Needham Line

MBTA Commuter Rail line

The Needham Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running west from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and the town of Needham. The second shortest line of the system at just 13.7 mile (22 km) long, it carried 4,881 daily riders in October 2022. Unlike the MBTA's eleven other commuter rail lines, the Needham Line is not a former intercity mainline; instead, it is composed of a former branch line, a short segment of one intercity line (running in the reverse of its original direction), and a 1906 built connector.

The Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P) opened its main line from Boston through Toll Gate (Forest Hills) to Providence in 1834. A branch line from Forest Hills to Dedham via West Roxbury was opened on July 14, 1849 by the B&P. South Street (Roslindale), Central (Bellevue), and West Roxbury all opened with the branch; Highland was added around 1855. Highlandville (later Needham Heights) opened around 1860. The line was used to haul gravel from Needham quarries to fill in the Back Bay from 1859 to the 1880s. Originally Needham Junction was the only stop on the cutoff; Bird's Hill opened as an infill station in 1917.

The West Medway branch shared the line from Forest Hills to Needham Junction until 1938 and from 1940 to 1955; from 1955 to 1967, the line operated as a shuttle from West Medway (Millis after April 1966) to Needham Junction, with the single Budd RDC used for the shuttle being coupled to a Needham Heights train for the remainder of the journey to South Station. The remaining line was purchased by the MBTA from Penn Central on January 27, 1973, along with most of the other southside lines.

Since the New Haven era, the line has had Saturday service but not Sunday service. Experimental Sunday service was operated from July 11, 1992 until February 14, 1993 along with other new southside weekend service, some of which was made permanent. As part of systemwide service cuts due to budget shortfalls, Saturday service was eliminated on July 7, 2012. The line was shut down on weekends in September through November 2017 for the installation of Positive Train Control equipment in order to meet a 2020 federal deadline. Substantially reduced schedules due to the COVID 19 pandemic were in effect from March 16 to June 23, 2020. Until 2021, the Needham Line plus some parts of the Providence/Stoughton Line were the only MBTA Commuter Rail routes without Sunday service. On January 23, 2021, reduced schedules went into place with no weekend service on seven lines, including the Needham Line. As part of that schedule change, all Needham Line trains began stopping at Ruggles station after an additional platform there was completed. Additionally, the final Needham bound train on weekdays began operating as a shuttle from Forest Hills station, with a transfer there from a Providence/Stoughton Line train. Weekend service on the Needham Line and the other six lines resumed on July 3, 2021, with both Saturday and Sunday service. In May 2021, the town had considered having weekend service run only between Needham Junction and South Station to avoid train horns in downtown Needham. as of February 2022, the line has 16 round trips on weekdays and 8 on weekends. By October 2022, the line had 4,881 daily riders – 73% of pre COVID ridership. A station at the adjacent Gardner Street Landfill site (now Millennium Park) had previously been proposed in 1970. The school relocation plan was cancelled in February 2024, but the city indicated it would continue planning the new station.