“Providence/Stoughton Line”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Providence/Stoughton Line is a line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system running southwest from Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The main line was originally built by the Boston and Providence Railroad, and now carries commuter trains between South Station in Boston and Wickford Junction station in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The Stoughton Branch, built as the Stoughton Branch Railroad, splits at Canton Junction and runs for two more stations to Stoughton station in Stoughton, Massachusetts.

An extension of the Providence section of the line to T. F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction opened in stages in 2010 and 2012, making the Providence/Stoughton Line the longest of the MBTA's commuter rail lines (surpassing the Fitchburg Line), while an extension of the Stoughton Branch to New Bedford and Fall River is under construction.

All stations are handicapped accessible with short or full-length high level platforms. Newer stations like T.F. Green Airport, and Amtrak stations like Providence, usually have full-length high level platforms; older stations have mostly been retrofitted with high-level platforms one car length long. The line is the busiest on the MBTA Commuter Rail system, with 25,728 daily boardings by a 2018 count.^[1]

History

On December 31, 1968, the recently formed Penn Central bought the failing New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The MBTA bought the section of the Providence–Boston line in Massachusetts, as well as many other lines including the Stoughton Branch, from Penn Central on January 27, 1973. On April 1, 1976 Conrail took over Penn Central and the commuter rail equipment was sold to the MBTA, though operation continued to be done by Conrail. Full subsidies by the MBTA for the Providence and Stoughton lines began on September 28, 1976, before which the Federal government helped. On March 31, 1977, the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority and Rhode Island Department of Transportation began to subsidize service beyond the MBTA district, and Stoughton began to pay to keep its station open, that cost later going to the Brockton Area Transit Authority.

On November 3, 1979, the line was closed north of Readville for long-term reconstruction as part of the Southwest Corridor project. All trains began using what is now the Fairmount Line, and special shuttle trains connected South Station to Back Bay. The new line, rebuilt below grade with space for three tracks (the old one had been above grade with room for four tracks), opened on October 5, 1987.^[3] The Orange Line shares the corridor between Back Bay and Forest Hills.

In 1990, a northbound commuter train was involved in a collision with a northbound Night Owl train. The accident, which occurred to the west of Back Bay station, injured over four hundred people, although there were no fatalities.^[4]

On February 20, 1981, the MBTA stopped serving Rhode Island, as funding from the state had ended. Rush-hour service was restored on February 1, 1988. On June 20, 1990, a new stop opened in South Attleboro and most trains were extended to the station; regular Sunday service returned in 1992.^[3] Some off-peak weekday trains were extended to Providence starting on December 11, 2000. Weekend service to Providence resumed on July 29, 2006.

In 2019, the MBTA had preliminary discussions with Amtrak about leasing Siemens ACS-64 locomotives to test on the Providence Line.^[5]

Extensions

As part of the South County Commuter Rail initiative, a 20-mile extension past Providence to T. F. Green Airport and Wickford Junction in Rhode Island is now fully open. The T. F. Green Airport part of the extension opened in December 2010, with Wickford Junction service beginning in April 2012.^[6]

A further 24-mile extension is under consideration by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. Possible stops include Cranston and East Greenwich, plus existing Amtrak stations in Kingston and Westerly and a possible revival of the Pawtucket/Central Falls station. Rhode Island eventually plans to have its own statewide commuter service along the Northeast Corridor that would connect with MBTA service and an extension of Shore Line East.^[7] This would be the first commuter service to Westerly since the last state-sponsored train was run in December 1979.^[3] A passing siding (currently under construction) and new platforms (planned) at Kingston may enable extension of some trains there in the near term.^[8]

The Stoughton branch is currently being extended to Taunton, Fall River, and New Bedford under a Proposed project called South Coast Rail, under which it would operate as a separate line rather than a branch of the Providence Line. Track has been bought from CSX, but construction has not yet begun on stations.

Ownership and financing

The MBTA owns the track from Boston to the Rhode Island border. Track in Rhode Island is owned by Amtrak. The entire line is part of the Northeast Corridor.

As part of the 1988^[9] Pilgrim Partnership Agreement, Rhode Island provides capital funding (including some of its federal formula funds) for MBTA expansion in the state. Massachusetts (through the MBTA) provides the operating subsidy for MBTA Commuter Rail service in return.^[10] Rhode Island also pays Amtrak to allow the MBTA to use its tracks.^[11]

Station listing

Shore Line (Northeast Corridor)

Stoughton Branch

References

1. ^¹{{cite web |url=https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/fmcb-meeting-docs/2019/01-january/2019-01-28-fmcb-commuter-rail-ridership-original.pdf |title=Commuter Rail Ridership Counts |date=January 28, 2019 |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority}}
2. ^{{MBTA Bluebook 2014}}
3. ^¹²³⁴⁵{{cite web |url=http://www.transithistory.org/roster/MBTARouteHistory.pdf |title=Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA District |author=Belcher, Jonathan |date=20 July 2011 |publisher=NETransit |accessdate=2 October 2011}}
4. ^{{cite web|title=Railroad Accident Report RAR-92-01: Derailment and Collision of Amtrak Passenger Train 66 with MBTA Commuter Train 906 at Back Bay Station, Boston, Massachusetts, December 12, 1990|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NTSB_RAR-92_01.pdf|publisher=National Transportation Safety Board, Washington, DC |date=25 February 1992}}
5. ^{{cite news |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/03/21/take-train-mbta-mulling-electric-locomotives/kWekh87ZPI7IKKr3EjmIUJ/story.html |title=Take the E-train? MBTA mulling electric locomotives |newspaper=Boston Globe |date=March 21, 2019 |first=Adam |last=Vaccaro}}
6. ^¹{{cite news |url=http://northkingstown.patch.com/articles/commuter-rail-station-to-open-in-2012 |title=Commuter Rail Station To Open In 2012 |author=Samantha, Turner |newspaper=North Kingston Patch |date=4 November 2010 |accessdate=2 October 2011}}
7. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.dot.ri.gov/documents/intermodal/OperationsPlanMaster2.pdf |title=South County Commuter Rail Service: Operations Plan |publisher=Rhode Island Department of Transportation |author=Edwards and Kelcey, Inc |date=July 2001 |accessdate=2 October 2011 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416051517/http://www.dot.ri.gov/documents/intermodal/OperationsPlanMaster2.pdf |archivedate=16 April 2009 |df= }}
8. ^{{cite news |url=http://www.pbn.com/Kingston-MBTA-stop-project-proposed,47003 |title=Kingston MBTA stop project proposed |newspaper=Providence Business News |author=Barrett, Chris |date=31 December 2009 |accessdate=8 April 2013}}
9. ^{{cite web |url=http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/news_events/?id=20815 |title=COMMUTER RAIL SERVICE TO WARWICK’S T.F. GREEN STATION UNDERWAY |publisher=Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority |date=8 December 2010 |accessdate=2 October 2011}}
10. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/RI_Providence_South_County_(2).doc |title=South County Commuter Rail |publisher=Federal Transit Administration |year=2011 |accessdate=2 October 2011}}
11. ^{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/10/vote_set_on_t_link_to_ri_airport/ |title=Vote set on T link to R.I. airport |newspaper=Boston Globe |author=Bierman, Noah |date=10 September 2009 |accessdate=2 October 2011}}
12. ^¹{{cite web |url=http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/movies/MBCR+Maps+(2010).pdf |title=Massachusetts Bay Colony Railroad Track Charts |year=2010 |author=Held, Patrick R. |publisher=Johns Hopkins Association for Computing Machinery |accessdate=2 February 2012 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008000656/http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/movies/MBCR%2BMaps%2B%282010%29.pdf |archivedate=8 October 2013 |df= }}
13. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.dot.state.ri.us/documents/intermodal/socountyrail.pdf |title=South County Commuter Rail Environmental Assessment |date=February 2003 |publisher=Rhode Island Department of Transportation |accessdate=14 April 2012 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324095315/http://www.dot.state.ri.us/documents/intermodal/socountyrail.pdf |archivedate=24 March 2012 |df= }}