New Haven–Springfield Line

New Haven–Springfield Line
Amtrak Shuttle #470 a single coach shuttle awaiting Northeast Regional train #170 from Washington, D.C.
Overview
Type	Inter-city rail
System	Amtrak
Status	Operating
Locale	New England
Termini	New Haven Springfield
Stations	8
Services	New Haven–Springfield Shuttle Northeast Regional Vermonter Hartford Line (planned)
Operation
Opened	1844
Owner	Amtrak
Operator(s)	Amtrak, Connecticut Southern Railroad (freight)
Technical
Line length	62 miles (100 km)
Number of tracks	1–2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map CSX to Boston Springfield Connecticut River Line CSX to Chicago Massachusetts Connecticut border Connecticut Southern RR to Suffield 14.6 mi 23.5 km Windsor Locks 19.1 mi 30.7 km Windsor to Manchester Connecticut Southern RR to Providence & Worcester RR Central New England RR 25.3 mi 40.7 km Hartford Pan Am Southern to Waterbury 35.9 mi 57.8 km Berlin 43.3 mi 69.7 km Meriden 55.6 mi 89.5 km Wallingford 60.5 mi 97.4 km Northeast Corridor to Boston 61.4 mi 98.8 km New Haven State Street 62 mi 100 km New Haven Northeast Corridor to Washington, D.C. This diagram:

The New Haven–Springfield 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 Northeast 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 Roanoke, Virginia. It is also served by the daily Vermonter, which starts in Washington, D.C. and continues north from Springfield, finally terminating in St. Albans, Vermont. The line is part of the Inland Route connecting Boston and New York via Hartford, Springfield, and Worcester, in contrast to the "Shore Line" along the Connecticut Shore and through Rhode Island.

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. Upgrades needed for high-speed rail, including rebuilding portions of double tracking removed in the 1980s, were performed in preparation for the CTrail Hartford Line commuter service, scheduled to use the line starting in May 2018.

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 over the Thames River at New London, Connecticut, opened in 1889.