The Fitchburg Line is an MBTA line that runs from Boston's North Station to Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The line is along the tracks of the former Fitchburg Railroad, which was a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. It is one of the more scenic commuter rail lines, passing by Walden Pond between Lincoln and Concord. At nearly 50 miles, the Fitchburg Line is the second-longest line in the system, and ranks as one of the worst lines in terms of on time performance. The MBTA attributes this to the facts that the line has the oldest and least adequate infrastructure in the system and commuter trains must compete with freight traffic, mainly between South Acton and Ayer. Despite this, the Fitchburg Line still draws about 10,000 daily riders, and the MBTA expects it to draw even more once upgrades to the line are completed.
Read more about Fitchburg Line: History, Planned Improvements, Accessibility, Station and Junction Listing
Famous quotes containing the words fitchburg and/or line:
“The Fitchburg Railroad touches the pond about a hundred rods south of where I dwell. I usually go to the village along its causeway, and am, as it were, related to society by this link. The men on the freight trains, who go over the whole length of the road, bow to me as to an old acquaintance, they pass me so often, and apparently they take me for an employee; and so I am. I too would fain be a track-repairer somewhere in the orbit of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“As for conforming outwardly, and living your own life inwardly, I do not think much of that. Let not your right hand know what your left hand does in that line of business. It will prove a failure.... It is a greater strain than any soul can long endure. When you get God to pulling one way, and the devil the other, each having his feet well braced,—to say nothing of the conscience sawing transversely,—almost any timber will give way.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)