| East Junction Branch | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 View of the Boston and Providence Railroad Bridge which carries the East Junction Branch over the Ten Mile River in Rumford, Rhode Island | |||
| Overview | |||
| Owner | Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Providence and Worcester Railroad | ||
| Locale | Bristol County and Providence County | ||
| Termini | |||
| Connecting lines | East Providence Branch, Northeast Corridor | ||
| Former connections | Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad | ||
| Service | |||
| Operator(s) | CSX Transportation (Attleboro) Providence and Worcester Railroad (East Providence and Seekonk) | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 1835 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 6.23 mi (10.03 km), line formerly 7.69 mi (12.38 km) | ||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
| |||
The East Junction Branch (formerly known as the India Point Branch) is a rail line in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, in the United States. Originally built by the Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P) in 1835, the line connects Attleboro, Massachusetts, and East Providence, Rhode Island via Seekonk, Massachusetts. As built, the line continued across the Seekonk River to Providence via the India Point Railroad Bridge; this connection was removed during the 1970s. The East Junction Branch meets the Northeast Corridor in Attleboro at a point known as East Junction, and ends at a connection to the East Providence Branch in East Providence. CSX Transportation operates freight service on the branch in Attleboro, while the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) operates freight service in East Providence and across the state line into Seekonk. The line is owned by the P&W in Rhode Island, and by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Massachusetts.
Built as part of the Boston and Providence Railroad mainline between Boston and Providence, the line was downgraded to a branch when a new mainline was built in 1847 west from Attleboro in conjunction with the original incarnation of the Providence and Worcester Railroad. The ill-fated Seekonk Branch Railroad built a short branch off the East Junction Branch within East Providence (then part of Seekonk), which was soon purchased by the B&P and later used as part of the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad when that railroad opened in 1855. The P&W completed its East Providence Branch in 1874, which originated in Valley Falls and met the East Junction Branch in East Providence.
The B&P was succeeded by the Old Colony Railroad in 1888, which was itself taken over by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (the New Haven) in 1893. The Crook Point Bascule Bridge was completed in 1908 along with the East Side Railroad Tunnel, allowing a new route from the East Junction Branch into Providence. Regular passenger service was discontinued by 1914, though special passenger trains serving Narragansett Park were introduced in the 1930s and continued to 1968.
Penn Central Transportation Company absorbed the New Haven in 1969. The India Point Railroad Bridge was decommissioned in 1974, cutting the East Junction Branch back to East Providence, and the Crook Point Bascule Bridge followed in 1976. The bankrupt Penn Central was merged into government-formed Conrail in 1976, and the newly-independent P&W was assigned operation of the East Junction Branch within Rhode Island, with Conrail retaining operations in Massachusetts. After CSX Transportation took over from Conrail in 1999, much of the Massachusetts portion was placed out of service in 2001; P&W reactivated some of this trackage in Seekonk to serve a new customer in 2007. An additional half of a mile (0.8 km) of the branch within East Providence was abandoned in 2006.