The Erie-Lackawanna Railroad stretched from New York City to Chicago, with thousands of miles of both passenger and freight service. It was formed by a merger between the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (DL&W) Railroad in the 1960s.
The Erie-Lackawanna tracks run largely parallel to the Chemung River and the NY State Thruway east of Corning. The tracks ran directly through Big Flats, Elmira, Corning, and Chemung, mostly built on the towpath of an abandoned feeder canal of the Chemung Canal.
All along the route, flood damage to the embankments and the tracks was severe in 1972. In total, Erie-Lackawanna reported the loss of 395 miles of tracks. The damage was estimated at $9.2 million (equivalent to $63.6 million in 2022). The company declared bankruptcy on June 26, 1972, the Monday after the flood.
Consolidated Rail Corporation (known as Conrail) bought out the eastern portion of the Erie-Lackawanna rails in the 1970s.