Franklin Line

Franklin Line
Norwood Central station in June 2010
Overview
Status	Operating
Owner	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Locale	Southeastern Massachusetts
Termini	South Station Forge Park/495
Stations	16
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Operator(s)	Keolis North America
Daily ridership	11,671 (2018)[1]
Technical
Line length	27.4 miles (44.1 km)[2]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map Legend  Red   to Alewife 0.0 mi 0 km South Station  Red   to Ashmont or Braintree Greenbush Old Colony limited service via Fairmount  Orange   to Oak Grove 1.2 mi 1.9 km Back Bay Framingham/Worcester Massachusetts Avenue 2.2 mi 3.5 km Ruggles Roxbury Crossing Jackson Square Stony Brook Green Street Forest Hills  Orange  Needham 6.5 mi 10.5 km Mount Hope (closed 1979) 8.4 mi 13.5 km Hyde Park limited service via Fairmount 9.5 mi 15.3 km Readville former Dedham Branch Providence/Stoughton (NEC) 10.9 mi 17.5 km Endicott 11.8 mi 19 km Dedham Corporate Center 12.5 mi 20.1 km Islington 14.3 mi 23 km Norwood Depot 14.8 mi 23.8 km Norwood Central 16.6 mi 26.7 km Windsor Gardens 17.7 mi 28.5 km Plimptonville (closed 2020) Lewis's Wye 19.1 mi 30.7 km Walpole Framingham Secondary to Framingham 22.6 mi 36.4 km Foxboro Framingham Secondary to Mansfield 23.0 mi 37 km Norfolk Franklin Layover 27.5 mi 44.3 km Franklin/Dean College 30.3 mi 48.8 km Forge Park/495 Milford Secondary 36.4 mi 58.6 km Blackstone (closed 1966) Southern New England Trunkline Trail This diagram: view talk

The Franklin Line, part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, runs from Boston's South Station in a southwesterly direction toward Franklin, Massachusetts, utilizing the Northeast Corridor before splitting off onto the namesake Franklin Branch. Most Franklin Line trains connect to the Providence/Stoughton Line at Readville, though some weekday trains use the Dorchester Branch (Fairmount Line) to access South Station. Most weekday trains, and all weekend trains, bypass Hyde Park. Several weekday trains originate at Norwood Central or Walpole.

Foxboro station is located on a branch line, which connects with the Franklin Line at Walpole. Previously, trains only served the station during special events at Gillette Stadium. In October 2019, the MBTA began one-year pilot program of full-time service, the Foxboro Line.

History[]

Union Station in Walpole

The line was extended to Forge Park/495 station in 1988

The earliest predecessor to the Franklin Line began in 1835 when the Boston and Providence Railroad built a branch from Dedham to Readville, connecting with the main line from Boston to Providence. This was followed, in 1848, by the Norfolk County Railroad, which ran from Dedham to Walpole.^[3] After various mergers and acquisitions, the line become part of the New York and New England Railroad until 1898, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad until 1968, and, ultimately, Penn Central until its 1970 bankruptcy.

What is today's Franklin Branch was a portion of the Midland Line of the New Haven's , the New Haven's secondary route between Boston and New York; the MBTA's Dorchester Branch and the abandoned segments from Franklin to Willimantic, Connecticut via Blackstone were the remaining components of the Midland Line. In 1910, the passenger route on the Midland Line was a regional inter-city train that continued to New York via the Highland Line segment of the between Willimantic and Waterbury, Connecticut, then continuing down the Housatonic Railroad to the New Haven Line.^[4] Service was eventually shortened to Waterbury in 1937.^[5]

However, in the 1940s and early 1950s service, including the New Haven's Nutmeg and several unnamed trains from Boston to Hartford and Waterbury continued.^[6] It was shortened to Blackstone when the two southern spans of the bridge crossing the Quinebaug River in Putnam, Connecticut washed out during Hurricane Diane in 1955. The bridge was never repaired, and the line was abandoned between Willimantic and Putnam in 1959.

MBTA era[]

Service to Blackstone was discontinued in April 1966 when the MBTA began subsidizing the line; Franklin and beyond were not in the MBTA district, meaning that the towns themselves had to subsidize service, and only Franklin agreed to do so.^[7] The easternmost bridge over the Blackstone River was washed out in the March 17-19th flooding of the river in 1968; the line beyond Franklin was abandoned 3 years later,^[8] and is now preserved in full as the Southern New England Trunkline Trail. Between 1973 and 1976, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts bought almost all track assets in Southeastern Massachusetts, including the Franklin Branch, from the Penn Central's bankruptcy trustees.

From the start of MBTA operations, Franklin was the terminus of the line. Service was extended to Forge Park/495 station on June 2, 1988, although the line retained its original name.^[9][7] Forge Park/495 is not on the former NY&NE main line to Woonsocket, but instead on the former Milford & Woonsocket Railroad, which last saw passenger service in 1938.^[10] The MBTA leased the branch from Conrail for the extension, with the possibility of future purchase.^[7] In February 2020, the MBTA voted to purchase the line from Franklin to Milford for $13 million.^[11]

Double tracking[]

In early 2019, the MBTA begin installation of an additional 3.8 miles (6.1 km) of double track - 3.3 miles (5.3 km) of new track plus the conversion of an existing siding) - between Walpole and Norfolk.^[12] Major construction was completed in April 2020.^[13] The $30 million construction of an additional phase and preliminary design of a third were announced in November 2019. Phase 2 will add 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of double track between Franklin and Norfolk, with completion by the end of 2020; it will allow headways to drop from 45 to 35 minutes. Phase 3 is planned to complete double-tracking between just north of Franklin/Dean College station and just south of Readville station, including the modification of several stations.^[14][12]

Foxboro service and COVID-19 changes[]

A train at Foxboro station in 2020

Until 1994, Boston–Foxboro service for Gillette Stadium events ran over the Providence/Stoughton Line, with a reverse move at Mansfield.^[15] That year, Providence–Foxboro service was added, with Boston trains rerouted over the Franklin Line.^[7] Initial intermediate stops were Back Bay, Dedham Corporate Center, and Norwood Central; Norwood Central was dropped beginning with the 2011 season.^[16][17][18]

In September 2010, the MBTA completed a study to determine the feasibility of extending regular commuter rail service to Foxboro station via the Franklin Line. The study looked at extending some Fairmount Line service to Foxboro, running shuttle trains from Foxboro to Walpole, or a combination of both.^[19] The MBTA planned to purchase trackage prior to restoring service; the Framingham Secondary, which provides access to Foxboro station, was acquired by the MBTA effective June 17, 2015. (CSX Transportation, the former owner of the branch, retained trackage rights over it.)^[20]

In August 2017, the MBTA Fiscal Control Board approved an 11-month pilot program to test commuter rail service to Foxboro, with service planned to begin sometime in late 2018 or early 2019, although Fairmount Line advocates warned it might reduce service quality to existing Fairmount Line stations.^[21] In October 2017, the MBTA indicated that service would begin on May 20, 2019.^[22] Service during the trial period will consist of seven daily round trips - three during the morning peak period, three in the evening peak, and one midday.^[23] The launch date was later delayed to October 21, 2019.^[24][7] By December 2019, daily boardings at Foxboro averaged 70 - one-third of the projected ridership.^[25]

Substantially reduced schedules were in effect from March 16 to June 23, 2020.^[7] Foxboro pilot service was suspended on November 2, 2020, with the intention for it to resume in Spring 2021.^[26] In November 2020, as part of service cuts during the pandemic, the MBTA proposed to close Plimptonville along with five other low-ridership stations on other lines.^[27] On December 14, the MBTA Board voted to enact a more limited set of cuts, including indefinitely closing Plimptonville and four of the other five stations.^[28][29] That day, temporary reduced schedules were again put into place.^[30]

On January 23, 2021, reduced schedules went into place with no weekend service on seven lines, including the Franklin Line.^[7] Weekend service on the seven lines is scheduled to resume on July 3, 2021.^[31] Service changes on April 5, 2021, added midday service as part of a transition to a regional rail model, with hourly service between Walpole and Boston and less frequent service south of Walpole. Foxboro service was not resumed at that time.^[32][33] As part of that schedule change, all Franklin Line trains began stopping at Ruggles station after an additional platform there was completed.^[34][33] Weekend service on the Franklin Line and the six other lines is scheduled to resume on July 3, 2021.^[35]

Milford extension[]

In July 2011, the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization began studying the viability of extending Franklin Line commuter rail service to Hopedale and Milford. The study would update a 1997 MBTA evaluation that concluded costs outweighed the benefits of a possible expansion. Local officials believe increased population and track upgrades to the Grafton and Upton Railroad may increase the viability of an extension.^[36] 8 miles of track from Franklin Junction to Milford were leased by the MBTA from Conrail for the Forge Park/495 extension and to establish the possibility of future service to Milford.^[7] A 2004 analysis determined that the extension would cost $70.5 million and attract about 1,800 additional riders per weekday.^[37]

Station listing[]

Fare zone	Location	Mile (km)[38]	Station	Connections and notes
1A	Boston	0.0 (0.0)	South Station	Amtrak: Acela, Lake Shore Limited, Northeast Regional MBTA Commuter Rail: Fairmount, Framingham/Worcester, Greenbush, Needham, Old Colony, and Providence/Stoughton lines; CapeFlyer (seasonal) MBTA subway: Red Line, Silver Line (SL1, SL2, SL3, SL4) MBTA bus: 4, 7, 11 Intercity buses at South Station Bus Terminal
		1.2 (1.9)	Back Bay	Amtrak: Acela Express, Lake Shore Limited, Northeast Regional MBTA Commuter Rail: Framingham/Worcester, Needham, and Providence/Stoughton lines MBTA subway: Orange Line MBTA bus: 10, 39, 170
		2.2 (3.5)	Ruggles	MBTA Commuter Rail: Needham and Providence/Stoughton lines MBTA subway: Orange Line MBTA bus: 8, 15, 19, 22, 23, 28, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, CT2, CT3
		5.0 (8.0)	Forest Hills	Served by Needham Line and Orange Line trains only
		6.5 (10.5)	Mount Hope	Closed November 2, 1979
1		8.4 (13.5)	Hyde Park	MBTA bus: 32, 33, 50, 192
2		9.2 (14.8)	Readville	MBTA Commuter Rail: Fairmount Line MBTA bus: 32, 33
	Dedham	10.9 (17.5)	Endicott
		11.8 (19.0)	Dedham Corporate Center
3	Westwood	12.5 (20.1)	Islington
	Norwood	14.3 (23.0)	Norwood Depot
		14.8 (23.8)	Norwood Central
4		16.6 (26.7)	Windsor Gardens
	Walpole	17.7 (28.5)	Plimptonville	Closed January 23, 2021
		19.1 (30.7)	Walpole	Junction with Framingham Secondary to Foxboro
	Foxborough	22.6 (36.4)	Foxboro	Located on the Framingham Secondary, served weekdays (as part of a pilot program) and for special events at Gillette Stadium
5	Norfolk	23.0 (37.0)	Norfolk	GATRA: Medway "T" Shuttle
6	Franklin	27.5 (44.3)	Franklin/Dean College	GATRA: Franklin Area Bus
		30.3 (48.8)	Forge Park/495	GATRA: Bellingham "T" Shuttles
	Blackstone	36.4 (58.6)	Blackstone	Closed April 24, 1966
Currently operating station

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to MBTA Franklin Line.

• MBTA - Franklin Line
• MBTA - Foxboro Weekday Service Pilot