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