Fitchburg Line

Fitchburg Line
Train #465 entering Porter, bound for South Acton.
Info
Type	Commuter rail
System	MBTA Commuter Rail
Locale	Greater Boston
Termini	Fitchburg North Station
Stations	18
Operation
Owner	MBTA
Operator(s)	MBCR
Character	Commuter rail line
Rolling stock	Commuter rail cars
Technical
Line length	49.55 mi (79.44 km)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Route map Gardner (former) Fitchburg North Leominster Shirley Ayer Littleton/Route 495 South Acton West Concord Concord Lincoln Silver Hill Hastings Kendal Green Brandeis/Roberts Waltham Waverley Belmont Center Porter Square Red Line connection North Station Amtrak connection

The Fitchburg Line is an MBTA line that runs from Boston's North Station to Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The line is along the tracks of the former Fitchburg Railroad, which was a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. It is one of the more scenic commuter rail lines, passing by Walden Pond between Lincoln and Concord. The Fitchburg Line is the longest line in the system in terms of both length and travel time, and ranks as one of the worst lines in terms of on time performance. [1] The MBTA attributes this to the facts that the line has the oldest and least adequate infrastructure in the system and commuter trains must compete with freight traffic after Littleton.[2] Despite this, the Fitchburg Line still draws about 10,000 daily riders, and the MBTA expects it to draw even more once upgrades to the line are complete.[3]Even more passengers could be drawn to this particular line now that IBM is in Littleton, MA.

History

Map of the Fitchburg Railroad

The Fitchburg Railroad opened between 1840 and 1845 from Boston to Fitchburg. The Boston and Maine Railroad leased the Fitchburg Railroad in 1900 and bought it finally in 1919. The portion between Fitchburg and Boston was sold to the MBTA on December 27, 1976 as part of Boston & Maine's divestiture of commuter rail operations.

Passenger service ran only to Fitchburg after 1960, after Boston and Maine eliminated its through service to its western terminal in Troy, NY. On January 18, 1965 service was cut back to West Concord, but was restored to Ayer on June 28, 1965. On March 1, 1975 it was cut back to South Acton, but was restored to Fitchburg and beyond to Gardner on January 13, 1980. Gardner service was ended on January 1, 1987 when Amtrak took over the MBTA contract, due to a dispute between Amtrak and Guilford; the MBTA only owned the trackage to Fitchburg. The Fitchburg route was once double tracked from Boston to Troy, NY. Double tracks only extend to Acton, MA which is why, operationally, South Acton is the only station beyond Cambridge at which every train stops. Since the advent of Commuter Rail Operations by the Commonwealth, several stations along the Fitchburg lines have been closed. These include Clematis Brook and Beaver Brook in Waltham, West Acton in Acton and Harwood Depot on Taylor Street in Littleton.

The Fitchburg Line west of the old Stony Brook Railroad, which now junctions east of the old Ayer Junction, now serves as part of Guilford's main line between Mattawamkeag, Maine and Mechanicville, New York.

Planned improvements

There is a plan to upgrade the Fitchburg Line to have cab signaling. In conjunction with this $70m upgrade, plans include track rehabilitation to increase speed and the extension of double track from South Acton to Ayer to allow an increase in capacity. [4]

There is also talk that there might be a strong possiblity that the Commuter Rail may come back out to the Gardner area in the fall of 2011 due to the increase in ridership on the Fitchburg line. If so the Commuter Rail would stop in the back of the brand new MART Bus Terminal in the Downtown Gardner Area.

Accessibility

Only six of the stations, including both terminals, are wheelchair accessible. See also MBTA accessibility.

Station listing

Milepost	City	Station	Opening date	Connections and notes
	Boston	North Station		Orange Line, Green Line and all north side Commuter Rail lines Amtrak Downeaster
		Boston Engine Terminal		A flag stop with a wooden platform for MBTA employees only
				MBTA Commuter Rail Lowell Line, Haverhill/Reading Line and Newburyport/Rockport Line split
	Somerville	Union Square		closed
		Somerville		closed
	Cambridge	Porter Square		Red Line, originally Porter's
		West Cambridge		closed
5.52	Belmont	Hill Crossing		closed
6.43		Belmont Center		74/75 bus, temporarily closed 1958, reopened March 4, 1974
7.39		Waverley		73 trackless trolley, temporarily closed 1958, reopened March 4, 1974
8.31	Waltham	Clematis Brook		closed June 1978. Was located off of Clamatis Ave in Waltham.
9.26		Beaver Brook		closed June 1978. Was located on Rose Hill Way in Waltham.
9.86		Waltham		70, 70A, 505, 553, 554, 556, 558 buses
10.55		Riverview		closed January 17, 1965
11.49		Brandeis/Roberts		originally Roberts
12.23	Weston	Stony Brook		closed
13.16		Kendal Green
13.72		Hastings		limited service, five inbound trains and six outbound trains on weekdays.
14.71		Silver Hill		limited service, two inbound trains and three outbound trains on weekdays.
16.66	Lincoln	Lincoln		originally South Lincoln
17.76		Baker Bridge		closed
20.05	Concord	Concord
21.89		West Concord
25.06	Acton	South Acton		Clock Tower Shuttle; terminal station for some trains; temporarily closed January 17, 1965, reopened June 28, 1965. The original South Acton station was located on School Street east of the Main Street bridge. The station building burned in the early 1970s. The station was relocated west of Main Street Bridge with an entrance of off Central Street. South Acton contains the largest number of parking spots on the line.
26.77		West Acton		closed January 17, 1965, reopened June 28, 1965, closed April 30, 1975. The station building has been torn down and currently houses New London Pizza.
28.93	Boxborough	Boxboro		closed. The station stop was located on Depot Road.
31.47	Littleton	Littleton/Route 495		originally Littleton temporarily closed January 17, 1965, reopened June 28, 1965, temporarily closed April 30, 1975, reopened January 13, 1980 (as Littleton/Route 495). The original Littleton Station stop was located at the intersection of Taylor Road and King Street. The station has since been relocated to the east, near the intersection of Route 2 and Interstate 495 on Foster St.
33.72		Taylor Road		Closed
33.72	Ayer	Willows		closed
36.07 316.07		Ayer		temporarily closed January 17, 1965, reopened June 28, 1965, temporarily closed April 30, 1975, reopened January 13, 1980
39.43 319.43	Shirley	Shirley		temporarily closed January 17, 1965, reopened May 1981
42.14 322.14	Lunenburg	Lunenburg		closed
45.34 325.34	Leominster	North Leominster		temporarily closed January 17, 1965, reopened January 13, 1980
49.55 329.55	Fitchburg	Fitchburg		MRTA Buses to Gardner, temporarily closed January 17, 1965, reopened January 13, 1980
	Gardner	Gardner		opened January 13, 1980, closed January 1, 1987

External links

• MBTA - The Fitchburg Line

References

• Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district (PDF)
• Mileposts from FRA Highway-Rail Crossing Inventory Files and Guilford District 3

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: MBTA Fitchburg Line

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