New Haven–Springfield Line

New Haven–Springfield Line
A Shuttle at New Haven in 2007.
Overview
Type	Inter-city rail
System	Amtrak
Locale	New England
Termini	New Haven Springfield
Stations	8
Services	New Haven–Springfield Shuttle Northeast Regional Vermonter
Operation
Opened	1844
Owner	Amtrak
Operator(s)	Amtrak
Technical
Line length	60.5 mi (97.4 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge
Route map Legend Pan Am Southern 0 Springfield CSX Berkshire Subdivision MA/CT border Connecticut Southern Railroad to Suffield 15 mi (24 km) Windsor Locks 20 mi (32 km) Windsor to Manchester Connecticut Southern Railroad to Providence and Worcester Railroad Central New England Railroad 26 mi (42 km) Hartford Pan Am Southern to Waterbury 37 mi (60 km) Berlin 44 mi (71 km) Meriden 60 mi (97 km) Wallingford Northeast Corridor to Boston 63 mi (101 km) New Haven Northeast Corridor to Washington

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, D.C. along the Corridor and others terminating at New Haven as shuttles. On weekends, there is one train daily to Lynchburg, Virginia. 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, Massachusetts. It is also served by the daily Washington–St. Albans, Vermont Vermonter, which heads east from Springfield and turns north at Palmer. In 2004, Congress added the New Haven–Springfield Line onto the Northern New England Corridor, one of ten federally designated corridors for potential high-speed rail service.

History

The New Haven–Springfield Line was built by the Hartford and New Haven Railroad (H&NH) and began operations in 1844, forming the first all-rail route between Boston and New Haven, with steamship service on Long Island Sound completing service to New York. 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, Connecticut over the Thames River opened in 1889. The H&NH was merged into the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NYNH&H) 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 the 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, 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.^[1]

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 former Washington–Boston Bay State was reinstated via the Inland Route.^[2] 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.

Station stops

State	Town/City	Station	Connections
Massachusetts	Springfield	Springfield	Amtrak: Lake Shore Limited, New Haven–Springfield Shuttle, Northeast Regional, Vermonter
Connecticut	Windsor Locks	Windsor Locks	Amtrak: New Haven–Springfield Shuttle, Northeast Regional, Vermonter
	Windsor	Windsor	Amtrak:New Haven–Springfield Shuttle, Northeast Regional
	Hartford	Hartford Union Station	Amtrak: New Haven–Springfield Shuttle, Northeast Regional, Vermonter
	Berlin	Berlin
	Meriden	Meriden
	Wallingford	Wallingford	Amtrak:New Haven–Springfield Shuttle, Northeast Regional, Vermonter
	New Haven	New Haven-Union Station	Amtrak: Acela Express, New Haven–Springfield Shuttle, Northeast Regional, Vermonter ConnDOT: Shore Line East CT Transit New Haven: J, Commuter Connection Downtown and Sargent Drive, Temple Street Garage Shuttle Metro-North Railroad: New Haven Line

The Springfield–New Haven corridor is also served by some Northeast Regional trains in the 136 and 140 series. These trains run from Springfield all the way to Washington, DC without the need to change trains. The corridor is also served by Amtrak's Vermonter. New Haven–Springfield Shuttle trains, and Northeast Regional trains stop at all stations on the line.

Shuttles

Main article: New Haven–Springfield Shuttle

Amtrak runs Shuttles between Springfield, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut. These shuttles connect with Regional service at the New Haven station, usually a cross-platform or same platform transfer. Shuttles are in the 400 series, with the last two digits denoting the number of the train it is connecting to.

Future plans

The Connecticut DOT and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation studied adding a dedicated New Haven–Hartford–Springfield Commuter Rail Line 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 Knowledge Corridor region surrounding Hartford and Springfield. 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.^[3] As of December 3rd, 2008, it is estimated that the line will begin operation in 2015 or 2016.^[4]

As part of grant money from the federal government to high-speed rail projects throughout America, the State of Connecticut was awarded $440 million to add a second track to 10.5 miles (16.9 km) of the route between Berlin and Newington, Connecticut, eliminating one of the four single-track sections of the route.^[5]

In October 2010 the state received an additional $121 million from the federal government, (around $100 million less than requested) which is planned to be used to reconstruct additional second main-line trackage and install new signalling and rebuilding infrastructure along the route.^[6]

Massachusetts has already received $70 million in Federal funds to complete track renovations, and an additional $70 million to renovate the grand 1926 Union Station at Springfield, which was last used in 1973.^[7]

Notes

1. ^ Wicker, Tom (February 28, 1975). "Editorial". New York Times. 
2. ^ Kush, Bronislaus B (December 28, 1996). "Amtrak says: Riders wanted; Lack of support may derail trains". Telegram & Gazette: p. A1. 
3. ^ www.ct.gov
4. ^ [1]
5. ^ "LaHood visits New England to discuss expanded service". Trains Magazine. 26 April 2010. http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6717&r=rss. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 
6. ^ "State Receives $121M Federal Grant For Rail Line". Hartford Courant. 26 October 2010. http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-railroad-money-cut-1026-20101026,0,7038733.story. Retrieved 26 October 2010. 
7. ^ http://www.springfieldcityhall.com/planning/fileadmin/Projects/public/Union_Station_Full_Development_Plan.pdf

References

• Mike Schafer, Amtrak's atlas, Trains June 1991
• Scanner, Trains February 1997
• PRR Chronology
• Commuter Rail developments