Massachusetts Coastal Railroad
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| Reporting mark | MC |
|---|---|
| Locale | Massachusetts |
| Dates of operation | 2007– |
| Predecessor | Bay Colony Railroad |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Headquarters | Hyannis, Massachusetts |
The Massachusetts Coastal Railroad (reporting mark MC) is the successor operator of portions of Bay Colony Railroad.
On December 31, 2007, the contract to operate the freight railroad lines owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts administered by the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) expired. These railroad lines included the Cape Main Line, as well as several shorter lines both on Cape Cod and in Southeastern Massachusetts. The new contract was awarded to a new company, the Massachusetts Coastal Railroad, which took over on January 1, 2008. At that time, the Bay Colony ceased operations on those lines, but continues to operate in other areas of the Commonwealth, including on the Watuppa Branch in Dartmouth and Wesport, and the Millis Branch in Millis.
The Massachusetts Coastal Railroad is a subsidiary of Cape Rail Inc., which also operates the Cape Cod Central Railroad. Cape Rail is owned by Iowa Pacific Holdings.
The Massachusetts Coastal Railroad also operates under the abbreviated name Mass Coastal Railroad. This shortened version is the variation currently used on all of the Massachusetts Coastal's locomotives and rolling stock.
The railroad operates the "trash train" hauling refuse from Yarmouth to SEMASS, a waste-to-energy plant in Rochester, MA, as did its predecessor. However, Massachusetts Coastal operates the train under the new name, "Energy Train" using 20 former Canadian Pacific bath tub coal hopper cars rebuilt into "Energy" cars. These "Energy Cars" are numbered 1000–1019. These cars are painted in an attractive Pullman green scheme with a black band. The first 6 cars were fully painted with "MASS COASTAL" lettering, and "ENERGY TRAIN" written along the sides and gold stripes. the remaining 14 cars are in an abbreviated scheme with no lettering or stripes. This was done to speed up the delivery process. As of January 2015, the Energy Train operates Monday through Friday in the morning and afternoon. Mostly on Tuesdays, Mass Coastal sends a locomotive or two from either Rochester or Taunton to interchange with CSX in Middleboro. Operations in Fall River, New Bedford, and Taunton can be seen some days Monday through Friday.
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