Boston & Maine The
Fitchburg Railroad was founded in 1842, and completed from Boston to Fitchburg in 1845. In 1854,
Henry David Thoreau wrote about his skepticism of the Fitchburg Railroad near Walden Pond in his book
Walden. The
Boston and Maine Railroad leased the Fitchburg Railroad in 1900 and bought it outright in 1919. In 1948,
The Master Highway Plan for the Boston Metropolitan Area proposed the construction of eight radial expressways around Boston connecting to the Inner Belt,
Interstate 695. A section of the Northwest Expressway, carrying a
concurrency of
Route 2 and
Route 3, was to run along the Fitchburg right-of-way from
Union Square in
Somerville to Sherman Street in
North Cambridge. This expressway would have taken up some or all of the trackbed, which was then four tracks wide in that section. After successful
highway revolts, Governor
Francis W. Sargent placed a hold on all highway construction inside
Route 128 in 1970. Following a study, Sargent permanently canceled the 1948 plans in 1972, thus also securing the corridor's future for railroad use. In January 1958, passenger service on the Fitchburg Division was cut back from the B&M's western terminal in
Troy, New York to
Williamstown; branch line service to
Bellows Falls, Vermont, (with connections for
Montreal) and
Maynard was discontinued that May, while Main Line service was further truncated to
Greenfield in December. All service west of
Fitchburg was dropped on 23 April 1960.
MBTA era When the newly formed
MBTA began subsidizing the
Boston & Maine Railroad's intrastate service on January 18, 1965, service was only kept to communities in the MBTA's limited funding district. All service on the Fitchburg Line west of
West Concord was cut, as was the low-ridership stop at Riverview; several other northside lines were cut or run at reduced service levels as well. On March 1, 1975, the line was cut back to , dropping stops at Ayer, , and . Two lightly used stops in Waltham – and – closed in June 1978. Gardner service was ended on January 1, 1987, when
Amtrak took over the MBTA contract, due to a dispute between Amtrak and Guilford; the MBTA only owned the trackage to Fitchburg. In December 2006, the MBTA again began branding certain winter weekend round trips as "ski trains". The train used includes a car equipped with ski racks; a shuttle bus to Wachusett Mountain connects at Wachusett station. In 2001, the MBTA began taking public comment for the decadal update to its
Program for Mass Transportation. Following response from legislators from communities along the line, the MBTA initiated a study of potential improvements to the line, including not only westward extension but also station improvements and travel time reductions. The 2004 edition of the
Program for Mass Transportation found that restoration of service all the way to Gardner, much less Athol, was deemed impractical for several reasons. Gardner is and Athol by rail from North Station – outside normal commuting distances. Instead, a 4-mile extension to a previously considered station in West Fitchburg was recommended. The
Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line Service Expansion Study was released in February 2005, drawing off the PMT conclusions. Recommended short-range improvements included station consolidation, track upgrades, and station improvements; longer-term projects included double-tracking, increased service frequency, and an extension to Wachusett or Gardner. The report priced out $55 million in infrastructure upgrades including double tracking through downtown Waltham and from South Acton to Willows, signal improvements, rebuilding Littleton/Route 495 station, and grade crossing modifications. An extension to Wachusett was to cost $39 million, with Gardner costing an additional $50 million. As an immediate change, the MBTA began running express trains on the line. Few of these expanded alternatives were ultimately pursued. The MBTA applied for a federal Small Starts grant in September 2005, and the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority filed a scoping package in April 2007 that began the analysis of construction alternatives. The
Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line Improvements Project Alternatives Analysis was released in September 2007 and outlined six options: no build with the addition of some
continuously welded rail to the line, a $30 million baseline with a new layover facility, and three build options ranging from $150 million to $239 million. Build Alternative 1, costing $150 million, was chosen. In January 2023, MassDOT announced that the total price for corridor track upgrades would cost between $1.044 billion to $2.187 billion and would take three years to construct. The line is currently planned for either electric or diesel service provided by
Amtrak with at least five round trips per day; there is currently no timeline for service implementation.
Funding and construction In November 2007, following the completion of five years of conceptual studies, the MBTA announced $150 million in projects to significantly upgrade the Fitchburg Line. The project focuses on reducing travel times, increasing service frequency, and improving on-time performance. With the addition of several smaller funding sources, the improvements ultimately became a $306 million project with five major components:
CPF-43 interlocking The first work completed was the addition of CPF-43, a new
interlocking located at Derby Curve in Leominster. Financed by $10.2 million in
ARRA funds, the work was intended to "provide commuter rail operational flexibility and to minimize conflicts with freight". CPF-43 includes a universal crossover between the two mainline tracks, plus a new connection to a siding with of space for maintenance-of-way equipment storage and 1000 feet to connect to existing freight customers. Construction work began in October 2009 and finished by the end of 2011. The $7.7 million project, which was funded by the
FTA through earmarks and formula funding, includes a covered busway and charging stations for electric cars. The garage opened on May 20, 2014. Construction of full-length high-level accessible platforms was considered as part of the project, but the platforms would have cost an additional $18 million and created clearance issues with passing Pan Am freight trains. The freight trains, which are slightly wider than standard passenger cars, frequently impact the mini-high platforms and would cause severe damage to full-length platforms.
Double tracking $43 million ($40 million in ARRA funds and $3 million from the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development) provided for the restoration of of double track from Central Street in West Acton to Willows Junction in Ayer. The double tracking work, including 8 grade crossing replacements and a new interlocking just east of Littleton station, was completed in November 2014.
Small Starts funding The largest piece of the project, funded by a total of $172 million in state money and
Federal Transit Administration "Small Starts" funding, involved incremental improvements to existing infrastructure. Work started in 2012 and was largely completed by the end of 2015. Funded by the same grant was a new layover yard in
Westminster, just west of the new station, which replaced a smaller yard in East Fitchburg. The town of Westminster opposed the project due to noise pollution issues, and filed complaints about the MBTA alleging that proper permits had not been obtained and that the agency had misled the town about construction delays. Construction was eventually allowed to proceed; the layover yard opened on November 21, 2016, along with full service to Wachusett station.
COVID-19 pandemic Substantially reduced schedules were in effect from March 16 to June 23, 2020. On December 14, reduced schedules went into effect due to limited employee availability. Again based on the existing Saturday service, these temporary schedules did not include service to Hastings and four other stations. That day, the MBTA Board voted to enact a more limited set of cuts, including indefinitely closing Hastings, Silver Hill, and three of the other four stations. On January 23, 2021, reduced schedules went into place with no weekend service on seven lines, including the Fitchburg Line. Upon resumption on May 3, weekday service on the line was changed to a
regional rail model with hourly service all day. Weekend service on the Fitchburg Line and the six other lines resumed on July 3, 2021. , the line has 15 Boston–Wachusett round trips and two Boston–Littleton round trips on weekdays, with eight Boston–Wachusett round trips on weekends. By October 2022, the line had 4,829 daily riders – 52% of pre-COVID ridership. This increased to 6,388 daily boardings by 2024. On September 11, 2023,
flash floods in
Leominster washed out an embankment near North Leominster station. Service between Shirley and Wachusett was replaced with buses until September 19. Additional weekday short turn service was operated between Porter and North Station from July 15–26, 2024, providing half-hour headways between those points while the Red Line was closed for maintenance work. Silver Hill station reopened on November 18, 2024.
Future development The MBTA has unsuccessfully attempted to sell
air rights for development over the tracks along Somerville Ave, near
Porter station. Air rights development has also been proposed along with a new commuter rail station for the tracks near
Alewife station. The city of Cambridge wants to put a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the tracks in this area to connect the two relatively isolated areas on either side, known as the Alewife Triangle part of
North Cambridge and the Quadrangle in
Cambridge Highlands. In June 2022, the MBTA indicated plans to begin
short turn service on 30-minute headways between Boston and Brandeis/Roberts or Lincoln by 2024. A
tail track to support this service, estimated to cost $6–7 million, was in planning. ==Trackage==