Needham Line

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Needham Line
An outbound Needham Line train at Bellevue station in 2018
Overview
OwnerMBTA
LocaleGreater Boston
Termini
Stations12
Service
TypeCommuter rail
SystemMBTA Commuter Rail
Train number(s)600–633 (weekday)
1600–1615 (Saturday)
2600–2615 (Sunday)
Operator(s)Keolis North America
Daily ridership4,881 (October 2022)[1]
Technical
Line length13.7 miles (22.0 km)[2]
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map

Legend
 Red   to Alewife
0.0 mi
0 km
 South Station
Silver Line (MBTA) Red Line (MBTA) MBTA Commuter Rail Amtrak
 Red   to Ashmont or Braintree
Fairmount Greenbush Old Colony
 Orange   to Oak Grove
1.2 mi
1.9 km
 Back Bay
Orange Line (MBTA) MBTA Commuter Rail Amtrak
 Framingham/Worcester 
 Massachusetts Avenue
2.2 mi
3.5 km
 Ruggles
Orange Line (MBTA) MBTA Commuter Rail
 Roxbury Crossing
Jackson Square
Stony Brook
Green Street
5.0 mi
8 km
 Forest Hills
 Orange 
Franklin/Foxboro Providence/Stoughton
6.4 mi
10.3 km
 Roslindale Village
7.2 mi
11.6 km
 Bellevue
7.6 mi
12.2 km
 Highland
8.0 mi
12.9 km
 West Roxbury
10.9 mi
17.5 km
 Hersey
12.0 mi
19.3 km
 Needham Junction
Millis Branch
12.7 mi
20.4 km
 Needham Center
Needham Layover
13.7 mi
22 km
 Needham Heights
to Newton Highlands
This diagram:

The Needham Line is a branch of the

West Roxbury, and the town of Needham
. The second-shortest line of the system at just 13.7 miles (22.0 km) long, it carried 4,881 daily riders in October 2022. Unlike the MBTA's eleven other commuter rail lines, the Needham Line is not a former intercity mainline; instead, it is composed of a former branch line, a short segment of one intercity line (running in the reverse of its original direction), and a 1906-built connector.

History

West Roxbury Branch

The

Highland was added around 1855.[4]

Charles River Branch Railroad

Needham Center station in 1904

On June 1, 1853, the

Riverside, forming the complete Highland branch.[4]

Needham cutoff

Needham Junction station, built in 1906

The Needham cutoff opened on November 4, 1906 from

Bird's Hill opened as an infill station in 1917.[4]

The segment from West Roxbury to Dedham was subsequently abandoned; the segment from Needham Junction to Cook Junction saw reduced passenger service. Loop service jointly run by the B&A and the New Haven operated over the cutoff and the Highland branch via Needham from 1911 to 1914; after that, most Needham trains originated at Needham Heights or Newton Highlands. Service between Newton Highlands and Newton Upper Falls ended in 1927, and between Needham Heights and Newton Upper Falls in 1932, leaving Needham Heights as the terminus of the line.[4]

Spring Street station on the line to Dedham was closed on July 18, 1938, as part of the 88 stations case. West Roxbury–Dedham service ended effective May 6, 1940.[9]

MBTA era

Highland station in 2012 with its 1980s-built mini-high platform

The

Penn Central on January 27, 1973, along with most of the other southside lines.[10] The stop at Forest Hills, not used since 1940 as the adjacent Washington Street Elevated provided more frequent service, was reopened in June 1973.[10]

When the plans to replace the Elevated were drawn up in the 1960s, the new Orange Line was planned to continue past Forest Hills to Needham Heights, replacing the Needham Line. However, as the project was stalled over the next few decades, funding was found only to complete the replacement portion to Forest Hills in 1987, and so the Needham Line was kept as a locomotive-hauled commuter service. During Southwest Corridor construction from 1979 to 1987, the line was closed; upon the initial closure, service levels on the nearby Framingham Line were increased substantially to compensate for the loss of Needham service.[10]

Weekend service and COVID-19 changes

Since the New Haven era, the line has had Saturday service but not Sunday service. Experimental Sunday service was operated from July 11, 1992 until February 14, 1993 along with other new southside weekend service, some of which was made permanent. As part of systemwide service cuts due to budget shortfalls, Saturday service was eliminated on July 7, 2012.

Positive Train Control equipment in order to meet a 2020 federal deadline.[13]

Substantially reduced schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic were in effect from March 16 to June 23, 2020.[10] These temporary systemwide reductions were put in place again on December 14, 2020.[14] Until 2021, the Needham Line plus some parts of the Providence/Stoughton Line were the only MBTA Commuter Rail routes without Sunday service. On January 23, 2021, reduced schedules went into place with no weekend service on seven lines, including the Needham Line.[10]

Service changes on April 5, 2021, added midday service – thus establishing all-day hourly service – as part of a transition to a regional rail model.[15] As part of that schedule change, all Needham Line trains began stopping at Ruggles station after an additional platform there was completed.[16][17] Additionally, the final Needham-bound train on weekdays began operating as a shuttle from Forest Hills station, with a transfer there from a Providence/Stoughton Line train.[18]

Weekend service on the Needham Line and the other six lines resumed on July 3, 2021, with both Saturday and Sunday service.[19] In May 2021, the town had considered having weekend service run only between Needham Junction and South Station to avoid train horns in downtown Needham.[20] As of February 2022, the line has 16 round trips on weekdays and 8 on weekends.[21] By October 2022, the line had 4,881 daily riders – 73% of pre-COVID ridership.[1]

An infill station at the West Roxbury Education Complex was proposed in 2023 as part of plans to move the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science to the site.[22] A station at the adjacent Gardner Street Landfill site (now Millennium Park) had previously been proposed in 1970.[23] The school relocation plan was cancelled in February 2024, but the city indicated it would continue planning the new station.[24]

Station list

Fare zone Location
Miles (km)[2]
 Station Connections and notes
1A
Boston
 0.0 (0.0) Disabled access South Station
11
Bus transport Intercity buses at South Station Bus Terminal
1.2 (1.9) Disabled access Back Bay
39
2.2 (3.5) Disabled access Ruggles
CT3
5.0 (8.0) Disabled access Forest Hills
51
1 6.4 (10.3) Disabled access Roslindale Village Bus transport MBTA bus:
51
7.2 (11.6) Disabled access Bellevue Bus transport MBTA bus:
38
7.6 (12.2) Disabled access Highland Bus transport MBTA bus:
37
8.0 (12.9) Disabled access West Roxbury Bus transport MBTA bus:
37
2 Needham 10.9 (17.5) Disabled access Hersey
12.0 (19.3) Disabled access Needham Junction Bus transport MBTA bus:
59
12.7 (20.4) Disabled access Needham Center Bus transport MBTA bus:
59
13.7 (22.0) Disabled access Needham Heights Bus transport MBTA bus:
59

References

  1. ^ a b Poftak, Steve (October 27, 2022). "GM Report" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. p. 6.
  2. ^ a b "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
  3. ^ "Dedham Branch Railroad". Boston Evening Transcript. July 16, 1849. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^
    ISBN 9780685412947
    .
  5. ISBN 9780942147087
    .
  6. ^ a b Clarke, George Kuhn (1911). History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911. University Press. pp. 413–416, 420, 422 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ISBN 9781555536510
    .
  8. ^ "Last Rail Laid: Work on Boston's Newest Railroad is Progressing Rapidly – The Air Line From West Roxbury to Needham Has Been Cut Through Solid Rock Part of the Way". Boston Daily Globe. 4 February 1906 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "New Schedules of New Haven Start Monday". Boston Globe. May 3, 1940. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  11. ^ "61 Hurt in Derailment of Needham-Hub Train". Boston Globe. April 11, 1966. pp. 1, 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Commuter Rail: Weekend Service Returning on 3 Lines" (Press release). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. October 7, 2014. Archived from the original on October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  13. ^ "Commuter Rail Positive Train Control (PTC): Update and Communications Plan for Suspension of Weekend Service" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. March 27, 2017. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  14. ^ "Commuter Rail to Temporarily Operate Reduced Service Schedule Starting December 14" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 10, 2021.
  15. ^ "Reminder: Spring 2021 Commuter Rail Schedules Take Effect April 5" (Press release). Keolis Commuter Services. April 1, 2021. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
  16. ^ "Ruggles Elevators and Commuter Rail Platform Now Complete" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. April 7, 2021.
  17. ^ "Ruggles/Back Bay/South Station: Spring 2021 Schedule" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. April 5, 2021.
  18. ^ "Needham Line Spring 2021 Schedule" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. April 5, 2021.
  19. ^ Coholan, Ryan (May 24, 2021). "Commuter Rail Performance Update" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. p. 7.
  20. ^ "Notice of Public Hearing Restoration of MBTA Commuter Rail Weekend Service" (Press release). Town of Needham. May 5, 2021.
  21. ^ Belcher, Jonathan (January–February 2022). "MBTA Vehicle Inventory as of February 28, 2022". Rollsign. Vol. 59, no. 1–2. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 17.
  22. ^ Pan, Deanna; Huffaker, Christopher (February 27, 2024). "Mayor Wu, Boston Public Schools call off plans to move the O'Bryant exam school to West Roxbury". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on March 4, 2024.
  23. ^ Ayres, James B. (June 14, 1970). "W.Roxbury recreation area sought". The Boston Globe. p. 59 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Wirzbicki, Alan (March 4, 2024). "A new train station in West Roxbury?". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on March 5, 2024.

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