The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Railroad's Piermont Branch terminus in Piermont, New York, directly to Erie's primary terminal in Jersey City, initially Exchange Place, later Pavonia Terminal.

The Northern Running Track is an approximately two-mile-long freight railroad line in Hudson County, New Jersey.

The Northern Branch Corridor Project is a NJ Transit proposal to restore passenger service on the line as an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail from the current Tonnelle Avenue terminus in North Bergen to Englewood.

Sometime in the 1860s the Northern began running service westward from Sparkill on the Erie's Piermont Branch as far as Monsey, New York.

[2] For five miles in Hudson County, Croxton to Granton, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway ran parallel to the Northern Railroad.

[2][4] The Northern Railroad was mainly a commuter and local line, with significant freight business only near its southern end.

This provided the Northern Branch with a direct connection to other lines heading west and south at Marion Junction.

CSX was given the remaining section north to Northvale, in addition to the West Shore Railroad running through the yard, known as the Bergen Subdivision of the River Line.

At that time, the Northern Running Track was improved to handle the heavier traffic that had formerly used the River Line on the east side of the New Jersey Palisades.

North of there, the line passes under the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, now part of New Jersey Transit's Hoboken Division in the middle of West End Junction.

[13] The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway begins at the Land Bridge Terminal, just north of Secaucus Road, and parallels the Northern Running Track, just to the west, all the way to its end.

[14] The Northern Running Track ends at North Bergen Yard, at what has been called Granton Junction, and is now CP 2.

Beginning at CP 2, the CSX-owned Northern Branch is a lightly used freight spur that passes through eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, terminating at the state line in Northvale.

There are proposals to use the right-of-way north of Englewood, New Jersey the state line as a rail trail connecting to the Hudson River Valley Greenway.

[15] New Jersey Transit plans to restore passenger service over a portion of the CSX line between North Bergen and Englewood as an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail from Tonnelle Avenue, known as the Northern Branch Corridor Project.