The Boston Subdivision is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. The line runs from

Back Bay Station Back Bay station (also signed as Back Bay · South End) is an intermodal passenger station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located just south of Copley Square in Boston's Back Bay and South End neighborhoods. It serves MBTA Commuter Rail and ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

west to Wilbraham, just east of Springfield. along a former

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

line. The line connects with the Northeast Corridor its east end and continues as the

Berkshire Subdivision The Berkshire Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and New York. The line runs from near Springfield, Massachusetts west to Schodack, New York, (near Albany) along a former New York Cen ...

at its west end. Along the way, the line junctions with the

Framingham Subdivision The Framingham Secondary (formerly the Framingham Subdivision) is a railroad line in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The line runs from Mansfield northwest to Framingham along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line. Its south ...

and

Fitchburg Subdivision The Fitchburg Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The line runs from Fitchburg southeast to Framingham Center along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line. Its south end ...

Framingham Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popul ...

. The line is owned by multiple agencies. The line from

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...

to Riverside is owned by the

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

; from Riverside west to Framingham Station, the

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

(MBTA) owns the line, while the portion from Framingham to Worcester Union Station is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. West of Union Station to Wilbraham, the line is owned by CSX Transportation, who has trackage rights over the entire line to reach the Dorchester Branch in Boston. MBTA Commuter Rail

Framingham/Worcester Line The Framingham/Worcester Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system runs west from Boston, Massachusetts to Worcester, Massachusetts through the MetroWest region, serving 17 station stops in Boston, Newton, Wellesley, Natick, Framingham, Ashlan ...

trains operate over the line east of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, where it is also called the MBTA Worcester Main Line, while Amtrak's ''

Lake Shore Limited The ''Lake Shore Limited'' is an overnight Amtrak intercity passenger train that runs between Chicago and either New York City or Boston via two sections east of Albany. The train began service in 1975; its predecessor was Amtrak's Chicago– ...

'' uses the entire line.

History

The line originally had four tracks to Riverside station (two curved to the south and are currently used by the MBTA's

Green Line D branch The Green Line D branch (also referred to as the Highland branch or Riverside Line) is a light rail line in Newton, Brookline, and Boston, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. ...

light rail service). The number of tracks running into downtown Boston was reduced to two in the 1950s, in order to build the

Massachusetts Turnpike The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state li ...

, which parallels the easternmost ten miles of trackage, although CSX retains the original

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pa ...

trackage rights. The

Boston and Worcester Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. P ...

opened its line from Boston west to Worcester in 1834 and 1835. The Western Railroad opened from Worcester west to Springfield in 1839.Hon. Edward Appleton, Railway Commissioner
History of the Railways of Massachusetts
, 1871 The line became part of the

, New York Central, and Conrail through leases, mergers, and takeovers, and was assigned to CSX in the 1999 breakup of Conrail. The state took over ownership of the line between Worcester and Boston in 2012, and took over dispatching in 2013.

Freight

Major freight facilities served by the subdivision include

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship ...

yards in Worcester and Springfield, a

transload Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped in ...

facility in Westboro, near

I-495 Interstate 495 (I-495) is the designation for several Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to Interstate 95, listed from south to north: * The Capital Beltway, a beltway around Washington, D.C., running through Virgin ...

, and the

Northeast Automotive Intermodal Gateway The East Brookfield and Spencer Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in East Brookfield, Massachusetts, East Brookfield and Spencer, Massachusetts that serves the Northeast Automotive Intermodal Gateway. The company is privately owned by an a ...

in East Brookfield.

References

{{Reflist CSX Transportation lines Rail infrastructure in Massachusetts Boston and Albany Railroad lines

History

Freight

See also

References