As built, the line continued across the Seekonk River to Providence via the India Point Railroad Bridge; this connection was removed during the 1970s.

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.

The East Junction Branch is part of the original main line of the Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P), opened in 1835.

[notes 1] Seekonk was just across the Seekonk River from Providence, and a ferry initially made the final leg of the trip into the city until a wooden drawbridge, the first of several incarnations of the India Point Railroad Bridge, was completed and allowed trains to enter India Point.

Ferries ran from India Point to the South Side of Providence to allow passengers to transfer trains.

The Seekonk Branch Railroad intended to use the B&P bridge to run its own trains into Providence, treating the route much like a toll road.

Made largely redundant by the new route into Providence, most passenger service was dropped at this time apart from trains meeting steamboats at India Point.

This was intended to allow for a continuous double-tracked route from East Junction to the Crook Point Bridge.

[20] The Crook Point Bascule Bridge was closed to rail traffic in 1981 following its purchase by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, removing the last connection across the Seekonk River to Providence.

[21] After assuming Conrail's operations on the branch, CSX formally placed the Massachusetts portion out of service in 2001 excluding the first 0.6 miles (0.97 km) in Attleboro where an active customer remained.

[22] P&W continued to serve only the Rhode Island portion of the East Junction Branch until 2007, when a metals customer north of Newman Avenue in Seekonk asked for renewed rail service.

[18] The remainder of the branch from Seekonk to Attleboro remains out of service as of 2017, but it has not been formally abandoned and the tracks have not been removed.

[18] MBTA Commuter Rail maintained a layover facility for passenger trains at East Junction until 2006.