System Amtrak
Pan Am Railways Stations 3 | Locale Western Massachusetts | |
 | ||
Type Regional rail
Freight rail Termini Springfield, Massachusetts
East Northfield, Massachusetts Services Vermonter (December 29, 2014)
Commuter rail service (proposed) | ||
The Connecticut River Line (colloquially known as the Conn River Line) is a railroad line owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) between Springfield and East Northfield, Massachusetts. Freight rail service along the line is operated by Pan Am Railways, and passenger rail service is operated by Amtrak.
Contents
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. During this time, MassDOT purchased the line from Pan Am Railways. Amtrak's Vermonter was rerouted to the Conn River Line on December 29, 2014, with stops at Greenfield, Northampton, and later Holyoke.
Local commuter service is proposed to be added later, using either extended Amtrak Shuttle trains, Hartford Line trains, or surplus MBTA Commuter Rail equipment.
History
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. In 1983 the line became part of Guilford Rail System (which later became Pan Am Railways.) Pan Am Railways sold the line to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation in late 2014.
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. In 1972, Amtrak began running the Montrealer, which ran along the line at night, stopping at Northampton but not Holyoke or Greenfield. 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 Conn 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.
Freight service along the Conn 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 serve the populated Connecticut River Valley, the Conn River Line is being rebuilt with $73 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money and $10 million in state funds. 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 will continue through 2016.
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.
The Vermonter was rerouted to the line on December 29, 2014, stopping at Northampton and Greenfield. New handicapped-accessible platforms have been built at both of these stations. A station stop in Holyoke was added in the summer of 2015.
Commuter rail service has been proposed for the corridor, running between Springfield and Greenfield with four daily round trips. A 2014 state transportation funding bill included $30 million for acquiring used MBTA Commuter Rail rolling stock and new locomotives for the service. On August 20, 2014, the state finalized a $17 million deal to purchase the line from Pan Am. In February 2016, Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack said that MassDOT was looking at starting a pilot commuter service as early as 2017.