The Vermont Valley Railroad (reporting mark VV) was a 20.8-mile (33.5 km) line now called the Connecticut River Line. In 1988, the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered the Boston and Maine (B & M) to sell it to Amtrak, with trackage rights staying with the B & M. Amtrak was allowed to sell it to the Central Vermont Railway, part of the Canadian National Railway. The CV obtained the line on September 9. The sale was made because the track condition was not suitable for running Amtrak's Montrealer passenger trains, and Amtrak had to discontinue service on April 5, 1987. Service resumed in July 1989 after Amtrak paid the CV to upgrade the line. [1]
The companies were unable to agree on a permanent trackage rights agreement, and in 1990, the ICC imposed terms, in which the B&M could serve all "existing shippers and shippers' facilities" located on the line and in operation during the 12 months prior to the sale to the CV. The New England Central Railroad acquired the line from the CV in 1994, and the Springfield Terminal Railway has since acquired the trackage rights assigned to the B&M. [2]