Newburyport/Rockport Line
The Newburyport/Rockport Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running northeast from downtown Boston, Massachusetts towards Cape Ann and the Merrimack Valley, serving the North Shore. The first leg, operating via the Eastern Route of the former Boston and Maine Railroad, serves Chelsea, Lynn, Swampscott, Salem, and Beverly. From there, a northern branch continues via the Eastern Route to serve Hamilton, Ipswich, Rowley, and Newburyport, while other trains operate east from Beverly via the Gloucester Branch, serving Manchester, Gloucester, and Rockport. A bicycle coach is offered on the Rockport branch during the summer . History. The Eastern Route main line between Boston and Portsmouth, New Hampshire opened in 1836 as the Eastern Railroad. Ferries were used to transport passengers between the East Boston terminal and Boston proper. The line was extended to Portland, Maine, in 1842 under a track-sharing agreement with the Boston and Maine Railroad. The Gloucester Branch was constructed in 1847, but despite local support, it was not extended to Rockport until November 1861. In 1854, with the opening of the Grand Junction Railroad, the Eastern Railroad acquired direct access to downtown Boston. This access was more convenient than its previous  access, which required using the Saugus Branch or the South Reading Branch Railroad. The Boston & Maine leased the Eastern Railroad in 1884, and in 1893 the new North Union Station became the terminus of the B&M, its subsidiaries the Eastern Railroad and Boston & Lowell Railroad, and the Fitchburg Railroad. On February 28, 1956, a southbound Salem–Boston commuter train crashed into the rear of a stopped Portsmouth–Boston local train just north of Swampscott station during a snowstorm. The collision, blamed on the engineer operating at unsafe speeds for the conditions, killed 13 people and injured 283. A second collision  in Revere later that morning injured 143 people – some of whom had already been in the Swampscott wreck. On December 27, 1966, an outbound Budd RDC struck an oil tanker truck at Second Street in Everett, killing 13 people. Amesbury Branch service ended in 1936, and Essex Branch service in 1942. Branch line service declined heavily in the 1950s, with the single Salem–Marblehead round trip gone by 1957. Massive service cuts on May 18, 1958 ended all Saugus and Danvers branch service, closed all stations south of Lynn, and halved Marblehead service. Further cuts on June 14, 1959 ended  Marblehead Branch service; stations at East Lynn, Salisbury, and West Manchester were also closed. MBTA era. In the 1960s, the B&M's passenger services - which, by that time, were almost exclusively commuter services - began to become financially unviable until the MBTA subsidized, and then acquired, the services. The line beyond Newburyport was abandoned in 1982; however, commuter service had been cut back from Newburyport to Ipswich in 1976. In 1998, service was restored to Newburyport at a cost of $46 million. In the late 1980s, the MBTA planned to construct a park and ride relief station off Route 107  in Saugus. A $400,000 planning study was funded in February 1988; the proposed $11 million station would have had 1,000 parking spaces and opened in late 1991. The station was not built; instead, a high-level platform and parking garage opened at Lynn in January 1992. In July 2019, Wynn Resorts proposed a combination commuter rail and Silver Line station in Everett to serve the newly-owned Encore Boston Harbor casino and proposed surrounding development. Movable bridges and replacements. Owing to its position along the North Shore coastline, the Newburyport/Rockport Line has a large number of river  crossings, including movable bridges over the Saugus River and Danvers River on the mainline as well as Days Creek and the Annisquam River on the Rockport Branch. Draw Number 7 over the Mystic River between Somerville and Everett, built in 1877, was the oldest horizontally folding drawbridge in the country until it was replaced by a fixed high-level concrete span on August 26, 1989. The new $34.2 million bridge, which was completed nine months ahead of schedule, eliminated the speed restriction on the old bridge. The Beverly Drawbridge spanning the Danvers River was replaced in 2017. The abutments  of the approach spans were repaired, followed by a 21-day service shutdown from July 17 to August 13, 2017, for the complete replacement of the swing bridge section. The MBTA Board approved the $16.2 million contract in February 2016; work will last from March 2016 to December 2017. The line was shut down on weekends from July 8 through August 27, 2017, for the installation of Positive Train Control equipment in order to meet a 2020 federal deadline; four of those weekends overlapped with the already planned service curtailments for drawbridge work. The Gloucester Drawbridge over the Annisquam  River consists of a steel drawbridge and western approach span with a timber trestle for the eastern approach. It was built in 1911, modified in 1932, and substantially repaired in 1984-85. It will be completely replaced with a modern box beam bridge on steel piles. By February 2016, bidding was planned to begin by June for the four-year, then-$34 million project, though funding had not been allotted. The MBTA Board approved a $56.9 million contract in October 2017; funding is split between federal and state funds. The 44-month project was to require 10 weekend shutdowns of  the branch. All service between West Gloucester and Rockport was replaced by buses from June 1 to 30, 2019 to allow for construction. On April 29, 2020, service between West Gloucester and Rockport was indefinitely replaced by buses due to a failure of the old bridge. That June, the MBTA indicated the closure would continue until the completion of the bridge replacement in mid-2021. In October 2020, weekend service was modified with the outbound bus connection at Manchester, so that trains could idle between the two stations. This was repeated with weekday service on November 2, 2020. On April 5 , 2021, weekend bus shuttles were changed to run between Beverly and Rockport. , rail service to Rockport is expected to resume in May 2022. Other work during the closure has included replacement of 11,000 wood ties with plastic ties, replacement of 12 culverts, and replacement of an old spring switch east of the drawbridge with a modern interlocking. The MBTA plans to replace the Saugus River drawbridge in the mid-to-late 2020s. COVID-19 changes. Substantially reduced schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic were in effect from March 16 to June 23, 2020. Schedule changes effective November 2, 2020 shifted some  peak service to off-peak, providing 30-minute midday headways on the inner portion of the line, as part of a transition to a regional rail model. The final Newburyport-bound train on weekdays began operating as a shuttle from Salem, with a transfer from a Rockport-bound train. In November 2020, as part of service cuts during the pandemic, the MBTA proposed to close along with five other low-ridership stations on other lines. On December 14, the MBTA Board voted to enact a more limited set of cuts, including indefinitely closing Prides Crossing and four of the other  five stations. That day, temporary reduced schedules were again put into place, with Prides Crossing not served. Full service resumed on April 5, 2021, with Prides Crossing still closed. Portions of the line are being replaced by buses in several phases from April 11 to June 5, 2022, to allow for several construction projects. South Salem. In February 2001, the MBTA began two parallel planning processes for the North Shore region: a Draft Environment Impact Statement for the Blue Line Extension (DEIS), and a Major Investment Study (MIS) for other projects primarily north of Salem. The MIS, released in 2004 , identified a number of possible improvements to the Newburyport/Rockport Line, including upgrades to current stations, grade crossing eliminations, signal system improvements, increased frequencies, a second Salem tunnel, a branch line to Danvers, and new stations at Revere and South Salem. A South Salem station would serve Salem State University, the North Shore Medical Center, and residential areas south of downtown Salem - some of which were served by the pre-1987 station, but only by the and 459 buses thereafter. The station was estimated to cost $12.2 to $13.8 million, with a single island platform serving the line's  two tracks, and would draw about 600 daily riders. Two possible locations were considered: one with access from Laurel Street and the platform running to the north, and one with access from Ocean Avenue and the platform running to the south. None of the projects in the DEIS or MIS was actually built due to lack of funding, except for parking structures at Salem and Beverly which were mandated as Big Dig mitigation. In January 2015, Salem mayor Kim Driscoll indicated her support for a South Salem station in her State of the City address. A feasibility study, released in  March 2016, analyzed four possible station locations, including three sites near the MIS locations plus one at Jefferson Avenue to the south. The station would have two side platforms and cost between $15 million and $20 million depending on the site. The study received mixed reactions from Salem residents, including concerns about construction, lights, and trains idling near a residential area but also hope for improved transit accessibility and higher property values. , a site off Canal Street near Lauren Street was considered the preferred alternative. Part or all of an adjacent industrial property could be purchased to provide  pedestrian access and possibly a small parking lot on the west side of the tracks, improving access to the nearby North Shore Medical Center. Proposed electrification. In April 2021, it was noted that electrification of the Newburyport/Rockport Line trunk up to Beverly Station was being planned as part of the MBTA's efforts to move toward a model more consistent of regional rail. Studies for facility needs and traction power were noted as being funded, while design and planning for required infrastructure changes were not.