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Framingham-Worcester: which track is which? 

6/12/2015

4 Comments

 
The easiest way to talk about the double track mainline from Worcester to Boston is by track number. The line has two tracks, conveniently named "1" and "2" (except where they're called "5" and "7"....).

From just west of Yawkey station all the way to Worcester, track #1 is on the north side of the line. In other words, looking or traveling from Boston out to Worcester, track #1 is on the right. Therefore, track #2 is the track closest to the parking lots in Wellesley Hills and West Natick. Through the stations in Newton, the platforms are only on the track #2 side. At Worcester station, the platform is on track #1 only. 

In Back Bay station, tracks #1, #2, and #3 are on the Providence / Northeast Corridor line (sometimes just called the "corridor"). So that forces us to have different track names, otherwise we would all get on trains to Providence! From just outside South Station to just past Yawkey (including in Back Bay station), track #7 is closest to the Mass Pike, is the northernmost track, and is almost exclusively outbound. From just outside South Station to just past Yawkey (including in Back Bay station), track #5 is closest to the Orange Line, is the southernmost track, and is almost exclusively inbound.  

In Allston, where there is only one track, it is just called the "main" or the "single track." This is the section of track that runs alongside the former Beacon Park freight yard between Exit 17 on the Mass Pike and Boston University. Although there are multiple parallel tracks, only the track closest to BU (the "single track") can be used for through train traffic. All of the other tracks are not signaled or controlled for traffic - they can only be used as part of the freight yard. So this "single track" doesn't have a track number, even though it could logically be considered track #2, since traveling straight from the single track in either direction puts you back on track #2 where the track becomes two parallel tracks. 

But the Back Bay naming oddities and the Allston single track situation are not that important - the important thing to remember is that  track #1 is on the north side of the line and track #2 is on the south side for the main part of the line west of Allston. 

I wanted to post this info here since it will be important for a couple of future blog post topics:
1) The current construction won't solve all of our heat restriction problems; and
2) Why do inbound and outbound rush hour trains use the same track from Framingham to Boston? [This topic is why I never refer to any track as "inbound" or "outbound" - the MBTA uses those names, but that really bugs me, since the trains travel in both directions on either track depending on the time of the day. Oh well.]
4 Comments
Joshua Moldover link
3/23/2016 17:37:27

One slight correction to your description of track numbering and platform location - the platform at Worcester is neither on Track 1 or Track 2 - it's on a controlled siding that is accessed from Track 1.

As a historical note, with regard to the track numbering from Yawkey through Back Bay to South Station, the numbering in use is a relic of the way the New Haven Railroad (the original owner of the Northeast Corridor) numbered their tracks. Typical eastbound tracks (the ones on the right side of the ROW heading toward Boston) had even numbers, and typical westbound tracks (the ones on the right side of the ROW heading away from Boston) had odd numbers, like this (for a 6-track ROW): 5-3-1-2-4-6. Because the ex-NYC/Boston & Albany line from Worcester officially ends at Back Bay, where it merges into the ex-NH line from Providence, the NH-style numbering gets used, and since the two tracks from Worcester are coming in on the odd side (next to Track 3), they get the next two odd numbers (5 and 7).

Reply
Dave
3/23/2016 20:27:26

Joshua! Love your timetables. Have a bunch.

Agreed on your correction with regards to Worcester. I dumbed it down for brevity and the general audience. And thanks for the added historical notes about track numbering at Back Bay - I know I have read that somewhere, but again, didn't include it in my original post for brevity.

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    As of late October 2017, the author is an MBTA employee. Blog posts prior to that time were created when I was NOT affiliated with the MBTA nor Keolis and therefore were my own opinion. Blog posts after October 2017 are my own personal statements and do not represent any official position or opinion of the MBTA and should not be construed as having been endorsed by the MBTA.  

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