FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — For the second time, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will launch a pilot program offering extensive weekday commuter rail service to the Foxboro station, which generally has only seen service for events at the adjacent Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots.
The one-year pilot will offer 11 inbound trips and 10 outbound trips between Foxboro and South Station on weekdays via the commuter rail Franklin Line.
The MBTA had previously launched an 11-month Foxboro pilot program beginning in October 2019 [see “MBTA begins Foxborough service trial,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 21, 2019], but it was halted in spring 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re excited to again launch this weekday service pilot between Foxboro and South Station, providing access to transit for more Commuter Rail riders,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said in a press release. “We appreciate the collaboration with the Kraft Group, including in offering free parking at the station for the duration of the pilot. We continue to be committed to improving public transit across all of the communities we serve, and we look forward to analyzing the pilot’s data upon completion of the pilot.”
Schedule information is available at the MBTA website.
Open railway map confirms what has een posted here.
https://www.openrailwaymap.org/index.php
the map shows that the Foxboro branch exits just NE of the Walpole platform. So at present Walpole has no platform for Foxboro trains. If it Foxboro service deemed successful the a curved platform at Walpole might be in the future? On time keeping will be important as Walpole Norwood Depot is single track with no sidings.
Correct the open map shows complete access to / from Frankline & NEC
I think they all came down the Franklin Line. Maybe they are considering a Rhode Island service option on the other end? There is only one track so loading two trains on that short platform might be difficult although people can just walk down the length of each train from the end.
When I worked in Norwood another employee had tickets to the game. There was a serious snow storm outside and he didn’t know how he was going to get there. I told him about the train and I think he drove to Norwood Center and picked it up there.
Yes, the Mansfield quadrant is set up for possible trains between the stadium and Providence. This is part of the convoluted freight route from Selkirk (New York) to places like Taunton and Braintree. Eastbound freight goes westbound on NEC from Mansfield to Attleboro, two or three miles. And vice versa.
Many years ago, this wasn’t necessary, as there was a direct line to Taunton, crossing NEC with a diamond. That line is long gone but the ROW survives as a street south of Mansfield’s town center that looks like a railroad ROW — i.e. no houses fronting. There is also such a street in Royal Oak, Michigan, part of the former GTW Detroit to Pontiac main that was bypassed in the 1930’s.
The map shows the connecting quadrant at Mansfield but is misleading at the point where the Fairmount, Franklin, and Providence lines cross at Readville (Boston). The way the map is drawn implies no connecting quadrants but that’s not the case.
I am afraid you are looking for more accuracy than these generalized maps were designed to produce.
Charles, are you saying CSX operates to/from Attleboro and east of there via the T’s Worcester Main Line/ Framingham/Walpole/Foxboro/Mansfield? Must be some local job that works out of the small yard at Framingham that handles those cars.
Yup. Feeds freight up to Braintree, feeds Brockton and Taunton in the middle, down to the South Coast and onto Cape Cod. Only way in is Selkirk to Framingham. All lines east of Framingham are ex-New Haven.
The Braintree yard is visible from the Red Line which of course was built on the ROW; commuter rail came later. There is no freight north of Braintree (Quincy and Boston’s Dorchester district), only single – track commuter rail paralleling the Red Line with a passenger-length passing siding at North Quincy.
As we know, New Haven Railroad gave a name to a prison. MCI Walpole was renamed MCI Cedar Junction.
The map shows closing the circle between Foxboro/ Foxborough and the NEC main line at Mansfield. Which is not shown in the schedule. Apparently, this connection is used for stadium events.
The best I can make of this is that Foxboro/ Foxborough commuter trains come off the Franklin line, but stadium event trains come off the NEC main line with a backup move.
Comments anyone?