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Connecticut River Line
The historic Union Station building in Northampton, Massachusetts, and the current station platform
Overview
OwnerMassDOT
LocaleWestern Massachusetts
Termini
Stations4
Service
TypeRegional rail
Freight rail
SystemAmtrak
Pan Am Southern
Services     Vermonter
     Valley Flyer
Technical
Line length50 mi (80 km)
Number of tracks1-2
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed79 mph (127 km/h)
Route map

Legend
mi
New England Central Railroad
VT
MA
Patriot Corridor
Greenfield
40
Deerfield River
East Deerfield Yard
Northampton
21
Holyoke
10
Connecticut River
Springfield
Berkshire Subdivision
00
 
New Haven–Springfield Line
This diagram:

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

Freight rail service along the line is operated by Berkshire and Eastern Railroad, and passenger rail service is operated by Amtrak. The line is dispatched and operated on behalf of MassDOT by the Berkshire and Eastern Railroad, a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming.[citation needed]

History

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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 retained an exclusive common carrier freight easement over the line and continued to maintain and dispatch the line under a contract with MassDOT. The Berkshire and Eastern Railroad took over Pan Am's operations on the line in September 2023.

Decline of service

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Several local trains were dropped during systemwide cuts on May 18, 1958.[3] Most local service ended on June 14, 1959; stops at Brightwood, Riverside, Mount Tom, Whately, and Deerfield were dropped. Local passengers were allowed to use the four daily through trains for service to Holyoke, Northampton, South Deerfield, and Greenfield; limited Friday and Sunday service to serve college students was also retained.[4][5][6] The Springfield–Greenfield sections of two daily through trains were dropped on April 29, 1962, leaving just two daily round trips – the Montrealer/Washingtonian and Ambassador.[7] Those trains were cut on September 6, 1966, ending through passenger service over the line.[8] Limited local service (one southbound Friday trip, and two Sunday round trips) between Springfield and Brattleboro lasted until later that year.[1][9]

In 1972, Amtrak began running the Montrealer along the line at night, stopping at Northampton but not Holyoke or Greenfield.[10] 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

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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 of 2009 money and $10 million in state funds.[11][12] 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.[13]

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.[14]

Commuter rail service has been proposed for the corridor, running between Springfield and Greenfield with four daily round trips.[15] A 2014 state transportation funding bill included $30 million for acquiring used MBTA Commuter Rail rolling stock and new locomotives for the service.[16] On August 20, 2014, the state finalized a $17 million deal to purchase the line from Pan Am Southern.[17]

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.[14][18] 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.[19] In June 2018, Governor Charlie Baker announced that two Amtrak Shuttle round trips would be extended to Greenfield in 2019 as a pilot program.[20] The service began August 31, 2019, and is operated under the Valley Flyer moniker.

In October 2022, MassDOT and Amtrak announced that the Valley Flyer service had matched projected ridership and would be made permanent.[21]

Stations

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All stations are located in Massachusetts.

Milepost (km) Station Location Current station
opened[22] 		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
CT Rail: 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

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References

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  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ "Drastic Service Cuts Approved on Five B.& M. Divisions". Daily Boston Globe. April 19, 1958. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ "List of Trains, Stations B. & M. Would Abandon". Boston Globe. December 6, 1958. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Train Cuts Due June 12". Brattleboro Reformer. May 14, 1959. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Cities, Towns, Labor Officials Protest State O.K. of B&M Cutbacks". Boston Globe. May 13, 1959. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "2 More B&M Trains To Be Dropped 29th". North Adams Transcript. April 18, 1962. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Passenger Service Ended". The Gazette. September 6, 1966. p. 33 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES". Boston Globe. September 30, 1966. p. 43 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Amtrak (October 26, 1986). "Amtrak National Train Timetables". Museum of Railway Timetables. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  11. ^ Merzbach, Scott (February 16, 2014). "Pioneer Valley Business 2014: Development hopes ride on expanded rail". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Northampton, Massachusetts. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ "Amtrak Vermonter makes inaugural run on Knowledge Corridor". RT&S. Simmons-Boardman Publishing Inc. December 23, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Cain, Chad (July 9, 2014). "Amtrak crews hard at work upgrading tracks". The Recorder. Greenfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  15. ^ Fritz, Anita (February 4, 2014). "Train platform will have access from Olive Street, transportation center". The Recorder. Greenfield, Massachusetts. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  16. ^ "Session Laws: Chapter 79 of the Acts of 2014". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. April 18, 2014. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
  17. ^ Jessen, Klark. "Governor Patrick Announces Knowledge Corridor Rail Line Purchase". MassDOT Blog. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  18. ^ "MassDOT Offers Update on Amtrak Train Through Northampton". ABC40. June 18, 2014. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ Tuthill, Paul (June 12, 2018). "Commuter Trains To Run North Of Springfield Starting In 2019". WAMC. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  21. ^ "Massachusetts and Amtrak Officials Announce Valley Flyer Passenger Service Will Become Permanent" (Press release). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. October 28, 2022.
  22. ^ "Building Great American Stations". Amtrak. Retrieved September 21, 2019.

Further reading

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