Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad

Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad
Overview
Type	Tourist
Status	Closed
Locale	Cape Cod
Termini	Braintree Attleboro Hyannis Falmouth
Continues as	CapeFLYER   Cape Cod Central Railroad
Stations	14
Services	1
Ridership	19,000 (1985)
Operation
Opened	1984
Closed	1988
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Route map mi MBTA Red Line to South Station and Alewife 0 Braintree 4 Holbrook 9 Brockton 16 Bridgewater 25 Middleborough Amtrak Northeast Corridor and MBTA Providence/Stoughton Line 2 Attleboro 13 Taunton Attleboro branch summer 1988 only 38 Wareham 43 Buzzards Bay 43 Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge 48 Cataumet 57 Falmouth 51 Sandwich 58 West Barnstable 67 Hyannis This diagram:

The Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad was a railroad that provided tourist and seasonal passenger services in Southeastern Massachusetts in the 1980s. Its primary service operated from the Braintree MBTA station to Hyannis on Cape Cod; branches to Attleboro and Falmouth also operated in some years. The service ended after the 1988 summer season amid early-1989 state budget cuts in Massachusetts; much of the same trackage is being used for the seasonal CapeFLYER service.

The Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad began running Hyannis - East Sandwich excursion service in 1981. Excursion service to Falmouth was added in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, the state provided $148,000 in funding to allow the railroad to provide a otherwise-unsubsidized demonstration of regional service connecting to the newly completed Red Line rapid transit line at Braintree. Service between Braintree and the Cape Cod destinations of Hyannis and Falmouth began on June 30, 1984. Trains ran from Braintree to Hyannis and Falmouth. (Service directly to Boston was not possible because the Neponset River bridge had been destroyed by a 1960 fire; a new Neponset River bridge was not opened until Old Colony Lines commuter service began in 1997. Intermediate stops initially included Holbrook, Brockton, Bridgewater, Middleboro, Wareham, and Buzzards Bay, plus Sandwich and West Barnstable on Hyannis trains. The two daily round trips - one to each Cape Cod terminal - were the first regular service between the Boston area and the Cape in 25 years. Braintree-Hyannis trips took three hours.

Falmouth service (which ended quickly in 1984) and mid-week runs were dropped due to low ridership. During mid-1985, the railroad operated two round trips on Saturdays and Sundays, with two round trips on Fridays and Mondays for parts of the summer. Running time was reduced to 2 ¹⁄₂ hours; ridership rose from 8,000 passengers in 1984 to 19,000 in 1985.

In 1986, the state approved a $5.5 million multi-year subsidy for seven-day-a-week seasonal service. The railroad's insurance premiums skyrocketed, causing service to be delayed until mid-July. Despite the delay, ridership more than doubled. The state continued to subsidize weekday service for the next two years.

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Wikipedia