NEW HAVEN-SPRINGFIELD LINE

The 'New Haven-Springfield Line' or 'Hartford Line' is a railroad line owned by Amtrak from New Haven, Connecticut north to Springfield, Massachusetts. As a branch of the Northeast Corridor at New Haven, it is served by approximately seven daily ''Regional'' round trips, some continuing from New Haven to Washington, DC along the Corridor and others terminating at New Haven as shuttles. Until 2004, the line hosted several '''Inland Route''' ''Regional'' trains, which continued east from Springfield along the CSX Transportation (former Boston and Albany Railroad) line to Boston. It is also served by the daily Washington-St. Albans, Vermont ''Vermonter'', which heads east from Springfield and turns north at Palmer.

Contents

History

Station stops

Future Plans

References

History

The whole line was built by the Hartford and New Haven Railroad and began operations in 1849, forming the first all-rail route between New York and Boston, equivalent to the later ''Inland Route''. The Shore Line, today's Northeast Corridor, was completed in 1858, but the Springfield route continued to carry most traffic until the bridge at New London over the Thames River opened in 1889. The H&NH was merged into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1872, and the NYNH&H continued to operate regular service between New York City and Springfield over the line. Various services were also operated over the ''Inland Route'', starting July 1, 1911 by agreement of the NYNH&H and New York Central and Hudson River Railroad (lessee of the Boston and Albany Railroad). By the startup of Amtrak on May 1, 1971, the ''Inland Route'' was no longer in use, but frequent trains continued to serve the New Haven-Springfield Line.


On May 17, 1971, Amtrak added a train between Philadelphia and Boston via the ''Inland Route''. With the November 14, 1971 timetable this was assigned the name ''Bay State'', the numbers 140 (northbound) and 145 (southbound), and extended south from Philadelphia to Washington, DC. The train was discontinued March 1, 1975, though on October 31 of that year the Boston section of the ''Lake Shore Limited'' began, restoring Springfield-Boston service.
On April 1, 1976 Amtrak acquired the New Haven-Springfield Line from the newly-formed Conrail, along with most of the Northeast Corridor, the Keystone Corridor, and several other lines.
The final iteration of ''Inland Route'' service began with the November 10, 1996 timetable, with the extension of the daily ''Virginia Service'' train 85/86 to Boston via Springfield. That train was later truncated and the old Washington-Boston ''Bay State'' (trains 142 and 145) was reinstated via the ''Inland Route''. By the October 28, 2002 schedule, trains 140 (weekend) and 142 (weekday) provided northbound ''Inland Route'' service, while only weekend service was provided southbound via the 147. 142 was dropped October 27, 2003, and the November 1, 2004 timetable dropped 140 and 147, ending the use of the ''Inland Route''. The Connecticut DOT has been studying a new rail line, the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter Rail Line to operate commuter trains on the line, which is scheduled to enter service some time after 2010.

Station stops

Even-numbered trains run northbound and odd numbers run southbound; stops served by all ''Regional'' trains on the line are bolded.
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Future Plans

The Connecticut DOT studied adding a dedicated commuter rail line connection between New Haven and Springfield to create a more accessible commuter connection to the Metro North commuter lines between New York City and Southwestern Connecticut, and also give more transit options to people commuting within the central region of Connecticut and Massachussettes. As part of this, extending or adding stations and right of way and new rail options were investigated. The study culminated in a final report in 2005, which was presented for a grant application to the Federal Transit Administration New Starts program. [1]

References

★ Mike Schafer, Amtrak's atlas, ''Trains'' June 1991

★ Scanner, ''Trains'' February 1997

★ PRR Chronology

★ Commuter Rail developments