Framingham/Worcester Line

Framingham/Worcester Line
An outbound train at Westborough station in September 2016
Overview
Status	Operating
Owner	MassDOT (Back Bay to Riverside) MBTA (Riverside to Framingham) MassDOT (Framingham to Worcester)[1]
Locale	Central Massachusetts
Termini	Boston South Station Worcester Union Station
Stations	18
Service
Type	Regional rail/commuter rail
System	MBTA Commuter Rail
Train number(s)	500–598 (weekday) 1500–1519 (Saturday) 2500–2519 (Sunday)
Operator(s)	Keolis North America
Daily ridership	10,606 (October 2022)[2]
History
Opened	1834–1835 (Boston and Worcester Railroad)
Technical
Line length	44.3 miles (71.3 km)[3][1]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map 0.0 mi 0 km South Station Fairmount Greenbush Old Colony  Orange   to Oak Grove 1.2 mi 1.9 km Back Bay lines via Ruggles  Orange   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  Green Line D  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 This diagram: view talk edit

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, Ashland, Southborough, Westborough, Grafton, and Worcester. It is the third longest and third busiest line in the MBTA Commuter Rail system. Service on the line is a mix of local and express trains serving Worcester plus short-turn Framingham locals.

The Framingham/Worcester Line was one of the first commuter rail lines, with daily commuter-oriented service to West Newton beginning in 1834. Originally the Boston and Worcester Railroad, service has been operated by the Boston and Albany Railroad, New York Central, Penn Central, and since 1964 by Boston and Maine Railroad, Amtrak, and the MBCR until 2014 under contract to the MBTA. Since 2014 service has been operated by Keolis North America. In 1975 the line was cut back to Framingham, but service returned to Worcester in 1994 with four infill stations added between 2000 and 2002.

After purchasing the Framingham–Worcester trackage from CSX in 2012, the MBTA has begun adding service to the outer section of the line and performing track work to increase speeds and reliability. A new station at Boston Landing opened in 2017. All stations from Boston Landing east and West Natick west are accessible; Natick Center is being reconstructed for accessibility, while renovations to the six remaining stations are planned.