Construction Prior to the opening of the East Side Railroad Tunnel in 1908, there was no direct connection between
Providence Union Station and the railroad lines on the eastern bank of the
Seekonk River – the
East Junction Branch,
East Providence Branch, and
Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad. Service on those lines crossed the
India Point Railroad Bridge and terminated at Fox Point, south of downtown Providence. During the late nineteenth-century, the
Old Colony Railroad made attempts to run full-size freight cars over surface streetcar tracks from
India Point to Union Station; however, this resulted in frequent derailments. This issue prompted the need for both a bridge span over the Seekonk River along with a mile-long tunnel under Providence's east side to allow for more direct travel for both freight and passenger service around the Providence metro area. The
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad acquired the Old Colony Lines in 1883; this initiated renewed interest in constructing an east-side access corridor to Union Station. The East-Side Tunnel was first envisioned in 1903 as a more direct connection between the old
Union Station in the center of
Providence with the New Haven-acquired railroad lines east of the Seekonk River. Construction on the tunnel started in May 1906; one crew worked east from the Benefit Street entrance and one worked west from the Gano Street entrance. The tunnel was opened for NYNH&H regional rail services on November 15, 1908. The entire cost of the project, including the bridge, the tunnel, and the approach to Union Station, was $2 million. The east portal was located on the east side of Gano Street; the west portal was located between North Main Street and Benefit Street.
Operation The tunnel had originally opened with full double-tracked mainline. Between 1908 and 1934, the tunnel was electrified with a
600 Volt DC overhead single-wire trolley system to accommodate
electric passenger trains from Providence to Bristol, Rhode Island and
Fall River, Massachusetts. All passenger services ceased in 1938. For the remainder of the tunnel's service life freight trains, along with the occasional fan trips on chartered passenger trains, utilized the East-Side Tunnel southbound. Event passenger services also ran northward to the
Narragansett Park horse racing track during the racing season; this service ended in the late 1960s. NYNH&H successor
Penn Central took control of the East-Side access line in 1969. In 1970, PC requested
ICC permission to abandon the
Bristol Secondary due to low freight demand.
Conrail inherited the East Side Tunnel from PC in 1976, and further attempts were made to
rail-bank the right-of-way. The newly independent
Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W) assumed operation of the line later in 1976; however, the Bristol Secondary was abandoned by the end of that year. The Crook Point Bascule bridge and the East Side Tunnel were subsequently abandoned later that year; the downtown Providence viaduct was demolished when the Northeast Corridor was re-routed to facilitate remodeling of the downtown area in Providence in the early 1980s. (The P&W continued to use the East Junction Branch and East Providence Branch to serve a scrapyard at
Wilkesbarre Pier until the early 2000s.
1993 incident and closure On May 1, 1993, a group of students gathered at the western end of the tunnel below Benefit Street to celebrate
Beltain-
May Day. The students started fires, wore masks and beat drums until early in the morning.
Campus security tried to break up the party; the students claimed the officers had no
jurisdiction in the tunnel. A fight broke out between a security officer and a student who refused to stop drumming.
City police were called and by the time they had arrived the party had grown larger. Law enforcement tried to break up the party with
tear gas, but the students responded by throwing rocks and bricks. Officers finally broke up the party by forming a
riot line, and surrounding the students. The following day, the police claimed that they had found signs of "satanic rituals". The tunnel portals were soon blocked with
corrugated steel, with small doors at either end. Since then, there have been sporadic attempts to re-open the site for art and performances. There have also been sporadic calls by Providence city officials to reutilize the East Side Tunnel as a
light rail alignment. == References ==