Later extensions and corporate acquisitions carried the Lehigh Valley main line to Buffalo, New York to the west and Perth Amboy, New Jersey to the east.

The New Jersey section from Manville to Newark was spun off into Conrail Shared Assets Operations Lehigh Line, allowing for equal competition between Norfolk Southern and CSX.

In 1875, the LV financed the addition of a third track to the Erie Railroad main line so that cars could roll directly from colliery to the port at Buffalo.

[19] LVRR subsidiary, the Lehigh Valley Railway, began constructing the main line's northern part from Buffalo to Lancaster, New York in 1883, a total distance of ten miles.

Through neglect, the Reading allowed the charter to lapse and it was acquired by the LV, which immediately constructed the Schuylkill and Lehigh Valley Railroad and connected it with the mainline.

In 1895, the LV constructed the Greenville and Hudson Railway parallel with the National Docks in order to relieve congestion and have a wholly owned route into Jersey City.

Following the completion of its terminals at Buffalo and Jersey City, and the establishment of a trunk line across the New York stateline, the LV entered a period of turmoil in the 1890s with the company being entangled in business dealings.

Its bankruptcy resulted in economic chaos, bringing on the financial panic of 1893 and forcing the LV to break the lease and resume its own operations, leaving it unable to pay dividends on its stock until 1904.

[24] In 1897, in dire need of support, banking giant J. P. Morgan stepped in to refinance the LV debt, and obtained control of the railroad in the process.

In 1941, the Pennsylvania placed its shares in a voting trust after reaching an agreement with the New York Central regarding the PRR's purchase of the Wabash.

The interstate highways helped the trucking industry offer door-to-door service, and the St. Lawrence Seaway allowed grain shipments to bypass the railways and go directly to overseas markets.

The two railroads had entered a shared trackage agreement in this area in 1965 to reduce costs, as both had parallel routes from Wilkes-Barre virtually all the way to New York, often on adjoining grades through Pennsylvania.

[33] The "3R Act," as it was called, provided interim funding to the bankrupt railroads and defined a new "Consolidated Rail Corporation" under the AAR's plan.

Conrail's other primary line headed into the New York City metro area was the River Subdivision which travels from the North Bergen Yard located in North Bergen, New Jersey to Selkirk Yard located in the Selkirk section of Bethlehem, New York; the River Subdivision is now owned by CSX Transportation, a railroad that is owned by the CSX Corporation.

In ensuing years, the Central Railroad of New Jersey would run a prestige express passenger service from New York City and Philadelphia, connecting in Easton, to Buffalo, New York and points west in the Great Lakes region, where it competed with the Lehigh Valley Railroad head to head, with parallel tracks sometimes on the same bank or often on the opposite shore of the Susquehanna River.

The Lehigh Division was operated as a major freight low grade rail line and continued as part of Conrail until 1996.

Norfolk Southern and CSX finally struck a compromise and agreed to jointly acquire Conrail and split most of its system and assets between them, with Norfolk Southern acquiring a larger portion of the Conrail network via a larger stock buyout; this returned rail freight competition to the Northeast, and was essentially mandated by the Federal STB.

Conrail ended operations on May 31, 1999, and its lines were finally split between the two remaining Class I railroads in the East, Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation.

With Norfolk Southern acquiring the line, the Lehigh Line wasn't eligible to keep all of its current route and lost its route from CP Port Reading in Manville, New Jersey to the Oak Island Yard in Newark, New Jersey in order for both Norfolk Southern and CSX to have equal competition in the Northeast.

Prior to the acquisition, it had acquired trackage rights over the D&H in New York and Pennsylvania from CP to access its own Lehigh Line.

There is a possibility for passenger rail service to connect the Lehigh Valley area with New York City to eliminate some of the bus traffic.

Norfolk Southern Railway's primary hump classification yards are located in Allentown,[43] and the city is also served by the R.J. Corman Railroad Group.

[46] The LV rail lines ran from Allentown to Mauch Chunk, primarily along the west side of the Lehigh River.

[47] The CNJ tracks ran along the east side of the Lehigh from Mauch Chunk, then crossed the river where American Parkway now ends and turns onto North Dauphin Street.

[49] After the end of passenger rail service to Allentown, both the Lehigh Valley and Jersey Central stations were closed and abandoned.

The renovated property went through several owners (Depot Restaurant, Gingerbread Man, B&G Station, Jillian's Billiard Cafe) over the next two decades, lastly being called Banana Joe's which opened on Labor Day, 2001.

The service was popular with riders, However, it ended as rapidly as it began in 1979 due to poor trackage and loss of the operating subsidy from PennDOT.

[53] In 2010, a commissioned report studied the extension of passenger train service from Phillipsburg, New Jersey into Pennsylvania with stations in Easton, Bethlehem, and Allentown.

The proposed rail route would use the Lehigh Line in Easton and Bethlehem and the RJ Corman right-of-way (Lehighton Industrial Track) in Allentown.

[54] Today the only rail service now operating into downtown Allentown is a single-track short haul line that runs on the old LV tracks, terminating at American Parkway and Gordon Streets.