Lowell Line

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The Lowell Line is a railroad line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running north from Boston to Lowell, Massachusetts. Originally built as the Boston and Lowell Railroad, and later operated as part of the Boston and Maine Railroad's Southern Division, the line was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in Massachusetts.

1 Modern History
2 Accessibility
3 Station listing
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Modern History

In 1973 the MBTA bought the Lowell line, along with the Haverhill and all other local Greater Boston passenger lines. Along with the sale, the B&M contracted to run the passenger service on the Lowell line for the MBTA. After bankruptcy, The B&M continued to run and fulfill its Commuter Rail contract under the protection of the Federal Bankruptcy Court, in the hopes that a reorganization could make it profitable again. It emerged from the court's protection when newly-formed Guilford Transportation Industries (GTI) bought it in 1983.

When GTI bought the B&M, commuter rail service was in jeopardy. The MBTA had owned the trains and the tracks since 1973, but it had outsourced the operation to the B&M. When GTI bought the B&M in 1983, it had to honor the B&M contract, but GTI management was very much against passenger rail, and, in 1986, as soon as the contract expired, they let the job go to Amtrak.

From 1986 until 2003, Amtrak managed the entirety of Boston's commuter rail. It did decently, though at times had strained relations with the MBTA. Quibbles centered on equipment failures, numbers of conductors per train, and who takes responsibility when trains are late. Because of these bad relations and Amtrak's repeated announcements that the contract was unreasonable, few people were surprised at Amtrak's decision not to bid again for the Commuter Rail contract when it came up for renewal in 2003.

When the MBTA asked for new bids on the Commuter Rail operation contract, Amtrak did not bid but Guilford and the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company did. The MBCR ended up getting the contract. When the MBCR began operating the Commuter Rail in July of 2004, nothing changed for the commuters as it is the MBTA that owns the trains, tracks, and sets the schedules.

[edit] Accessibility

North Station is wheelchair accessible, as are Anderson RTC and stations north of there. See also MBTA accessibility.

[edit] Station listing

Milepost	City	Station	Opening date	Connections and notes
0.0	Boston	North Station		Orange Line and Green Line MBTA Commuter Rail north-side lines Amtrak Downeaster service to Maine
		Boston Engine Terminal		A flag stop with a wooden platform for MBTA employees only
				MBTA Fitchburg Line, Haverhill/Reading Line and Newburyport/Rockport Line split
	Cambridge	East Cambridge		closed on the old alignment, west of the current route
1.9	Somerville	Prospect Hill		closed originally Milk Row
2.4		Winter Hill		closed
2.8		Somerville Junction		closed originally Somerville split with Lexington and Arlington Branch
3.6		North Somerville		closed
4.0	Medford	Tufts University	November 1976 (had been open previously)	closed October 1979 originally College Hill
4.6		Medford Hillside		closed
5.5		West Medford
7.3	Winchester	Wedgemere		originally Mystic
7.8		Winchester Center		split with Woburn Branch
9.0		Winchester Highlands		closed June 1978
9.8	Woburn	Montvale		closed split with Stoneham Branch
		Lechmere Warehouse	1979	closed 1996 [1]
10.5		Walnut Hill		closed January 17, 1965
11.6		Mishawum	September 24, 1984 (had been open previously)	originally East Woburn
12.7		Anderson Regional Transportation Center	April 28, 2001	Amtrak Downeaster service to Maine originally South Wilmington (had been open previously)
	Wilmington	North Woburn Junction		not a station merge with Woburn Branch
15.2		Wilmington		split with Wildcat Branch, carrying the Amtrak Downeaster service (without stopping here)
17.0		Silver Lake		closed June 27, 1965?
	Billerica	East Billerica		closed June 27, 1965?
21.8	Billerica	North Billerica		junction with Bedford and Billerica Branch
24.6	Lowell	Bleachery		closed junction with Lawrence Branch, Lowell and Andover Railroad (B&M) and Lowell and Framingham Railroad (NYNH&H)
25.5		Lowell		originally Middlesex Street junction with Nashua and Lowell Railroad (B&L)
		Merrimack Street		closed

edit Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (official site)
Red Line		Alewife – Ashmont / Braintree ––– Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line: Ashmont – Mattapan
Green Line		Lechmere – Boston College ("B") / Cleveland Circle ("C") / Riverside ("D") / Arborway (Heath Street) ("E") ––– Watertown ("A")
Orange Line		Oak Grove – Forest Hills ––– Charlestown Elevated – Atlantic Avenue Elevated – Washington Street Elevated
Blue Line		Wonderland – Bowdoin
Silver Line		Dudley Square – Downtown Crossing; South Station – various points
Buses		List - Crosstown Buses - Former Streetcars - Trackless Trolleys - Key Routes - East Boston Area - South Boston - Urban Ring
Commuter Rail		Greenbush – Old Colony Lines (MBTA) – Fairmount – Providence/Stoughton – Franklin – Needham – Framingham/Worcester – Fitchburg – Lowell* – Haverhill/Reading – Newburyport/Rockport -* North-South Rail Link
Miscellaneous		Accessibility – Boat service – CharlieCard – Nomenclature
Predecessors		Boston Elevated Railway – Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway – Middlesex and Boston Street Railway