Framingham Secondary

The Framingham Secondary (formerly the Framingham Subdivision) is a railroad line in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The line runs from Mansfield northwest to Framingham^[1] along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line. Its south end is at Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, over which CSX has trackage rights to reach the Middleboro Subdivision at Attleboro and the Boston Subdivision in Boston (via the Fairmount Line). Its north end is at the Framingham/Worcester Line; the Fitchburg Secondary continues northwest from Framingham.^[2]

Framingham Secondary
Foxboro station in April 2013
Overview
Status	Operating
Owner	MassDOT
Locale	Middlesex County, Norfolk County, and Bristol County Massachusetts
Termini	Framingham Mansfield
Stations	1 (active)
Technical
Line length	21.3 miles (34.3 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map Legend 21.3 mi 34.3 km Worcester Line to Back Bay or Worcester 13.7 mi 22 km Millis Branch 13.6 mi 21.9 km Medfield Junction (closed) Walpole Yard Franklin Branch to Readville 8.5 mi 13.7 km Walpole Franklin Branch to Forge Park/495 Foxboro Terminal 4.9 mi 7.9 km Foxboro 0.3 mi 0.5 km Mansfield Yard Northeast Corridor to South Station 0.0 mi 0 km Mansfield Northeast Corridor to Washington, D.C. This diagram: view talk edit

Special MBTA Commuter Rail trains use the line between Mansfield and Walpole for access to Foxboro station, which is used for New England Patriots home games and other major events at Gillette Stadium.^[3] Regular commuter service to Foxboro ran as a pilot in 2019-2020, and became permanent in 2022.

History

Foxboro station in 1912

Map of the Mansfield and Framingham Railroad

The Foxborough Branch Railroad was incorporated in 1862 to provide a rail connection from Mansfield through Foxborough to Walpole. In 1867, it became the Mansfield and Framingham Railroad, with a new charter allowing it to connect to the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad and Boston and Worcester Railroad at Framingham. The line was completed on May 1, 1870. On January 1, 1873, it was leased to the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad for fifty years, before merging with that railroad on June 1, 1875.

On June 1, 1876, the line became part of the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad with the merger of the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad with the New Bedford Railroad, forming an overall network of 126.2 miles of track.^[4] In 1879, the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad was leased to the Old Colony Railroad for 999 years, before being consolidated with the Old Colony in 1883. The line was double-tracked between Walpole and Mansfield in 1886.^[5] In 1893, it became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad as part of the lease of the entire Old Colony Railroad network.

Passenger service ceased in 1933. The line passed to Penn Central and Conrail, and was assigned to CSX Transportation as its Framingham Subdivision in the 1999 breakup of Conrail. Effective June 17, 2015, the state purchased the line for $23 million with the intent to upgrade it for faster game day service and eventual full-time passenger service.^[6] By 2021, 17 miles (27 km) of continuous welded rail had been installed.^[7]

See also

• List of CSX Transportation lines

References

1. CSX Timetables: Framingham Subdivision
2. Decker, J.C. (November 1, 2004). Albany Division Timetable No. 4 (PDF). CSX Transportation – via Multimodalways.
3. "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
4. Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, Feb 15, 1911, page 422
5. Twenty-Third Annual Report of the Old Colony Railroad Co. to the Stockholders. Old Colony Railroad Company. November 1886. p. 7.
6. Jessen, Klark (16 June 2015). "MassDOT Completes Framingham Secondary Rail Line Acquisition" (Press release). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
7. Slesinger, Meredith (July 21, 2021). "Report from the Rail and Transit Administrator". Massachusetts Department of Transportation. p. 5.

External links

• Media related to Framingham Secondary at Wikimedia Commons