OVERVIEW

The layer includes active passenger, freight, and MBTA Commuter Rail and Rapid Transit railways, along with abandoned rail lines. In many instances there is more than one track per rail line, and rail yards and spurs are included. The Central Transportation Planning Staff updated and enhanced railroad linework distributed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as 1:100,000 Digital Line Graphs (DLGs). The original 1:100,000 DLG data were conflated to the orthophoto-derived 1:5,000 Centerline linework now used in this layer.

CTPS added several attributes pertaining to type of service, MBTA Commuter Rail status, rail line ownership, and freight and passenger operation.

Stored in ArcSDE and distributed in shapefile format, the statewide layers are named TRAINS_ARC (rail lines), TRAINS_NODE (named station locations) and TRAINS_RTE_TRAIN (MBTA Commuter Rail Routes). In addition, the MBTA Rapid Transit data are stored in separate layers (subway, trolley, Silver Line railways and T stops).

CTPS transferred the attributes from the old trains data layer and has added many more. CTPS used track charts, railroad timetables, old maps, University of New Hampshire website, railroad websites, books, rail experts and field work for sources of information.

The lines and branches in the arc layer represent the most current name for the rail line while the route feature class has more names for same line. One line may be named differently and have different beginning and ending points because of historic changes or because of passenger operations and freight operations on the line. The route system contains routes based on several sources. The route source item identifies its source. The karr_rt is the numbering system depicted in The Rail Line of Southern New England by Ronald Karr. The 189 routes include the Amtrak Downeaster, Amtrak Northeast Corridor, the MBTA Commuter Rail lines, and others.

Segments of rail trails that are in the railroad right-of-way have been added. Track numbers were coded where track charts were available to delineate them.

The node layer contains station names and links to the Federal Railroad Administration's Crossing database (crossing), the National Bridge Inventory (bin, alt-bin) and MassHighway Road Inventory data layer (csn).

MassGIS received an ArcInfo coverage from CTPS and converted the route and node layers directly to ArcSDE format. The arc feature class was dissolved on #ALL in ArcInfo to remove pseudo-nodes before being imported to SDE.

The TRAINS_ARC attribute table includes the following items:

Item Name		Width/Type		Description
TYPE		2 / I		Type of service. See TABLE 1 below
SOURCE		5 / C		See TABLE 2 below
COMMRAIL		1 / C		Commuter Rail status. See TABLE 3 below
OWNERSHIP		10 / C		See TABLE 4 below
FREIGHT_OP		10 / C		See TABLE 5 below
PASS_OP		11 / C		See TABLE 6 below
COMM_LINE		40 / C		Names of Commuter Rail lines. See TABLE 7 below
LINE_BRNCH		20 / C		Line branch
VALPLANNUM		6 / C		RR line no. & map no. ref.
VALPLANOWN		10 / C		See TABLE 8 below
TRACK		10 / I		Track no. in track chart
KARR_RT		6 / C		RR rt. in Karrs book
YARD		30 / C		Name of rail yard
FREIGHT_ML		1 / C		B&M’s Freight Mainline
STATE		2 / C		2-character U.S. state abbreviation
LINE_CODE		10 / I		Trk no. in “takings” doc
RAIL_TRL		25 / C		Rail trail-(rr row prt only)
SPUR		25 / C		Short side track connecting to main line
RT_CLASS		5 / I		Rapid Transit rail class. See TABLE 9 below
RT_LINE		20 / C		Abbreviated name for Rapid Transit line
RT_STATUS		1 / C		Status of Rapid Transit line (Y = active; P = proposed)
MAP_ONE		1 / C		Singles out one arc on multiple track lines for display purposes
DATE_ABAND		5 / I		Year line was abandoned
ASSET		10 / I		Name of tunnel (for Rapid Transit lines)
ASSET_ID		25 / C		ASSET identifier

The TRAINS_NODE attribute table includes the following items:

Item Name		Width/Type		Description
STATION		25 / C		Station name
C_RAILSTAT		1 / C		MBTA Commuter Rail station status (See TABLE 3 below)
AMTRAK		1 / C		AMTRAK station ("Y" if yes)
MAP_STA		1 / C		Singles out one station point ("Y") for display purposes

The TRAINS_RTE_TRAIN route class attribute table includes the following items:

Item Name		Width/Type		Description
COMM_LINE		30 / C		Name of MBTA Commuter line
COMMRAIL		1 / C		MBTA Commuter Rail line status (See TABLE 3 below)

The following tables detail code descriptions (for TRAINS_ARC unless otherwise specified):

TABLE 1 - TYPE

1		Active rail service
2		Multiple use i.e. active and recreation
3		Abandoned rail service
4		Abandoned rail service ROW in public ownership
5		Unknown status
6		Out of service
7		Right-of-way (ROW) used for hiking and biking
8		Other ROW (once used for trolleys, or never built or used for rail)
9		MBTA Rapid Transit

TABLE 2 - SOURCE

Visible indicates new 1:5000 scale line work received from MassGIS. These codes refer to the source of the attribute information. In addition to the coded sources, CTPS relied heavily on the University New Hampshire's website of scanned maps and the personal resources and expertise of CTPS staff person Tom Humphrey.
CTPS		CTPS staff
vpmap		Valuation Section Maps of 1917 of NY, NH, &H and Central NE Lines and 1970's Boston & Main Valuation Section Map.
1890		1890 Topographical maps of Massachusetts (MA publisher).
1938		1938 General Highway Maps (MA DPW publisher).

TABLE 3 - COMMRAIL (arcs) and C_RAILSTAT (nodes)

Y		Active MBTA Commuter Rail line or station
S		Special Commuter Rail service to Gillette Stadium (in Foxborough)
P		Proposed Commuter Rail line or station

TABLE 4 - OWNERSHIP

AMTRAK		AMTRAK
BCLR		Bay Colony Railroad
CSO		Connecticut Southern Railroad
CSX		CSX Transportation
CT STATE F		Connecticut
DCR		MA Department of Conservation and Recreation
EOT		MA Executive Office of Transportation
FEDERAL		United States Departments--DOD and Parks
G&U		Grafton & Upton
HOUSATONIC		Houstonic Railroad
LOCAL		City or town
MASSPORT		Massachusetts Port Authority
MBTA		Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
MTA		Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
MWRA		Massachusetts Water Resources Authority
NECR		New England Central Railroad
P&W		Providence and Worcester Railroad
PANAM		Pan Am Railways
PI		Private Industry
PRIVATE		Private owner
PV		Pioneer Valley Railroad
UTILITY		Utility

TABLE 5 - FREIGHT_OP (Freight Operation)

BCLR		Bay Colony Railroad (OoS indicates out of state)
CSO		Connecticut Southern Railroad
CSX		CSX Transportation
FLETCHERS		Fletcher Granite Quarry
FORE		Fore River Railroad
G&U		Grafton & Upton Railroad
HOUSATONIC		Housatonic Railroad
KARR		Karr
MACOASTAL		Massachusetts Coastal Railways
MBTA		Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
MCR		Massachusetts Central Railroad
NECR		New England Central Railroad
P&W		Providence & Worcester Railroad
PANAM		Pan Am Railways
PV		Pioneer Valley Railroad

TABLE 6 - PASS_OP (Passenger Operation)

AMTRAK		AMTRAK
AMTRAK/MBTA		AMTRAK and MBTA operate on the line
BERK SCENIC		Recreational "dinner ride" in Berkshires
CAPE COD DN		Recreational "dinner ride" to Cape Cod
MBTA		Massachusett Bay Transportation Authority

TABLE 7 - COMM_LINE (MBTA Commuter Rail Lines)

ATT-STO		Attleborough/Stoughton Line
FAIR		Fairmount Line
FITCH		Fitchburg/South Acton Line
FRAM-WOR		Framingham/Worcester Line
FRANK		Franklin Line
GB		Greenbush Line
HAV		Haverhill/Reading Line
LOW		Lowell Line
MID-LAKE		Middleborough/Lakeville Line
NEE		Needham Line
NEW-ROC		Newburyport/Rockport Line
PLY-KING		Plymouth/Kingston Line

Lines that share the same track are separated with a +.

TABLE 8 - VALPLANOWN (Valuation Plan Owner at the time of 1917 valuation)

B&A		Boston & Albany
B&M		Boston & Maine
CHATHAM RR		Chatham Railroad
CV		Central Vermont
G&U		Grafton & Upton
HAMPDEN RR		Hampden Railroad
HT&W		Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington
LRR		Lancaster Railroad
N&W		Norwich & Worcester
NYNH&H		New York, New Haven & Hartford
P&W		Providence & Worcester
SALEM & LA		Salem & Lawrence
SNE		Southern New England Railway
UNION FREI		Union Freight

TABLE 9 - RT_CLASS (MBTA Rapid Transit rail class)

1		Above Ground, Private ROW
2		Light Rail with Reservation in Street
3		Light Rail in Street with Traffic
4		Elevated
6		Open Cut
7		Underground Subway

MAINTENANCE

The Central Transportation Plannig Staff will update the datalayer as needed and provide data files to MassGIS for distribution.

Last Updated 4/30/2008
EOEA Disclaimer | Privacy Policy