page_title: Fairmount Line
section_title: Restoration of passenger service
hierarchical_section_title: Fairmount Line / History / Restoration of passenger service
caption_attribution_description: English: Outbound platform at Morton Street station before the 2006 reconstruction
context_page_description: The Fairmount Line or Dorchester Branch is a line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Except for a short portion in Milton, it lies entirely within Boston, running southwest from South Station through the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park. Weekend service began on November 29, 2014. Most trains reverse direction at the south end at Readville, but some Franklin Line trains use the Fairmount Line rather than the Northeast Corridor. On October 21, 2019, some Fairmount Line trains were extended over the Franklin Line to Foxboro as part of the Foxboro Line.
  From the 1980s until 2012, the Fairmount Line had only five stations: three plus the two termini; however, three more stations were added to the line between 2012 and 2013. The first of these, Talbot Avenue, opened on November 12, 2012, followed by Newmarket and Four Corners/Geneva on July 1, 2013. Due to neighborhood opposition over its design and location, another planned station, Blue Hill Avenue, did not open until February 25, 2019. All stations on the line are fully accessible.
  The corridor currently serves mostly low-income and working-class communities.
context_section_description: The MBTA had bought the Franklin Line tracks south of Readville from Penn Central in 1973. In 1976, the MBTA bought the Midland line from Readville to Southampton Street. On December 7, 1976, the agency awarded a $3.7 million contract to modernized the line for use as a bypass while the Northeast Corridor was closed during the Southwest Corridor project. Three of the old stations – Fairmount, Morton Street and Uphams Corner – were rebuilt with bare asphalt platforms and opened for local commuter service. On November 3, 1979, all trains on the Franklin and Providence/Stoughton Lines, as well as Amtrak intercity service, were rerouted via the Midland.  The restored service on the line was not intended to be permanent; however, it became locally popular. Uphams Corner and Morton Street stations closed on January 30, 1981, as part of system-wide cuts that included the closure of the Woburn Branch.
  On October 5, 1987, the new Southwest Corridor opened to commuter service; most Franklin Line and Attleboro/Stoughton Line service was rerouted through it. The MBTA began operating the Fairmount Shuttle (later known as the Fairmount Line) between South Station and Fairmount on the old Midland tracks as a response to community demand. The stops at Morton Street and Uphams Corner were reopened. The shuttle was extended to Readville on November 30, 1987. The route – sometimes called the Dorchester Branch by the MBTA – is used by some rush-hour Franklin Line trains to reduce load on the three-track Southwest Corridor and supplement the shuttle service. An MBTA study released in 2010 indicated that the most workable routing options for full-time service to Foxboro would involve extending some or all Fairmount Line trips to Foxboro over part of the Franklin Line.
  Some Providence/Stoughton Line trips used the Fairmount Line tracks until around 2004, when they were rerouted to the mainline to avoid passing through CSX's Readville 1-Yard. During disruptions on the Northeast Corridor north of Readville, Franklin and Providence service is sometimes diverted over the Fairmount Line.
caption: Morton Street station as built in 1979
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