page_title: Highland branch
section_title: Sale to MTA
hierarchical_section_title: Highland branch / History / Sale to MTA
caption_attribution_description: English: An inbound train at Eliot station in March 2016
context_page_description: The Highland branch, also known as the Newton Highlands branch, was a suburban railway line in Boston, Massachusetts. It was opened by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1886 to serve the growing community of Newton, Massachusetts. The line was closed in 1958 and sold to the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which reopened it in 1959 as a light rail line, now known as the D branch of the Green Line.
  The first section of what became the Highland branch was built by the Boston and Worcester Railroad between Boston and Brookline in 1848. The Charles River Branch Railroad, a forerunner of the New York and New England Railroad, extended the line to Newton Upper Falls in 1852. The B&A bought the line in 1883 and extended to Riverside, rejoining its main line there. The MTA electrified the line when it rebuilt it for light rail use.
  The conversion of the Highland branch into a light rail line was pioneering in several ways. Amid a backdrop of failing private passenger service in the United States, it was the first time a government entity in that country had assumed full responsibility for losses on a route.
context_section_description: The Massachusetts state legislature had first proposed replacing the conventional train service on the Highland branch with streetcars running from the Tremont Street Subway in 1926. The next major round of planning in the mid-1940s suggested the same conversion, along with a branch to Needham. The idea returned in the mid-1950s as a combination of factors, both general and specific, made the concept attractive. The commuter rail business had ceased to be profitable for most railroads in the United States. Causes included high structural costs of doing business, loss of demand outside of rush hour, and restrictive regulations. The Boston-area railroads were not immune to these trends, and as the decade wore on sought to end or reduce their money-losing commuter operations. In addition, the extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike over part of the B&A main line would reduce its capacity going forward. By 1957, daily ridership was just 3,100 passengers.
  The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) first proposed buying the Highland branch and rebuilding it as a light rail line in 1956, for a total estimated cost of $9 million. The MTA was attracted to the project because it could extend rapid transit service quickly and cheaply. The state legislature approved the purchase and a total expenditure of $9.2 million on June 20, 1957. By the time the New York Central ended the seven inbound and nine outbound daily trains on May 31, 1958, daily patronage on the branch had fallen to 2,200 passengers. The MTA bought the Highland branch from the Boston and Albany on June 24, 1958 for $600,000. Even as the MTA took this action, the Boston and Maine Railroad was reducing service on its lines radiating out of North Station and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad threatened to end all service on the Old Colony Railroad lines.
  Construction on the new light rail line began on July 10, 1958. A new 1,150-foot (350 m)-long tunnel was built to connect with the existing Beacon Street Line tunnel west of Kenmore Square. Streetcar stations with automobile parking were built at all the former station sites; Riverside and Woodland were both relocated to the southeast. Additional construction included a yard at Riverside; a loop, busway, and connection with the existing yard at Reservoir; an additional station at Park Drive; and overhead electrification including a new substation at the South Boston power station. The MTA reopened the branch as the Riverside Line on July 4, 1959. Total construction costs came to $8 million. Daily ridership was 25,000, ten times what the B&A trains had carried at the end. The project was "ahead of schedule and under budget", and ridership exceeded projections. The faster acceleration of the electric streetcars permitted faster operation between downtown and Riverside (35 minutes versus 40 minutes) than the conventional trains they replaced. While other government entities were subsidizing passenger operations around the United States, it was the only example at that time of a government entity taking on the entire cost of what had been a private operation, and the only case of a commuter rail line converted to light rail. By 1960, the line was estimated to reduce rush hour congestion in downtown Boston by seven percent.
  Though successful, the conversion was cheaply constructed, and further upgrades were soon needed. From June 1960 to January 1961, the MTA enlarged Riverside Yard and added a maintenance facility, upgraded the power infrastructure, and improved the signalling system. In 1967, the MBTA (which had replaced the MTA in 1964) designated the line as the Green Line D branch as part of systemwide rebranding. Ridership on the surface section of the D branch has remained relatively constant since 1959 - a 2010-2011 count found 24,632 weekday boardings. Short sections of the Highland branch remained connection at both ends for freight service until the 1970s. The Lower Falls branch between Newton Lower Falls and Riverside was out of service after 1972, leaving just the short section at Riverside Yard; the b
caption: A train at Eliot station in 2016
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