Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Closed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Cape Cod | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Continues as | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stations | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Tourist | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ridership | 19,000 (1985) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Closed | 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad was a railroad that provided tourist and seasonal passenger services in Southeastern Massachusetts in the 1980s. Its primary service operated from the Braintree MBTA station to Hyannis on Cape Cod; branches to Attleboro and Falmouth also operated in some years. The service ended after the 1988 summer season amid early-1989 state budget cuts in Massachusetts; much of the same trackage is being used for the seasonal CapeFLYER service.
The Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad began running Hyannis - East Sandwich excursion service in 1981. [1] Excursion service to Falmouth was added in 1982 and 1983. [2] In 1984, the state provided $148,000 in funding to allow the railroad to provide an otherwise-unsubsidized demonstration of regional service connecting to the newly completed Red Line rapid transit line at Braintree. [1] Service between Braintree and the Cape Cod destinations of Hyannis and Falmouth began on June 30, 1984. [3] Trains ran from Braintree to Hyannis and Falmouth. (Service directly to Boston was not possible because the Neponset River bridge had been destroyed by a 1960 fire; a new Neponset River bridge was not opened until Old Colony Lines commuter service began in 1997. [4] ) Intermediate stops initially included Holbrook, Brockton, Bridgewater, Middleboro, Wareham, and Buzzards Bay, plus Sandwich and West Barnstable on Hyannis trains. [3] The two daily round trips - one to each Cape Cod terminal - were the first regular service between the Boston area and the Cape in 25 years. [3] Braintree-Hyannis trips took three hours. [5]
Falmouth service (which ended quickly in 1984) and mid-week runs were dropped due to low ridership. During mid-1985, the railroad operated two round trips on Saturdays and Sundays, with two round trips on Fridays and Mondays for parts of the summer. [6] Running time was reduced to 21⁄2 hours; ridership rose from 8,000 passengers in 1984 to 19,000 in 1985. [7]
In 1986, the state approved a $5.5 million multi-year subsidy for seven-day-a-week seasonal service. [1] The railroad's insurance premiums skyrocketed, causing service to be delayed until mid-July. [8] Despite the delay, ridership still increased. [9] The state continued to subsidize weekday service for the next two years. [1]
Branch line service to Falmouth via a new stop at Cataumet resumed in 1988, along with a new branch to Attleboro via Taunton. Subsidies were cut from the state budget in 1989, and the CC&HR did not resume service that year. [10] In its final year of operation, the CC&HR carried 53,000 passengers between Braintree and Cape Cod, with an additional 6,700 riders on the Attleboro branch. [2] State audits in 1989 and 1990 showed that the family owners of the CC&HR had substantially profited from the subsidies, partially due to a lack of state oversight. [1]
Seasonal Amtrak Cape Codder service, which had begun in 1986, continued until 1996. The Bay Colony Railroad begin operating excursion service between Hyannis and Sagamore until the Cape Cod Railroad brand in 1989; the Cape Cod Central Railroad took over excursion service between Hyannis and Buzzards Bay in 1999. [11] Commuter service between Boston and Middleborough resumed in 1997 when the MBTA Commuter Rail Old Colony Lines were restored. In 2013, the state began CapeFLYER seasonal weekend service, operated by the MBTA using commuter rail equipment. The CapeFLYER provides similar service to the CC&HR, though it operates directly from Boston and makes fewer stops.
The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA's) transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over 394 mi (634 km) of track to 135 stations. It is operated under contract by Keolis, which took over operations on July 1, 2014, from the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company (MBCR).
The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Newport, Providence, Fitchburg, Lowell and Cape Cod. For many years the Old Colony Railroad Company also operated steamboat and ferry lines, including those of the Fall River Line with express train service from Boston to its wharf in Fall River where passengers boarded luxury liners to New York City. The company also briefly operated a railroad line on Martha's Vineyard, as well as the freight-only Union Freight Railroad in Boston. The OC was named after the "Old Colony", the nickname for the Plymouth Colony.
South Attleboro station is an MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line station in Attleboro, Massachusetts. It is located under Newport Avenue in the South Attleboro neighborhood, just north of the Rhode Island border. The station has two side platforms serving the two tracks of the Northeast Corridor, formerly connected by a footbridge to a park-and-ride lot; only the north platform is in use.
The Cape Cod Railroad is a railroad in southeastern Massachusetts, running from Pilgrim Junction in Middleborough across the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge, where it splits towards Hyannis in one direction and Falmouth in the other. It was incorporated in 1846 as the Cape Cod Branch Railroad to provide a rail link from the Fall River Railroad line in Middleborough to Cape Cod.
Foxboro station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Foxborough, Massachusetts, located adjacent to Gillette Stadium and the Patriot Place shopping center. The station has a single side platform serving the main track of the Framingham Secondary. It is the terminus of a branch of the Franklin/Foxboro Line service, and is served by trains from Boston via the Franklin/Foxboro Line and from Providence via the Providence/Stoughton Line during events at Gillette Stadium.
Braintree station is an intermodal transit station in Braintree, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA's Red Line and the MBTA Commuter Rail Old Colony Lines as well as MBTA buses.
The Cape Codder was a seasonal passenger train operated by Amtrak between New York City and Hyannis, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. It operated during the summer between 1986 and 1996. It was the first regular service from New York to the Cape since 1964. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad previously had operated a train under this name until 1958.
The Old Colony Lines are a pair of branches of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, connecting downtown Boston, Massachusetts with the South Shore and cranberry-farming country to the south and southeast. The two branches operate concurrently for 10 miles (16 km) via the Old Colony Mainline from South Station to Braintree station. The Middleborough/Lakeville Line then winds south through Holbrook, Brockton, Bridgewater, Middleborough, and Lakeville via the Middleborough Main Line and Cape Main Line. The Kingston Line heads southeast to serve Weymouth, Abington, Whitman, Hanson, Halifax, and Kingston by way of the Plymouth branch. Limited service to Plymouth was provided prior to April 2021 but was cut due to low ridership and budget constraints. The Greenbush Line, which was also part of the Old Colony Division, was reactivated in 2007 as a separate project.
The Providence/Stoughton Line is an MBTA Commuter Rail service in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, primarily serving the southwestern suburbs of Boston. Most service runs entirely on the Northeast Corridor between South Station in Boston and Providence station or Wickford Junction station in Rhode Island, while the Stoughton Branch splits at Canton Junction and terminates at Stoughton. It is the longest MBTA Commuter Rail line, and the only one that operates outside Massachusetts. The line is the busiest on the MBTA Commuter Rail system, with 17,648 daily boardings in an October 2022 count.
The Middleboro Secondary is a railroad line owned by MassDOT in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The line runs from Attleboro to Middleborough via Taunton.
Attleboro station is a commuter rail station on the MBTA's Providence/Stoughton Line located in Attleboro, Massachusetts. By a 2018 count, Attleboro had 1,547 daily riders, making it the fourth busiest station on the system outside Boston.
Holbrook/Randolph station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station on the border of Holbrook and Randolph, Massachusetts. It is served by the Middleborough/Lakeville Line.
Brockton station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Brockton, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Middleborough/Lakeville Line and is a stop on the seasonal CapeFLYER service. The station has a single accessible full-length high-level platform that serves the line's two tracks. It is located adjacent to the BAT Centre, the primary hub for Brockton Area Transit Authority local bus service.
Bridgewater station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, served by the Middleborough/Lakeville Line. It is located on the east end of the Bridgewater State University campus along the Middleborough Main Line.
Middleborough/Lakeville station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Lakeville, Massachusetts, just south of the Middleborough border. It is the southern terminus of the Middleborough/Lakeville Line; it is also an intermediate stop for seasonal CapeFlyer service to Cape Cod. Middleborough/Lakeville has a single full-length high-level side platform serving the line's single track.
Falmouth station is a bus station and former railroad station in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Built in 1912 to replace an older station, it was used for rail service until 1964, with brief revivals in 1984 and 1988.
Buzzards Bay station is a train station located on Main Street in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. The site also contains an interlocking tower. The Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge is adjacent.
The CapeFlyer is a passenger rail service in Massachusetts between Boston and Cape Cod that began in 2013. It is operated by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The service runs on the weekends, beginning Friday evenings and including holidays, between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend.
Taunton station was a passenger rail station located south of Oak Street in downtown Taunton, Massachusetts. As Taunton Central station, it served local and Boston-focused routes from 1836 to 1964. A later station at the same site served Amtrak's Cape Codder from 1986 to 1996, and Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad commuter trains in 1988.
Middleborough station is an under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail station in Middleborough, Massachusetts. It is expected to open in May 2025 as part of the South Coast Rail project, replacing Middleborough/Lakeville station for regular service. The station will have a single side platform located inside the wye between the Middleborough Main Line and the Middleboro Secondary.
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