessy

The High Line wraps around the West Side Rail Yards, home to a working train yard used for storing Long Island Rail Road trains on their way to and from Penn Station. The West Side Rail Yards represents 26 acres, making it the largest undeveloped property in Manhattan.

The West Side Rail Yards are owned by the MTA, a New York State agency. The MTA has leased the development rights to the Related Companies, a private real estate development company that will build a platform over the yards, creating approximately 12 million square feet of commercial and residential space.

Photo by Joel Sternfeld.

While the Related Companies has indicated their support for preserving the High Line, there is no legal requirement that it do so. The development plans have shown that one portion of the High Line in particular, the spur over 10th Avenue, would be demolished. In fact the High Line at the West Side Rail Yards has not been secured for park use. It remains privately owned by a railroad company, CSX Transportation, Inc.

Please join Friends of the High Line in showing there is widespread support for the City of New York to acquire the High Line at the rail yards and to transform it into continuous public open space. To receive news updates about how to get involved, please sign up for our Email newsletter. To ask a question, please contact railyards@thehighline.org.

Support

Our rail yards advocacy and programming is generously supported by the LuEsther T. Mertz Advised Fund, The New York Community Trust, Greenacre Foundation, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties.