| Milford Secondary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 North end of the Milford Secondary in Milford in 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Worcester County and Norfolk County | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini |
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| Line length | Active: 8.4 miles (13.5 km) Abandoned: 11.4 miles (18.3 km) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Milford Secondary is a railroad line that runs between Franklin and Milford, Massachusetts, United States.
The southern end of the line is at Franklin Junction, just southwest of downtown Franklin, where it splits off from the Franklin Branch. It runs west through Franklin, with Forge Park/495 station located in an industrial park in southwest Franklin. It continues into Bellingham, where it crosses the Charles River in a reverse curve. The middle portion of the curve was formerly shared with the Charles River Branch, which is now abandoned except for a short siding south of the former junction (Bellingham Junction). [1] The Milford Secondary continues northwest to its terminus at Central Street in downtown Milford, meeting the Grafton and Upton Railroad at a junction just south of downtown. [1] As of 2021 [update] , only two active freight customers remain on the line, both between Forge Park and Bellingham.
The Milford Branch of the Boston and Albany Railroad (B&A) formerly terminated on the opposite side of Central Street, with freight tracks connecting the two lines. The now-abandoned portion of the Milford Secondary continued north, paralleling the Charles River to its source. It turned east in Hopkinton, then north into Ashland, meeting the B&A near Ashland station. [1] Two portions of the abandoned line have been converted into sections of the Upper Charles Trail, a regional rail trail.
The Milford and Woonsocket Railroad was chartered in 1855. It opened in 1868 from Milford to Bellingham Junction on the Charles River Branch Railroad, which ran from Boston to Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was immediately leased by the Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W), which connected to the Charles River Branch Railroad at Woonsocket, to forestall competition. [1] Passenger service on the line was focused on Milford–Woonsocket traffic. [2]
The Hopkinton Branch Railroad was chartered in 1869 to construct a branch from Ashland on the B&A mainline to Hopkinton. In 1870, it was combined with another planned line, the Hopkinton and Milford Railroad, to form the Hopkinton Railroad. The railroad opened between Milford and Ashland in December 1872 and was immediately leased by the P&W. [1]
The Milford, Franklin and Providence Railroad was chartered in 1882 to built from Bellingham Junction to Franklin Junction on the New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) mainline. [1] It opened in August 1883, allowing through service from Milford to Boston via Franklin. [2] The P&W lease of the Milford and Woonsocket expired that year. The Milford and Woonsocket began independent operation of its own line plus the Hopkinton and the Milford, Franklin and Providence; it purchased the former line in 1884. This gave it a 20-mile (32 km) line between Ashland and Franklin Junction. [1]
The Milford and Woonsocket was leased by the NY&NE in September 1887. The NY&NE entered bankruptcy in 1893; its 1895 successor New England Railroad was leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1898 as its Midland Division. [1] [2] In August 1898, service on the line consisted of two Ashland–Franklin round trips plus three Milford–Franklin round trips, one of which ran through to Boston. [2]
The Milford and Woonsocket was never a strong railroad; the only major population between Franklin and Ashland was Milford, which had a more direct route to Boston via the B&A Milford Branch. [1] From 1911 to 1914, the B&A and the New Haven operated several circuit services, wherein trains would leave Boston on one mainline and return on another. One circuit used the line between Ashland and Franklin Junction plus the B&A and the Midland Division mainlines. Service in September 1912 had two daily trips each way over that circuit, plus two Franklin–Ashland–Boston round trips. [2]
Service between Ashland and Milford was reduced to a single mixed train in 1914. [2] [3] The southern half of the line was similarly reduced to a mixed train in 1919, and all passenger service between Ashland and Franklin Junction ended the next year. [2] [1] In 1926, the New Haven replaced Boston–Woonsocket service over the Charles River Branch with Boston–Bellingham Junction–Franklin trains plus Bellingham Junction–Woonsocket shuttles. This lasted until July 18, 1938, when all Charles River Branch service was discontinued as part of the 88 stations case. [2] [1] It resumed briefly in March 1940, but service south of Caryville (including the segment between Bellingham Junction and Franklin) ended again that May. [4]
The New Haven abandoned the line north of Hopkinton in 1938, after the Interstate Commerce Commission refused their initial proposal to abandon north of Milford. The line was further cut back to Fletcher's Quarry in North Milford in 1953, and to Fells Avenue in Milford six years later. Freight service on the remaining section passed to Penn Central in 1969 and Conrail in 1976. Conrail abandoned a short section from Fells Avenue to Central Street in Milford in 1987. [1]
In July 2011, a study by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization proposed implementing new MBTA Commuter Rail service along the line. The new service was to be an extension of the existing Franklin Line, and the plan was to create a new station in Milford, before the commuter rail would diverge onto the Grafton and Upton Railroad, and eventually terminate in Hopedale. A second Milford station was additionally proposed near the intersection of Central and Depot streets, but this location was past where the Grafton and Upton Railroad connects with the line, and it was scrapped from the project. As of May 2018, construction on this extension has not begun, and no indication of when or if it will has been made. [5] On March 1, 2023, the MBTA filed an exemption notice with the Surface Transportation Board to acquire the line from CSX Transportation, with the contract for sale then dated to be completed on April 11, 2023. [6]
The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983.
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 134 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 Maine Central Railroad was a U. S. class 1 railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to 1,358 miles (2,185 km) when the United States Railroad Administration assumed control in 1917. The main line extended from South Portland, Maine, east to the Canada–United States border with New Brunswick, and a Mountain Division extended west from Portland to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and north into Quebec. The main line was double track from South Portland to Royal Junction, where it split into a "lower road" through Brunswick and Augusta and a "back road" through Lewiston, which converged at Waterville into single track to Bangor and points east. Branch lines served the industrial center of Rumford, a resort hotel on Moosehead Lake and coastal communities from Bath to Eastport.
The Providence and Worcester Railroad is a Class II railroad operating 612 miles (985 km) of tracks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as well as New York via trackage rights. The company was founded in 1844 to build a railroad between Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts, and ran its first trains in 1847. A successful railroad, the P&W subsequently expanded with a branch to East Providence, Rhode Island, and for a time leased two small Massachusetts railroads. Originally a single track, its busy mainline was double-tracked after a fatal 1853 collision in Valley Falls, Rhode Island.
The Grafton and Upton Railroad is a Class III short line railroad in east-central Massachusetts. This 24.85 mile line runs from Grafton to Franklin and connects to CSX Transportation lines at both ends. Following a period of decline and neglect, maintenance and repairs began in 2008 with the aim of returning the line to operable condition.
The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Passenger service is provided on the line by Amtrak, as part of their Lake Shore Limited service, and by the MBTA Commuter Rail system, which owns the section east of Worcester and operates it as its Framingham/Worcester Line.
The New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) was a railroad connecting southern New York State with Hartford, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; and Boston, Massachusetts. It operated under that name from 1873 to 1893. Prior to 1873 it was known as the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad, which had been formed from several smaller railroads that dated back to 1846. After a bankruptcy in 1893, the NY&NE was reorganized and briefly operated as the New England Railroad before being leased to the competing New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1898.
The Housatonic Railroad is a Class III railroad operating in southwestern New England and eastern New York. It was chartered in 1983 to operate a short section of ex-New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in northwestern Connecticut, and has since expanded north and south, as well as west into New York State.
The Franklin Line, also called the Franklin/Foxboro Line, is part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system. It 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 to access South Station. Most weekday trains, and all weekend trains, bypass Hyde Park.
The East Junction Branch is a historic railroad line owned and operated by the Providence and Worcester Railroad in the U.S. state of Rhode Island and by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Massachusetts. The line runs from the P&W's East Providence Branch in East Providence, Rhode Island, northeast to Amtrak's Shore Line at East Junction in Attleboro, Massachusetts, along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line. In Massachusetts, CSX Transportation operates local freight service via trackage rights, which it also has on the Shore Line north towards Boston. The Massachusetts Coastal Railroad and the MBTA commuter rail have operating rights in Massachusetts; however, neither have ever run trains on the branch.
Franklin/Dean College is an MBTA Commuter Rail station located in Franklin, Massachusetts near Dean College. It serves the Franklin Line, for which it was the terminus from 1966 to 1988. The station has a mid-sized park and ride lot to serve town residents; Forge Park/495 station is intended to serve commuters from other nearby towns. The 1912-built station building still serves as a waiting hall and café, open during morning commute hours on weekdays. Franklin/Dean College station has a single side platform serving the line's single track; it is not accessible.
Forge Park/495 station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail station on the Franklin Line located off Route 140 near Interstate 495 in Franklin, Massachusetts, United States. A park and ride station serving southwestern Boston suburbs and northeastern Rhode Island, it is the outer terminus of the Franklin Line. The station has two side platforms serving a single track, with an accessible mini-high platform and a station building on the south platform.
Bellingham Square station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Silver Line bus rapid transit (BRT) station located near Bellingham Square slightly north of downtown Chelsea, Massachusetts. The station has two accessible side platforms for buses on the SL3 route. The Boston and Maine Railroad and predecessor Eastern Railroad served Chelsea station at the same location from the mid-1850s to 1958. The MBTA opened Chelsea station on the Newburyport/Rockport Line in 1985. Prior to its 2010 cancellation, the Urban Ring Project planned for a circumferential BRT line with a stop at Mystic Mall. Planning continued for the Chelsea segment; a Silver Line extension to Mystic Mall was announced in 2013. Construction began in 2015, and SL3 service to the renamed Bellingham Square station began on April 21, 2018. Commuter rail service moved to the newly constructed Chelsea station on November 15, 2021.
The Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was formed on June 1, 1876, when the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad merged with the New Bedford Railroad. The Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad connected with the key railroad hubs of Worcester, Framingham, and Ayer, as well as several important industrial towns such as Fitchburg and Lowell, with the latter coming through a lease of the Framingham and Lowell Railroad. The New Bedford Railroad linked Framingham with New Bedford, which was a key deep-water port.
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.
The Dighton and Somerset Railroad, currently referred to as the Dean Street Industrial Track, is a railroad that ran between Fall River and Braintree, Massachusetts. It opened in 1866; from the 1890s to the 1930s and again in the late 1950s, it was the primary rail route from Boston to the South Coast. Passenger service ended in stages with the final regular service in 1958, though freight service on two short segments continues into the 21st century. MBTA Commuter Rail service is proposed to be extended onto the northern part of the line around 2030 as part of the South Coast Rail project.
The Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1840 to provide a rail connection between Fitchburg and Worcester. Service began on February 11, 1850, running 18 miles from Fitchburg through Leominster and Sterling to Sterling Junction, where it connected with the Worcester and Nashua Railroad.
The Charles River Railroad was a railroad in Massachusetts. It ran from a connection with the end of the Charles River Branch Railroad in Dover to Bellingham through the current-day towns of Medfield, Millis, and Medway.
The Woonsocket Union Railroad was a railroad in Rhode Island. It was incorporated in Rhode Island in 1850 to build a rail line from the Massachusetts state line near Woonsocket through the towns of Smithfield, Burrillville, and Glocester to the Connecticut state line.
The Millis Branch was a branch of what is now the MBTA Commuter Rail system. Branching off the still-operating Needham Line at Needham Junction, it ran through the towns of Dover, Medfield, Millis, and Medway. Due to lack of subsidies and poor ridership, the line was cut back to Millis station in April 1966, and all service ended on April 21, 1967.
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