Mass Central Rail Trail

The Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT) is a partially completed rail trail between Northampton, Massachusetts and Boston along the former right-of-way (ROW) of the Massachusetts Central Railroad. It currently has 59 miles open, and 94.5 miles are open or protected for trail development. When complete, it will be 104 miles long through Central Massachusetts and Greater Boston, forming the longest rail trail in New England. Many sections of the trail, including the Norwottuck Branch of the Mass Central Rail Trail and the Somerville Community Path, have been developed as separate projects but serve as part of the complete Mass Central Rail Trail. The Norwottuck Network, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports the build and operation of the MCRT, maintains an interactive map of the MCRT and other Massachusetts trails.

History
The first attempt to convert the former Massachusetts Central Railroad into a rail trail occurred in 1980 when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts acquired the westernmost 8.5 miles of the former rail ROW, and developed it into what was then known as the Norwottuck Rail Trail in 1993. In 1995, community leaders and volunteers formed the Wachusett Greenways, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed to create trails and greenways in the communities between Barre and Sterling, and began to build a hard packed stone dust trail over the rail ROW, naming it the Massachusetts Central Rail Trail. In 1996, the first plans to build out the MCRT from Berlin to Waltham on the ROW now owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) emerged, but stalled until 2010, when the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) executed a lease with the MBTA to build the Mass Central Rail Trail - Wayside. This work inspired other communities and land trusts to begin to build out their own sections of the MCRT.

Efforts to complete the MCRT
In 1999, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management produced "Commonwealth Connections, A Greenway Vision for Massachusetts", including a call for a cross state multi-use trail reaching from Boston to the Berkshires. Since 1999, Wachusett Greenways, the Wayside Rail Trail Committee, or the Norwottuck Network have held Golden Spike conferences during various years to promote the MCRT and other regional trails. Since 2017, the Norwottuck Network has been issuing a monthly newsletter regarding MCRT development, as well as trail development in the region. In 2021, MassTrails produced "Shared Use Path Benefits Primer", which featured the Norwottuck Branch of the Mass Central Rail Trail as one of the case studies. In 2021, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation produced a feasibility study of the 68.5 miles mid-state section of the MCRT between Belchertown and Berlin. In 2023, MassTrails produced an interactive Priority Trails Network vision map for current and future shared-use path projects throughout the Commonwealth that will be prioritized, including all 104 miles of the MCRT. In 2023, the Norwottuck Network produced "Envisioning a Statewide Connection Massachusetts Central Rail Trail Benefits Study", a report highlighting the benefits of completing all 104 miles of the MCRT.

Northampton and Norwottuck Branch of the Mass Central Rail Trail


The trail is fully complete and paved through Northampton. The Mass Central Rail Trail's western terminus is at Northampton Union Station, beginning a section shared with the New Haven Northampton Canal Line trail, maintained by the City of Northampton. It continues 0.9 miles parallel with the Connecticut River Line, an example of rails with trails, to Woodmont Road. Next, the Norwottuck Branch of the Mass Central Rail Trail, runs 11 miles from downtown Northampton through Hadley and Amherst going 1300 feet into Belchertown; it is a state park maintained by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The connection from Northampton to Hadley is made by the Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge, a 1492 ft, 8 span, steel lattice truss bridge first built over the Connecticut River in 1887. The trail was built in 1993, first known as the Norwottuck Rail Trail, and was one of the last US formal paved bikeways at 8 ft wide; in 2015 the trail was widened to 10 ft.

The 5 mile section west of downtown, known as the Northwest Leg (Look Park Segment) of the Northampton Rail Trail System to Williamsburg, also known as the Francis P. Ryan Section, is maintained by the City of Northampton. It was formerly the New Haven & Northampton Company Williamsburg Branch, not part of the Mass Central Railroad, and is not included in the 104 miles tally. Additional connecting trails in this section include the Arthur R. Swift Amherst/UMass Bike Connector, and the Manhan Rail Trail, which is part of the greater New Haven and Northampton Canal Greenway.

Belchertown and East Quabbin
The rail ROW heads roughly southeast through Belchertown until the Ware River in Palmer. The remaining rail ROW in the East segment of the Quabbin Valley to New Braintree (and Barre) roughly follows the Ware River northeast.

History of Belchertown and East Quabbin
In 1997, Belchertown held an unofficial straw poll against further study of the trail. At that time, Massachusetts was the only state that required paving of trails if using federal funds, which was cited as a concern. Over the following years, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation generated updated guidelines allowing for non-paved surfaces on shared use paths and greenways. Other sections of the MCRT were built with a hard packed stone dust surface, such as the Wachussett Greenways sections. From 2000 to 2017, the Belchertown Land Trust, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, purchased 6.8 miles (72%) of the former ROW land as it became available and donated it to the Town of Belchertown for public use and to protect from development. In 2017 the Friends of the Belchertown Greenway was formed with the goal of building and maintaining the trail.

When 3.2 miles of the rail ROW was listed for sale in Hardwick and New Braintree, the Central Highlands Conservancy LLC was established in 2005. It purchased the land, giving the East Quabbin Land Trust, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, two years to run a capital campaign to purchase the land at cost. This preserved the trail section, including 3 historic bridges that would otherwise would have been scrapped.

Belchertown and East Quabbin trail details
From Warren Wright Road in Belchertown to Federal Street, the rail ROW is privately owned and has been largely obliterated by development. From Federal Street to Route 181, the trail ROW is owned by the Town of Belchertown and is open primarily as a snowmobile trail. It is unpaved, with some rough sections but is mostly followable on foot or mountain bike. The sections north of the US 202 overpass are more overgrown, with the southern sections clearer and better maintained. From Route 181 to the Palmer Town line, the rail ROW is privately owned and not accessible to the public. The trail just after Station Road in Amherst to after North Washington Street in Belchertown section runs parallel with the New England Central Railroad, an example of rails with trails.

The New England National Scenic Trail follows Federal Street and therefore connects with the MCRT. Additionally, there is a short on-road connection from the MCRT at Route 181 to the Chickadee Trail, with the southern terminus at Depot Street, a 2.3 miles hiking trail following the rail ROW of the former Boston and Albany Railroad Athol Branch, roughly following the Swift River north.

The bridge over the Swift River was demolished after rail service was discontinued and there is no river crossing available. The rail ROW starting in Bondsville, Palmer is unused and overgrown, but still owned by Massachusetts Central Railroad (MCER), the current shortline railroad, not the former railroad of the same name. Old rails and ties are still in place, as is the bridge over the Ware River, and no trail development has taken place.

In Palmer and Ware, the rail ROW is still in use by MCER. The bridge over the Ware River is missing, making the ROW between the river and the Gibbs Crossing shopping plaza unusable. From Gibbs Crossing to Robbins Road, a 1.56 miles section is open. It has a hard packed stone dust surface and is usable by walkers and bikes. This section is owned and maintained by the Town of Ware. Past Robbins Road to the upper Ware River crossing, two river bridges are missing and the rail yard on the east side of the river is still active, blocking the trail ROW. After the Ware River crossing, though Frohloff Farm and Accessible Rail Trail, through Upper Church Street, almost to the Ware–Hardwick Covered Bridge, 2.7 miles was completed as part of the Mass Central Rail Trail Expansion in 2022. The remaining section to the covered bridge is undeveloped and not open to the public.

The section from just after the covered bridge, at the Ware Town line, through the village of Gilbertville, Hardwick is owned by the Town of Hardwick. In 2022, the Town of Hardwick was awarded $133,000 in state funds to improve the section to MCRT standards. In 2023, the 1 miles section at the covered bridge, into Hardwick, to the Saint Aloysius Cemetery opened, known as the Ware River Park in Gilbertville section of the Mass Central Rail Trail. A portion of this section is also known as the Gilbertville Fitness Trail, built in 2014.

The rail ROW paralleling Route 32 from Gilbertville to Creamery Road is no longer intact and has been lost to development and private ownership. In addition, the bridge over the active rail ROW is missing. This stretch is not open to public use. From Creamery Road, through a lattice truss bridge over the Ware river to New Braintree, and a pony truss bridge over the Ware river to Maple Street in Wheelwright, Hardwick, the 3 miles section is complete and open to the public. The two bridges received a 2023 MassTrails grant to replace the timber decking. This stretch has a hard packed gravel surface and is open to all non-motorized use. It is owned and maintained by the East Quabbin Land Trust, known as the Mass Central Rail Trail, New Braintree and Hardwick. From Maple Street, into New Braintree again, to the Barre Town line, the trail ROW is obstructed by a missing bridge and the Tanner-Hiller Airport and is not open to the public.

Wachusett Greenways
Wachusett Greenways has completed 20 miles of the planned 30 miles of the MCRT through the towns of Barre to Sterling, including eight bridges. All of these sections are hard packed stone dust or dirt, which helped accelerate construction dates forward. The first section of trail opened in 1997 in West Boylston.

From the New Braintree Town line to Barre Depot Road, the ROW in Barre is either obstructed by private development (south of Route 67) or part of an active section of railroad (north of Route 67). East of Barre Depot Road, the rail ROW is obliterated by development. The White Valley bridge over Ware River was constructed in 2013 to connect Route 122 to the beginning of the intact rail ROW and trail near the Oakham Town line. The trail departs the Ware River in Barre as it continues east to Boston.

A connection to the Ware River Rail Trail, a 15 miles trail following the ROW of the former Ware River Railroad, is available by an on-road connection, roughly following the Burnshirt River. The southern terminus is on Route 122, 0.25 miles from the White Valley bridge.

A 8.8 miles section from Barre, though Oakham, to Glenwood Road in Rutland, is complete and open, including the Charnock tunnel installed in 2006 and the Pommogussett Tunnel installed in 2011. There is a connection in Rutland to the Midstate Hiking Trail, between Whitehall Road. The section between Glenwood Road and Wachusett Street is a privately owned section of the ROW, and not currently open to the public. A 1.2 miles section continues from Wachusett Street to the Holden Town line. These trail sections are owned by the DCR and maintained by Wachusett Greenways.

From the Rutland/Holden Town line to Princeton Street, after the Providence and Worcester Railroad, the rail ROW is privately owned and lost to development. An on-road route is being used to fill the gap. From Princeton Street to Mill Street, a 1.84 miles section is open with a stone dust surface. This section is owned by the DCR, and is the most northwestern semicircle of the trails labeled "DCR Authorized Bicycle Routes" on the DCR's Wachusett Watershed Bike Routes. This section was created by a 2019 MassTrails award for the first phase of construction.

The ROW from Quinapoxet Street to River Street is privately owned and lost to development. Instead, after a short on-road route north on Mill Street, a 2.2 miles detour route from Mill Street, crossing Manning Street, to River Street, using trail along the Wachusett Aqueduct, has been developed to bypass this section, sometimes known as the Holden Connector. A MassTrails award in 2023 funded improvements from Mill Street at Wachusett Street to Manning Street, and construction began September 8, 2023. A 2024 MassTrails grant was awarded to complete this construction. From River Street to Thomas Street in West Boylston, a 3 miles ROW is complete and open, roughly following the Quinapoxet River. The detour and trail ROW combined in Holden are both maintained by the DCR and are labeled "Mass Central Rail Trail" on the DCR's Wachusett Watershed Bike Routes. The trail in West Boylston is owned and managed by the Town.

From Thomas Street in West Boylston, through Sterling, to Clinton, an on-road route is used. The ROW remains in service as the Worcester Main Line of Pan Am Railways.

The Sterling Rail Trail, also known as the Mass Central Rail Trail Sterling Spur, is a 1.7 miles trail located between Sterling Junction and Sterling Center. It is available by an on-road connection to the Gates Road southern terminus. It uses the former ROW of the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad so was never part of the Mass Central Railroad and is not included in the 104 miles tally. This trail is owned by the DCR and maintained by Wachusett Greenways.

Clinton and Berlin
From the numbered DCR gate 39 on Route 110 and S Meadow Road in Clinton, the 1.2 miles DCR spillway to the west side of the Wachusett Reservoir Dam is open to public use, but is a dead end as the dam crossing is not open to the public.

East of Route 70 to the Berlin Town line the rail ROW is still undeveloped. The Clinton Greenway Conservation Trust, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, helped to acquire the ROW from Pan Am Railways, including the 1100 ft railroad tunnel under Wilson Hill between Boylston Street and Clamshell Road, once the longest in Massachusetts. In July 2020, the state awarded $112,000 for purchase of this section, which completed in December 2020. The trail will connect two Town owned parcels, the Maffei Conservation Area and the Rauscher Farm, and pass through the open space around the Woodlands Development. A further $397,000 MassTrails grant in 2022 will complete planning for the tunnel, and begin planning for the remainder of the trail east to the Berlin Town line. A further $162,400 MassTrails grant was awarded in 2023 to purchase a parcel of land off Berlin Street with trail access and a parking area. A 2024 MassTrails grant was awarded to construct Phase 1, access points at Rauscher Farm and 447 Berlin Street, and trail development between these two locations.

West of the Route 62/West Street intersection the rail ROW is undeveloped. It is partially owned by the Town of Berlin and partially still owned by Pan Am Railways. In 2024, a MassTrails grant for a feasibility study for all sections in Berlin was awarded.

A connection to the proposed Boston Worcester Air Line Trail (BWALT) will occur in Berlin.

History of MCRT—Wayside
In 1976, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) purchased assets of the Boston and Maine (B&M) Railroad, including the right to operate rail over several tracks that no longer provided passenger rail service. B&M retained some freight rail obligations on some tracks for several more years. By 1977, the MBTA had acquired title of this land in fee simple for the purpose of providing and extending mass transportation services, a portion from the 1976 purchase and a portion by order of taking. In 1996, the MBTA produced the "Central Mass. Commuter Rail Feasibility Study", which advised reactivation of a commuter rail extension between Berlin and Waltham, which had no passenger train service since 1971 and no freight train service since 1980, would not be cost effective. In 1997, the towns and city from Berlin to Belmont (excepting Bolton, Stow, and Marlborough, the towns with the smallest sections) considered approving a rail trail over the former B&M railroad ROW, known as the Mass Central Rail Trail—Wayside, with state and federal funds. Berlin, Hudson, Sudbury, Wayland, and Waltham voted to approve by large margins, but Weston voted 698 against and 410 in favor, which derailed progress on the Wayside trail for at least two decades. In 2006, theft of a section of rail was discovered in Berlin, which encouraged the MBTA to take a more active role maintaining the property, and by 2010, the DCR executed a 99-year lease with the MBTA to build the Wayside trail, now from Berlin to Waltham. Under the terms of the lease, the MBTA retains the right to reactivate commuter rail. This arrangement is not railbanking because the MBTA neither began the required precondition of abandonment nor consented to the optional process of railbanking. In 2014, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) determined the Wayside trail did not require further Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act review, simplifying permitting for the project.

In Wayland and Weston, by 1952, the Boston Edison Company (BECo) acquired an easement along this section of the B&M's ROW and built overhead power lines. In 2016, BECo's successor, Eversource, filed permits to build a gravel access road for the power lines over what had become the MBTA's ROW. This included a trail section running from Cochituate Road in Wayland to before the bridge over the MBTA Fitchburg Line in Weston. This significantly reduced construction costs of the trail, and in partnership, the DCR made the decision in January 2017 to build the trail by paving the access road and installing safe road crossings, which completed in 2019. While DCR's decision superseded the 1997 Weston Town vote, the Town of Weston assisted by constructing a Conant Road underpass not included with DCR's paving, officially stated thanks to DCR and Eversource for their contributions to the trail, and now supports the completion of the entire MCRT.

In Hudson, Stow, Marlborough, and Sudbury, in 2015 ISO New England issued a Greater Boston area needs assessment, directing utility companies to investigate a series of transmission projects to improve electrical grid reliability, including a connection of the Sudbury and Hudson power substations. In November 2015, Eversource held the first public forum on the proposed Sudbury to Hudson Transmission Reliability Project, noting the project could accelerate the construction of the MCRT—Wayside, as both could be constructed on the MBTA ROW. At that time, the proposal was for overhead 115 kV power lines over the MBTA ROW and under Hudson roads, and Eversource was asked by the Towns of Hudson and Sudbury to consider undergrounding the power lines along the MBTA ROW instead. In February 2016, Eversource identified an underground noticed variation design under the MBTA ROW and under Hudson roads. By January 2017, the MBTA negotiated an options agreement with Eversource for the underground route only, at the cost of forgoing approximately $2 million compared to an overhead option, and requiring Eversource to work with DCR to create a trail. In turn, in April 2017, when Eversource sought project approval from the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB), Eversource preferred such an underground MBTA ROW route, though as part of the approval process, Eversource was required to evaluate alternative options. Only the preferred, underground MBTA ROW route was endorsed by the DCR, as the transmission project had the benefit of substantially reducing trail construction costs, and the underground route required Eversource to make several bridge improvements the trail required. The preferred underground MBTA ROW route was approved by the EFSB in 2019. The EFSB decision noted the associated benefits of the trail, but stated the EFSB's approval of the transmission project was independent of the trail benefits. Designed and permitted in partnership with the DCR, the project includes building a gravel sub-base for the trail, restoring or rebuilding three trail bridges, and building a trail tunnel on this section (Phase 1). After the Eversource work, the DCR will pave the trail surface, install safe road crossings, and restore selected historical railroad features (Phase 2). Phase 1 construction was originally expected to complete in December 2019, however the start of construction was pushed to October 2022, due to an unexpectedly lengthy permitting process. Many lawsuits and petitions were filed by the Town of Sudbury and various abutters alleging the overlapping and jointly permitted construction suffered from varied legal defects, including allegations that the MBTA-DCR trail easement was unlawful and void. However, in every ruling, all judges determined all plaintiffs could not succeed with any claim. In 2022 and 2023, abutters sued the MBTA in Massachusetts Land Court twice alleging property rights over the MBTA's land in furtherance of such allegations, but withdrew both cases before a judicial ruling.

MCRT—Wayside trail details
All sections of the Wayside trail, once built, form a state park maintained by the DCR, except a section shared with the Assabet River Rail Trail, which is maintained by the Town of Hudson. All completed sections of the Wayside trail are paved, and DCR plans to pave both all sections under construction and the only section that is currently stone dust in Wayland. Sections are typically 10 or 12 ft wide with grass shoulders.

Waltham to Boston
All sections of the trail from Belmont to Boston were developed as separate projects but serve as part of the complete Mass Central Rail Trail. All completed sections are paved.