The Framingham/Worcester Line is a MBTA Commuter Rail Line with two very different sections of service with very different histories. Today service operates as one cohesive line with service generally hourly or better on weekdays, and every two hours on weekends. During rush hours in both directions, a zonal express service operates with trains’ to and from Worcester running express non-stop from Framingham or West Natick to Boston Landing or Lansdown, connecting with local trains that have short-turned at Framingham.

A non-stop express train from Worcester into Boston operated from 2016 to 2023 called the “heart to hub” express service, primarily to allow Worcester politicians to boast that they had a train to Boston with an hour travel time instead of the normal 90 minutes. It was discontinued due to low ridership in September 2023, before returning as an AM rush hour only round-trip in Spring 2024, albeit with a stop in Framingham.

The portion of the line from Framingham to Boston is historic and has received continuous rail service since 1834, although the section from Newtown through Boston Back Bay was rebuilt from 1962 to 1964 to accommodate the building of the Boston Extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike and today the three intermediate stops west of Wellesley are dreadful falling apart low-level platforms next to the I-90. The rest of the stops out to Framingham are mostly historic and quaint with historic depots, low-level platforms, and lots of charm. Although these stations are not accessible with accessibility improvements planned (I am very curious how the Mass Pike stations are renovated).

Service west of Framingham wasn’t originally subsidized by the MBTA, with all intermediate stations west of Framingham closed in 1960, and the one remaining commuter train to Worcester discontinued in October 27, 1975. Amtrak maintained skeletal service to Worcester with the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago stopping in Worcester when it entered service in 1975 and various Massachusetts subsidized trains running “via the Inland Route via Springfield” between New York and Boston from 1984 until the early 2000s.

Commuter Rail service finally returned to Worcester (giving the line its current name) on September 26, 1994 with limited rush-hour service and off-peak service added on December 14, 1996. Four new modern intermediate park & ride stations, outside of town centers (although trains still pass through town centers with some historic depots) opened between 2000 and 2002, as part of the $97 million Worcester Commuter Rail Extension Project. These new stations are ADA accessible but only with mini-high platforms that have retractable platform edges because CSX still operated the line west of Framingham (with lots of freight trains and low on-time performance) until the MBTA purchased the line in 2011, and started dispatching it in 2013. Today nearly all CSX freight trains ending at the yard in East Worcester, east of the Worcester station and the original yard at Beacon Park is now a prime redevelopment site.

The Worcester/Framingham Line is a fairly high-speed commuter rail line and largely grade-separated except for five grade-crossings, the eastern most two are located in city of Framingham with just three more between Framingham and Worcester. There is also a pedestrian grade-crossing at Wellesley Hills that provides the only access to and from the Outbound platform.

A final, fun fact, about the Framingham/Worcester Line is that it follows the entire route of the Boston Marathon, one of the most historic marathon’s in the world that runs from suburban Hopkinton (3 miles south of the Southborough Station) 26.2 miles into Downtown Boston.