[5]: 7  To this end the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Company (SIRTR) was organized on March 25, 1880[6]: 569  and incorporated on April 14, 1880.

Wiman's initial proposal was to have the B&O obtain trackage rights over the Jersey Central to Elizabeth, and run over a new line he would build that would cross the Arthur Kill and connect to his North Shore Branch on Staten Island to provide access to St. George.

[12] As part of the deal, the B&O also acquired the ferries owned by the SIRTR, the dock facilities it contracted from, over 150 acres of land, and approximately 2 miles of deep port water front.

The funds also helped pay for the construction of a bridge over the Kill Van Kull, the acquisition of 2 miles (3.2 km) of waterfront property, and for terminal facilities at St.

In a statement issued on November 21, Garrett said that the B&O had to find its own New York terminal facilities since the Jersey Central had refused to accept a traffic agreement offered by the B&O through the Philadelphia and Reading Railway in summer 1884.

"[16][21] $1,500,000 of real estate on Staten Island changed ownership in the previous two weeks at increasing prices as a result of insider knowledge of the deal.

On November 30, 1885, a certificate of incorporation was filed with the New Jersey secretary of state's office for the Roselle and South Plainfield Railway Company.

The railroad, which would be 9.7 miles (15.6 km) long, running from Roselle to a point near Easton and Amboy Road near South Plainfield, was initially suspected to be an attempt to kill the B&O's proposed line.

They went on to say that the Jersey Central had not agreed to the traffic agreement offered in summer 1884 as the railroad was suing to annul its lease by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway.

[26] While the B&O claimed that a bill passed in the previous winter meant that New Jersey had already authorized the construction of the Arthur Kill Bridge, Congressman William Walter Phelps denied that this was the case.

[27] In early December 1885, a group of surveyors tested the bottom of the Arthur Kill opposite the southern portion of Elizabeth to determine a workable location for the bridge.

[29] The bill to authorize the construction of the Arthur Kill Bridge was introduced in the House by Perry Belmont and in the Senate by Warner Miller.

[32] Construction of the North Shore Branch began on March 17, 1884,[1]: 230 [33][34] was completed in 1885 and opened for service on February 23, 1886, with trains terminating at Elm Park.

[36]: 6  In 1889–1890, a station was built at the South Avenue grade crossing at Arlington as the tracks were extended to the Arthur Kill Bridge.

The accepted plan consisted of a 5.25 miles (8.45 km)-long section from the Arthur Kill to meet the Jersey Central Railroad at Cranford, through Roselle and Linden in Union County.

It was expected that the line from Bound Brook to Newark could be constructed in a short time period given that no major streams would need to be crossed and since the ground is fairly level.

[42] On June 25, 1887, New Jersey obtained an injunction against the Baltimore & New York Railway to prevent them from continuing work on the Arthur Kill Bridge.

A Pennsylvania Railroad representative said that it claimed the right to use the Arthur Kill Bridge, and thus planned to extend the Belt Line a mile from Erastina to Howland's Hook.

The Pennsylvania also planned to institute a new ferry service between Howland's Hook and Elizabethport, providing a connection independent of the bridge.

Engineers were in the process of surveying this route, and B&O officials completed a thorough investigation of the proposed New York Harbor terminals on Staten Island, determining that they would add substantial additional property to the waterfront already owned by the SIRTR.

Work on the connecting structure between the bridge and the North Shore Branch on Staten Island was expected to be finished by October 1, 1888.

[5]: 8 [46] After three years of effort by Wiman, Congress passed a law on June 16, 1886, authorizing the construction of a 500-foot (150 m) swing bridge over the Arthur Kill.

[3]: 37 [46] The SIRT operated four trains every day, except for Sunday, with direct connections with the B&O's Royal Blue service between New York City and Washington, D.C. at Plainfield.

[57] Freight and World War II traffic helped pay off some of the debt the SIRT had accumulated, briefly making it profitable.

The Baltimore & New York Railway line become extremely busy, handling 742,000 troops, 100,000 prisoners-of-war, and war material operating over this stretch to reach their destinations.

The B&O and C&O became isolated from their other properties in New Jersey and Staten Island, with the creation of Conrail on April 1, 1976, by merger of bankrupt lines in the northeast United States.

Only a few isolated industries on Staten Island were using rail service for freight, meaning that the yard at Saint George was essentially abandoned.

[5][62] The Susquehanna then embargoed the track east of Elm Park on the North Shore Branch, ending rail freight traffic to Saint George.

[61] During the early 2000s, plans for reopening the Staten Island Rapid Transit line in New Jersey were announced by the New York Port Authority.

[46] On December 15, 2004, a $72 million project to reactivate freight service on Staten Island and to repair the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge was announced by the NYCEDC and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.