Framingham/Worcester Line

Framingham/Worcester Line
File:WorcesterStationMBTA.agr.jpg Worcester Union Station
Overview
Status	Operating
Owner	CSX west of Framingham, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Newton-Back Bay, MBTA elsewhere
Locale	Central Massachusetts
Termini	Boston South Station Worcester Union Station
Stations	17
Service
Type	Commuter rail line
System	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Operator(s)	MBCR
Technical
Character	Elevated and surface-level
Track gauge	1,435mm (4ft 8½ inches)
Route map 0 mi South Station Fall River/New Bedford Greenbush Kingston Fairmount   to Oak Grove 1.2 mi 1.9 km Back Bay lines via Ruggles   to Forest Hills I-90 / Mass Pike 2.5 mi 4 km Lansdowne Grand Junction Railroad 3.8 mi 6.1 km West Station (proposed) Beacon Park Yard (closed) 4.7 mi 7.6 km Boston Landing 8.1 mi 13 km Newtonville 9.1 mi 14.6 km West Newton 10.2 mi 16.4 km Auburndale I-90 / Mass Pike 10.7 mi 17.2 km Riverside (closed 1977) 12.5 mi 20.1 km Wellesley Farms 13.5 mi 21.7 km Wellesley Hills 14.7 mi 23.7 km Wellesley Square 17.7 mi 28.5 km Natick Center 19.9 mi 32 km West Natick Framingham Secondary 21.4 mi 34.4 km Framingham Holliston Industrial Track Fitchburg Secondary 25.2 mi 40.6 km Ashland 27.4 mi 44.1 km Southborough 34.0 mi 54.7 km Westborough 36.4 mi 58.6 km Grafton Grafton and Upton Railroad Worcester Layover & CSX Terminal 44.3 mi 71.3 km Worcester Gardner Branch and Worcester Branch P&W mainline and Norwich Branch Boston Subdivision

The Framingham/Worcester Line is a railroad line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running west from Boston, Massachusetts to Worcester, Massachusetts, though some trains terminate at Framingham, Massachusetts. The line serves the cities of Boston, Newton, Wellesley, Natick, Framingham, Ashland, Southborough, Westborough, Grafton, Millbury, and Worcester.

History

Originally built as the Boston and Albany Railroad, the line was later part of the New York Central Railroad system. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority acquired the tracks from Newton to Back Bay Station in order to construct the Boston Extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike from the Route 128 circumferential highway to the then-elevated Central Artery in downtown Boston. Construction ran from 1962 to 1964, and reduced the railway to two tracks.

The New York Central was merged into Penn Central Transportation in 1968, which went bankrupt in 1970. Amtrak was created in 1971 to run intercity rail service; since 1975, it has operated the Lake Shore Limited on the Boston-to-Albany tracks.

On January 27, 1973 the MBTA acquired the remainder of the tracks east of Framingham, and subsidized passenger transit between Framingham and Boston. Commuter rail service between Worcester and Framingham was discontinued October 27, 1975, as the state did not subsidize it. The trackage on the western segment was inherited by Conrail in 1976, which returned to profitability in the 1980s. After a corporate breakup in 1999, CSX Transportation became the owner of the Worcester-to-Framingham segment.

In the late 1980s, the Orange Line was rerouted into parallel tracks sharing the Framingham Line's right of way between Back Bay Station and the portal to the Washington Street Tunnel.

MBTA commuter rail service expanded to Worcester on September 26, 1994, with some rush hour trains. Off-peak service was added beginning beginning on December 14, 1996.

Worcester Union Station underwent a major renovation in 2000, and in 2006 the city's main bus terminal was co-located at the train station.

Passenger service performance problems

The line has been the first or second worst in the MBTA system for several years. In October 2007, only 48.4% of trains ran on time (no more than 1 minute early or 5 minutes late), improving to 69.3% in January 2008 after CSX and MBCR officials began meeting daily.

CSX dispatches (controls signals) on the line from Selkirk, New York. Conflicts with freight trains, track work, and an increase of passenger load of about 40% since opening, have all been blamed for affecting on-time performance. New federal speed regulations that went into effect in 2005 were also cited for slow service. On February 18, 2008, a new schedule went into effect, intended to more accurately reflect the run time on the line.

As of December 2007, Massachusetts has been negotiating for several years to buy the Framingham to Worcester tracks from CSX to gain better control over on time performance; there is a disagreement about liability.[1] State politicians would also like to increase the number of trains on the line, but face a scheduling problem on the CSX portion of the track, and concerns over the impact on traffic at at-grade crossings in Framingham.

In January 2008, the Framingham/Worcester Line became the first in the MBTA system to offer wi-fi service aboard the trains. The T expects to roll out the service to other lines after a test period, but the Worcester Line was chosen for the pilot phase in part to compensate for low on-time performance.

Accessibility

All stations from Yawkey east and West Natick west are handicapped accessible; the ones in between are not. See also MBTA accessibility.

Station listing

State	Milepost	City	Station	Opening date	Connections and notes
MA	0.00	Boston	South Station	1899	Red Line and all south side Commuter Rail lines Amtrak Acela Express, Regional and Lake Shore Limited replaced older terminal
			Columbus Avenue		closed 1899
	1.25		Back Bay	1899	originally Trinity Place splits from Attleboro/Stoughton Line/Franklin Line/Needham Line Amtrak Acela Express, Regional and Lake Shore Limited
			Yawkey	April 29, 1988	only operated during games at Fenway Park until January 2, 2001 when it opened to daily commuter traffic.
			Brookline Junction		not a station split with Highland Branch (original Brookline Branch)
	3.08		University		closed originally College Farms
					merge with Grand Junction Branch
	4.30		Allston		closed
	5.06		Brighton		closed
	5.84		Faneuil		closed
	7.10	Newton	Newton		closed
	8.14		Newtonville
	9.19		West Newton
	10.29		Auburndale
	10.90		Riverside		closed October 27, 1977 split with Highland Branch and Newton Lower Falls Branch
	12.58	Wellesley	Wellesley Farms
	13.50		Wellesley Hills
	14.73		Wellesley Square		originally Wellesley
			Lake Crossing		closed
	17.64	Natick	Natick		split with Saxonville Branch
			West Natick	August 23, 1982
	21.36	Framingham	Framingham		Amtrak Lake Shore Limited junction with Milford Branch and Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad (NYNH&H, includes original Framingham Branch)
	24.21	Ashland	Ashland	August 24, 2002	split with Hopkinton Railway (NYNH&H)
	27.45	Southborough	Southborough	June 22, 2002	originally Cordaville
	28.08		Southville		closed
	31.92	Westborough	Westborough	June 22, 2002
	37.85	Grafton	Grafton	February 23, 2000	originally North Grafton junction with Grafton and Upton Railroad
	39.17	Millbury	Millbury		closed split with Millbury Branch
	44.33	Worcester	Worcester		Amtrak Lake Shore Limited replaced older terminal temporarily closed October 26, 1975, reopened September 26, 1994 junction with Providence and Worcester Railroad (NYNH&H), Norwich and Worcester Railroad (NYNH&H), Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad (B&M) and Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad (B&M)

External links

• MBTA - The Framingham/Worcester Line
• B&A Track Charts
• The Boston & Albany Railroad Webpage

References

• Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district (PDF)
• Railroad History Database
• Mileposts from B&A Track Charts