Central New England Railroad
The Central New England Railroad (
Central New England Railroad operates two different lines in Connecticut: the Armory Branch and the Griffins Secondary. As these lines are not directly connected to each other, CNZR exercises trackage rights over the Connecticut Southern Railroad and a small portion of Amtrak's New Haven–Springfield Line to move equipment between them. Both of the company's lines are owned by the state of Connecticut and operated under a lease.
Lines Operated
Armory Branch
The 13.5-mile (21.7 km) Armory Branch currently extends from
After these abandonments, the State of Connecticut took control of the portion of the line within the state (both the trackage formerly operated by Conrail and by Guilford) and leased operation to the
Primary commodities carried on the Armory Branch are fertilizer and bricks.[2] The railroad interchanges with Connecticut Southern in East Windsor.
Proposed abandonment
The town of Enfield and local advocates proposed in April 2021 to have both the active portion of the line and the out of service tracks north of Scantic abandoned and converted into a rail trail. An alternate proposal is to instead construct a rails with trails project. Trail proponents including state representative Carol Hall argue that the line does not have sufficient business to justify its continued use, and would better serve the community as a trail. State representative Tom Arnone and Enfield's development services director noted that while there is currently little business on the line, there are several potential rail customers, including an oil company and a Martin-Brower distribution facility. The fate of the line will be decided by the state of Connecticut in 2022 when the current lease expires.[4]
Griffins Secondary
The Griffins Secondary begins just north of
The sole customer on the Griffins line is a
References
- ^ a b Redeker, James P. (September 4, 2009). "Central New England Railroad: TIGER Discretionary Grant Application" (PDF). Connecticut Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
- ^ ISBN 0-89024-290-9.
- ^ OCLC 1038017689. Archivedfrom the original on 2021-10-24. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- ^ Hushin, Adam (22 April 2021). "Enfield wants public input on rails-to-trails options". Journal Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2021-04-24. Retrieved 2021-08-22.