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 language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. 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 M ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

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 Mi ...

line. The line connects with the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, ...

its east end and continues as the Berkshire Subdivision at its west end. Along the way, the line junctions with the Framingham Subdivision and Fitchburg Subdivision at

Framingham Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Bost ...

. 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 ...

to Riverside is owned by the

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

; 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 i ...

(MBTA) owns the line, while the portion from Framingham to Worcester Union Station is owned by the

Massachusetts Department of Transportation The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Session of t ...

. West of Union Station to Wilbraham, the line is owned by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

, who has trackage rights over the entire line to reach the Dorchester Branch in Boston.

MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...

Framingham/Worcester Line trains operate over the line east of Worcester, 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–N ...

'' 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. Th ...

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 l ...

, 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. Pas ...

trackage rights. The Boston and Worcester Railroad 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 sh ...

yards in Worcester and Springfield, a transload facility in Westboro, near I-495, and the Northeast Automotive Intermodal Gateway in East Brookfield.

References

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

History

Freight

See also

References