Grand Junction Railroad Bridge | |
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Coordinates | 42°21′9.39″N71°6′37.25″W / 42.3526083°N 71.1103472°W Coordinates: 42°21′9.39″N71°6′37.25″W / 42.3526083°N 71.1103472°W |
Carries | Grand Junction Branch |
Crosses | Charles River |
Locale | Boston, Massachusetts to Cambridge, Massachusetts |
Characteristics | |
Design | Plate girder bridge |
Material | Steel |
History | |
Opened | 1927 [1] |
Location | |
The Grand Junction Railroad Bridge is a steel plate girder bridge carrying the Grand Junction Railroad over the Charles River in Boston, connecting the Boston University campus to Cambridgeport. In September 2009, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts finalized [2] an agreement to purchase several CSX rail lines in eastern Massachusetts, including the Grand Junction tracks from the Beacon Park Yard in Allston, through Cambridge. [3] The deal was closed on June 17, 2010. [4]
On November 21, 2012, the Grand Junction Railroad Bridge was closed to all rail traffic due to its poor condition. This was a change from a restriction put in place days earlier, on November 16, which barred freight trains from crossing, as well as restricting MBTA and Amtrak equipment moves to 5 miles per hour (8 km/h). While emergency repairs were under way, trains moving between the north and south sides of Boston had to be routed via Pan Am Railways trackage between Ayer, Massachusetts and Worcester, Massachusetts (a detour over 100 miles [160 km] in length). [5] The bridge reopened in early January 2013, but was closed again in March for major structural repairs, [6] reopening again in June.
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, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The NEC closely parallels Interstate 95 for most of its length, and is the busiest passenger rail line in the United States both by ridership and by service frequency as of 2013. The NEC carries more than 2,200 trains daily.
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 398 mi (641 km) of track to 141 different stations, with 58 stations on the north side and 83 stations on the south. It is operated under contract by Keolis, which took over operations on July 1, 2014, from the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company (MBCR).
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The Central Massachusetts Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. The eastern terminus of the line was at North Cambridge Junction where it split off from the Middlesex Central Branch of the Boston and Lowell Railroad in North Cambridge and through which it had access to North Station in Boston. From there, the route ran 98.77 miles west through the modern-day towns of Belmont, Waltham, Weston, Wayland, Sudbury, Hudson, Bolton, Berlin, Clinton, West Boylston, Holden, Rutland, Oakham, Barre, New Braintree, Hardwick, Ware, Palmer, Belchertown, Amherst, and Hadley to its western terminal junction at N. O. Tower in Northampton with the Connecticut River Railroad.
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. The third-longest and second-busiest line on the system, the Framingham/Worcester Line is plagued by poor track conditions, interference from freight trains, and a number of non-handicapped-accessible stations. Service on the line is a mix of local and express trains serving Worcester plus short-turn Framingham locals.
The Urban Ring was a proposed project of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to develop new public transportation routes that would provide improved circumferential connections among many existing transit lines that project radially from downtown Boston. The Urban Ring Corridor is located roughly one to two miles from downtown Boston, passing through the Massachusetts cities of Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Medford, Somerville, Cambridge, and Brookline. The project was expected to convert 41,500 car trips to transit trips daily.
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The New England Central Railroad began operations in 1995. It is a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming and runs from New London, Connecticut, to Alburgh, Vermont at the Canada–US border, a distance of 366 miles (589 km). The railroad interchanges with the CN, CSX, MCER, PAS, P&W, GMRC, WACR, and VTR.
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The Fall River Subdivision is a freight railroad line in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, with freight operations handled by the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad; it was formerly owned and operated by CSX Transportation. The line runs from the New Bedford Subdivision at Myricks south to Fall River along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line. At its south end, at the Rhode Island state line in Fall River, it becomes a line of the Providence and Worcester Railroad.
The New Bedford Subdivision is a freight railroad line in the U.S. state of Massachusetts owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, with freight operations handled by the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad. The line runs from the end of the CSX Middleboro Subdivision near Weir Village south to New Bedford along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line. It junctions the Fall River Subdivision at Myricks.
Readville station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail station located in the Readville section of the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by MBTA Commuter Rail Fairmount Line and Franklin Line. Readville is the outer terminus for most Fairmount service, though some trips continue as Franklin Line trains. The station is located at a multi-level junction, with the Northeast Corridor tracks at ground level and the Dorchester Branch above; Franklin lines use a connecting track with a separate platform. Platforms are available for the Providence/Stoughton Line on the Northeast Corridor tracks, but they are not regularly used. An MBTA maintenance and storage yard and a CSX Transportation freight yard are located near the station.
South Coast Rail is a project to build a new southern line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system along several abandoned and freight-only rail lines. The line has been planned to restore passenger rail service between Boston and the towns of Taunton, Berkley, Fall River, Freetown, and New Bedford, on the south coast of Massachusetts. It would restore passenger service to some of the southern lines of the former Old Colony Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
Medfield Junction is a railway junction and former train station located in northwest Medfield, Massachusetts. It is the junction of the Framingham Secondary and the former Millis Branch. The station was open from November 1861 until April 1967.
Fall River station is an under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail station in Fall River, Massachusetts. The station is being constructed as part of the South Coast Rail project and is expected to open in late 2023.
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