Dedham Branch
| Template:MBTA infobox header | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Readville station in 1977; the former Dedham Branch tracks are visible at the lower left corner of the image. | |||
| Overview | |||
| Status | Abandoned | ||
| Owner | New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad | ||
| Locale | Southeastern Massachusetts | ||
| Termini | |||
| Stations | 16 | ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Commuter rail | ||
| System | Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority | ||
| Operator(s) | New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 1834 (Boston and Providence Railroad) | ||
| Closed | April 1967[1] | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 27.4 miles | ||
| Character | Surface-level | ||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
| |||
The Dedham Branch was a spur line of the Boston and Providence Railroad, later acquired by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which ran from the junction with the main line (now the Franklin Line) at Readville through to central Dedham. In 1966, it became part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, but was abandoned the next year.[1]
History
MBTA era
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or MBTA, was formed in 1964 out of Boston's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), partly in order to save the rapidly declining commuter rail lines feeding into Boston.[1] In April 1966, the MBTA began subsidising continued NYNH&H commuter rail service on four of the NYNH&H's six commuter rail lines entering Boston from the southwest; the Franklin Line, Needham Line, Dedham Branch, and Millis Branch received MBTA subsidies, while the Shore Line (which provided through service from Boston to Providence) and Stoughton Branch, both now part of the MBTA's Providence/Stoughton Line, did not receive MBTA subsidies until they were acquired by the MBTA outright in 1973.[1]
Despite now being subsidised by the MBTA, commuter rail service on both the Dedham and Millis Branches (by now consisting only of a single rush-hour round trip in each direction daily) was discontinued a year later, in April 1967.[1] The former right-of-way has been proposed for use by an extension of the Orange Line to Dedham, but such an extension has not come to pass.