New England Central Railroad

A NECRGP38 at White River Junction, Vermont
Overview
Parent company	Genesee and Wyoming
Headquarters	St. Albans, Vermont
Reporting mark	NECR
Locale	New England
Dates of operation	1995–present
Predecessor	Central Vermont Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Length	345 miles (555 km)
Other
Website	Official website
Route map v t e Legend CN US/Canada border St. Albans Essex Junction Burlington VTR Northern Subdivision WACR Granite Division Montpelier Junction WACR Conn River Subdivision White River Junction Lebanon Claremont GMRR Bellows Falls Brattleboro East Northfield B&E (PAS) Connecticut River Line B&S (PAS) Millers Falls MCER CSX Palmer Willimantic P&W P&W Northeast Corridor Central Pier New London P&W Northeast Corridor

TheNew England Central Railroad (reporting markNECR) is aregional railroad in theNew England region of the United States. It began operations in 1995, as the successor of theCentral Vermont Railway (CV). The company was originally a subsidiary of holding companyRailTex before being purchased byRailAmerica in 2000. In 2012, the company was purchased byGenesee & Wyoming, its current owner.

The New England Central Railroad main line runs fromNew London, Connecticut, toAlburgh, Vermont, at the Canada–US border, a distance of 366 miles (589 km).^[1] As of 2024, it has a total track length 345 miles (555 km).^[2] Primary sources of traffic include lumber, metals, chemicals, and crushed stone.

TheCentral Vermont Railway (CV) had long been owned and operated by Canadian railroads, first theGrand Trunk Railway and from 1927 theCanadian National Railway (CN); CN was in turn owned by the government of Canada. The Central Vermont's owners kept it a separate company, complete with its own fleet of green and yellow painted locomotives.^[3]

Operations on the line entered a general decline in the 1980s in tandem with falling freight volumes, which persisted despite the introduction of modern locomotives by CN in the early 1990s.^[3] In 1992, the Canadian government began the process of privatizing CN; as part of privatization, branches and less lucrative lines were identified for divestment, including the Central Vermont. CN announced it wished to sell the Central Vermont in 1993, and in October 1994 shortline railroad holding companyRailTex Corp. offered to buy the CV via a new subsidiary named the New England Central Railroad (NECR).^[4][5] The transaction was completed in early 1995.^[6]

The Central Vermont Railway transitioned to the New England Central Railroad starting on February 3, 1995, with the transition completed three days later on February 6.^[3] The new railroad was marked by improved service compared to the old Central Vermont, as well as more flexible crew arrangements, both of which led to a resurgence of the line. Within a year of NECR's takeover of the line, declining traffic flow was reversed, with the railroad handling more than 30,000 carloads annually within two years of commencing operations,^[1] in contrast to the old CV, which had suffered through years of declining traffic and the loss of profitability.^[7] The company's rapid success led to it being named 1995's Short Line Railroad of the Year by industry trade journalRailway Age.^[8]

NECR's motive power initially consisted of formerGulf, Mobile and Ohio RailroadEMD GP38s, although by the late 1990s, leased locomotives, largely formerConrailEMD SD40-2s, entered service.^[6]

Shortly after NECR's founding, the state of Connecticut and the company worked to develop more business at the Port of New London, where the State Pier had recently collapsed. The railroad was commended by a local newspaper for "an aggressive effort to bring rail and shipping business through New London."^[9] The pier was rebuilt and opened in 1998, with NECR's tracks directly serving the port.^[10][11] The port's operator leased four acres from the railroad for cargo storage.^[10]

In 2000, RailTex was acquired byRailAmerica, which was subsequently bought in 2007 byFortress Investments. Neither change in ownership affected the NECR to any great extent.^[12]

On November 9, 2010, the railroad began construction on a project to raise speeds on trackage within Vermont to 59 miles per hour (95 km/h), with speeds on the route south ofWhite River Junction being increased to 79 miles per hour (127 km/h) for passenger service. The upgrades were part of a project to decrease running times forAmtrak'sVermonter, which operates over the route. Construction was funded by a $70 million grant from the federal government, part of theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act.^[13]

The NECR main line was heavily damaged in several locations byHurricane Irene during August 2011. A six mile segment in Vermont was taken out of service entirely by storm damage, with downed trees and flooding affecting other segments as well. Rail service returned to all customers by September 13, with full repairs completed later in the month.^[14][15]

The 45 railroads formerly owned byRailAmerica, which had previously taken overRailTex lines, were transferred to Connecticut-based shortline holding companyGenesee & Wyoming in December 2012. This change of ownership caused a shuffle of locomotives around their rail system, and the original NECR yellow-and-blue paint scheme is slowly being replaced by the Genesee & Wyoming scheme.^[3] Genesee & Wyoming subsequently purchased theProvidence and Worcester Railroad, which interchanges freight with the New England Central, in 2016.^[3]

NECR purchased the shortlineClaremont-Concord Railroad in 2015, adding the latter's line in Claremont and its freight rights on a state-owned line inLebanon, New Hampshire.^[16]

New England Central's main line connects theLong Island Sound port ofNew London, Connecticut, to the Canadian border inEast Alburgh, Vermont. The company's line connectsSt. Albans,Essex Junction,Montpelier,White River Junction, andBrattleboro within Vermont. Branches connect Essex Junction toBurlington and White River Junction toLebanon, New Hampshire, and a third branch exists inClaremont, New Hampshire (formerly the Claremont-Concord Railroad). Within Massachusetts, the NECR mainline passes throughMillers Falls and the important junction atPalmer. In Connecticut, the line servesStafford Springs,Willimantic, andNorwich before terminating at thePort of New London.^[3]

From the Canadian border, several mainline trains move traffic along the system. Trains 323 (northbound) and 324 (southbound) operate between St. Albans (connecting with Canadian National trains from Montreal) and Brattleboro, making stops to pick up or drop cars at junctions as needed. Train 611 hauls mainline traffic between Brattleboro and Palmer. South of Palmer, train 608 operates south to Willimantic and back, while train 610 covers the line between Willimantic and New London.^[3] Local trains are based in St. Albans, White River Junction, and Palmer, serving customers in those areas or performing switching at NECR yards.^[3]

Besides the CN interchange in St. Albans, NECR interchanges withVermont Railway (plusCanadian Pacific Railway through ahaulage agreement) and its subsidiariesGreen Mountain Railroad andWashington County Railroad in Vermont and New Hampshire, withCSX Transportation and theMassachusetts Central Railroad in Palmer, withPan Am Southern in Brattleboro and Millers Falls, and with the Providence and Worcester Railroad in Willimantic and New London.^[3]

The railroad's traffic consists largely of general freight, including lumber products, metals, chemicals and stone products,^[17][18] although COFC (container on flat car) andTOFC (trailer on flat car) business is also operated from the Canada–US border to Boston, in partnership with theProvidence and Worcester Railroad.^[19] The NECR hauled around 37,000 carloads in 2008.^[17]

NECR maintains significant operations at several locations along their line. Its main office is located inSt. Albans, Vermont, along with the main office for theConnecticut Southern Railroad (CSOR), with which NECR shares many management functions.^[18] St. Albans is also the location of the main shop and dispatch office. Vermont's largest rail yard is the St. Albans yard, which handles upwards of 40,000 cars each year. Other significant operations are atWhite River Junction andBrattleboro, both of which are the location of offices and smaller yards.^[20] Palmer, Massachusetts, serves as the main yard and office for operations south of the Vermont line.^[1]

The New England Central Railroad started operations with 12 GP38 locomotives, and exclusively operatedElectro-Motive Diesel products from its founding until 2023. These were supplemented by a trio of SD40s acquired from Conrail during the 1990s. After RailAmerica took ownership of the NECR, a number ofGP40-2L locomotives (the L indicating a wideCanadian safety cab) were added to the fleet, plus twoSD9s ofDuluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway heritage.^[3]

When RailAmerica was placed under new ownership in 2007, more locomotives were transferred to NECR, including GP40-2s and six-axleSD40-2s. Additional SD40-2 andSD45 style locomotives from other railroads joined NECR's fleet by 2012. NECR also obtained aSD40T-2 (colloquially known as a tunnel motor) ofSouthern Pacific Railroad vintage in 2013.^[3] In 2023, NECR acquired 7 formerCSXC40-8Ws, making them the firstGeneral Electric locomotives on their roster.^[21] As a Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary since 2012, NECR has sometimes shared locomotives with nearby G&W subsidiariesConnecticut Southern Railroad andProvidence and Worcester Railroad (the latter purchased by G&W in 2016).^[3]

Since 1995,Amtrak has operated its dailyVermonter service between Washington, D.C., andSt. Albans, Vermont, using the NECR. Until 2014, the NECR was used north ofPalmer, Massachusetts, and since 2014, north ofNorthfield, Massachusetts.^[3][22] With state and federal funding, Amtrak and the New England Central Railroad completed repairs and upgrades to much of the NECR mainline in Vermont in 2012, allowing theVermonter to reach a maximum speed of 79 miles per hour (127 km/h).^[23] TheCentral Corridor Rail Line is a proposed passenger train service betweenNew London andBrattleboro via the NECR main line.^[24]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNew England Central Railroad.

• New England Central Railroad official webpsge - Genesee and Wyoming website

• Connecticut railroads
• Massachusetts railroads
• New Hampshire railroads
• Vermont railroads
• Railway companies established in 1995
• RailAmerica
• Spin-offs of the Canadian National Railway
• Regional railroads in the United States
• Genesee & Wyoming

• Good articles
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2021
• Commons category link from Wikidata