Connecticut River Line

The Connecticut River Line (colloquially known as the Conn River Line) is a railroad line owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), that serves the "Knowledge Corridor" between Springfield and East Northfield, Massachusetts.

Connecticut River Line
The historic Union Station building in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the current station platform
Overview
OwnerMassDOT
LocaleWestern Massachusetts
TerminiSpringfield, Massachusetts
East Northfield, Massachusetts
Stations4
Service
TypeRegional rail
Freight rail
SystemAmtrak
Pan Am Railways
Services     Vermonter
     Hartford Line (Valley Flyer)
Technical
Line length50 mi (80 km)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map
New England Central Railroad
VT
MA
Deerfield Branch
40 mi
64 km
 Greenfield
Deerfield River
East Deerfield Yard
21 mi
34 km
 Northampton
10 mi
16 km
 Holyoke
Connecticut River
0 mi
0 km
 Springfield
(Berkshire Subdivision)
New Haven–Springfield Line

Freight rail service along the line is operated by Pan Am Railways, and passenger rail service is operated by Amtrak. The line is dispatched and operated on behalf of MassDOT by Pan Am's operations subsidiary, Springfield Terminal Railway.

History
Greenfield station around 1900

The original line between Springfield and Northampton was built by the Northampton and Springfield Railroad (chartered in 1842) during the early 1840s. While the line was under construction, the rail company merged with another company building a line from Greenfield, Massachusetts, south to Northampton. The Connecticut River Railroad (CRRR) was then formed in 1845 by the merger of the Northampton and Springfield Railroad with the Greenfield and Northampton Railroad.

The line opened between Springfield and Northampton in 1845 and by the following summer was extended to Deerfield, and then to Greenfield in November 1846. In 1849, the line was extended further north to the Massachusetts-Vermont state line, where it met the Brattleboro line of the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad (which later became part of the Fitchburg Railroad).

The line became part of the Boston and Maine Corporation (B&M) in 1893 when the CRRR was acquired by the B&M.[1] In 1983 the line became part of Guilford Rail System (which later became Pan Am Railways).[2] Pan Am Railways sold the line to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation in late 2014, but retains an exclusive common carrier freight easement over the line and continues to maintain and dispatch the line under a contract with MassDOT.

Decline of service

Long-distance passenger service over the line ended in October 1966, with local service between Springfield and Brattleboro lasting until the end of the year.[1] In 1972, Amtrak began running the Montrealer along the line at night, stopping at Northampton but not Holyoke or Greenfield.[3] The Montrealer was discontinued in 1987 due to poor track conditions on the line.

Service resumed in 1989 after Amtrak seized control of the line in Vermont from the Boston and Maine Railroad, but the train was rerouted over the Central Vermont Railway through Massachusetts and Connecticut to avoid the still-dilapidated Connecticut River Line, because Guilford Rail System refused to improve poor track conditions. A stop was added at Amherst to replace Northampton. The Montrealer was replaced by the daytime Vermonter in 1995, using the original route through Connecticut but still avoiding the Conn River Line in Massachusetts.[1]

Freight service along the Connecticut River line has for many years been operated by Pan Am Railways. In recent years the line has been operated at FRA Class I levels, with freight trains limited to a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour (16 km/h). Due to these conditions, there are only a few remaining online customers. One of the largest potential customers, Yankee Candle, despite being on the other side of the road, receives wax shipments via truck from a competing railroad's depot further south.

Reconstruction and resumed service

In order to shorten travel times on the Vermonter and add additional local service to the populated Connecticut River Valley, the Connecticut River Line was rebuilt with $73 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money and $10 million in state funds.[4][5] The restoration work on the line included the replacement of about 95,000 ties; installation of 49 miles (79 km) of new continuously welded rail; new active warning signals and crossing gates at 23 public grade crossings and four private crossings; upgrades to six bridges; and the first phase of a new signal installation. Restoration work began in August 2012 and was scheduled to be completed in 2016.[6]

Platform work at Greenfield in December 2014

A 100-person Norfolk Southern Railway work crew began major track work on July 7, 2014, intending to complete the line's upgrade over the summer. The arrival of the NS crew allowed the Pan Am crews, who had previously started the track work, to focus on grade crossings and other work on the line.[7]

Commuter rail service has been proposed for the corridor, running between Springfield and Greenfield with four daily round trips.[8] A 2014 state transportation funding bill included $30 million for acquiring used MBTA Commuter Rail rolling stock and new locomotives for the service.[9] On August 20, 2014, the state finalized a $17 million deal to purchase the line from Pan Am.[10]

In 2014, following several years of planning and construction, the original mainline was restored to modern standards, with a maximum authorized speed of 79 miles per hour (127 km/h) for passenger trains on the long straight sections of track between Hatfield and Deerfield. The Vermonter was rerouted to the line on December 29, 2014, stopping at Northampton and Greenfield.[7][11] New handicapped-accessible platforms have been built at both of these stations. A station stop in Holyoke was added in the summer of 2015.

In February 2016, Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack said that MassDOT was looking at starting a pilot commuter service as early as 2017.[12] In June 2018, Governor Charlie Baker announced that two Amtrak Shuttle round trips would be extended to Greenfield in 2019 as a pilot program.[13] The service began August 31, 2019, and is operated under the Valley Flyer moniker.

Stations

All stations are located in Massachusetts.

Milepost (km) Station Location Current station
opened[14]		 Line services Connections
VF VT
0 mi (0 km) Springfield Union Station Springfield 1926 ●● Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited, Hartford Line (non-Valley Flyer service), Northeast Regional
CTrail: Hartford Line
Pioneer Valley Transit Authority: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11E, 12E, 14, 17, 20, 20E, 21, 21E, 92
10 mi (16 km) Holyoke Holyoke August 27, 2015 ●● Pioneer Valley Transit Authority: R24, R29, T24, X90
21 mi (34 km) Northampton Northampton December 29, 2014 ●● Pioneer Valley Transit Authority: B48, R41, R44
40 mi (64 km) John W. Olver Transit Center Greenfield December 29, 2014 ●● Franklin Regional Transit Authority: 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 41
Greyhound Lines

See also

References
  1. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 173–175. ISBN 0942147022.
  2. Drury, George H. (1992). The Train-Watcher's Guide to North American Railroads: A Contemporary Reference to the Major Railroads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 123–125. ISBN 0-89024-131-7.
  3. Amtrak (October 26, 1986). "Amtrak National Train Timetables". Museum of Railway Timetables. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  4. Merzbach, Scott (February 16, 2014). "Pioneer Valley Business 2014: Development hopes ride on expanded rail". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Northampton, Massachusetts. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  5. "Lieutenant Governor Murry, Congressman Olver and Congressman Neal Announce Construction Underway for ARRA-Funded Knowledge Corridor" (Press release). Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Official Website of the Governor of Massachusetts. August 27, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  6. "Amtrak Vermonter makes inaugural run on Knowledge Corridor". RT&S. Simmons-Boardman Publishing Inc. December 23, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  7. Cain, Chad (July 9, 2014). "Amtrak crews hard at work upgrading tracks". The Recorder. Greenfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  8. Fritz, Anita (February 4, 2014). "Train platform will have access from Olive Street, transportation center". The Recorder. Greenfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  9. "Session Laws: Chapter 79 of the Acts of 2014". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. April 18, 2014. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
  10. Jessen, Klark. "Governor Patrick Announces Knowledge Corridor Rail Line Purchase". MassDOT Blog. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  11. "MassDOT Offers Update on Amtrak Train Through Northampton". ABC40. June 18, 2014. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  12. Roback, Dave (February 3, 2016). "Commuter trains from Springfield to Holyoke, Northampton, Greenfield could begin next year, transportation secretary Stephanie Pollack says". MassLive. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  13. Tuthill, Paul (June 12, 2018). "Commuter Trains To Run North Of Springfield Starting In 2019". WAMC.
  14. "Building Great American Stations". Amtrak. Retrieved September 21, 2019.

Further reading
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