The Middleboro Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation

CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. The line runs from Attleboro southeast to the beginning of the New Bedford Subdivision

New Bedford Subdivision

The New Bedford Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The line runs from the end of the Middleboro Subdivision near Weir Village south to New Bedford along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line...

 near Weir Village

Weir Village, Massachusetts

Weir Village is a village of the city of Taunton in Bristol County, Massachusetts, located about one mile south of the city center on the banks of the Taunton River, near the point where it becomes tidal...

 (in Taunton) along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad

The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , was a railroad that operated in the northeast United States from 1872 to 1968 which served the states of Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts...

 line. Its north end is at Amtrak

Amtrak

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

's Northeast Corridor

Northeast Corridor

The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...

, over which CSX has trackage rights

Trackage rights

Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....

 to reach the Framingham Subdivision

Framingham Subdivision

The Framingham Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The line runs from Mansfield northwest to Framingham along a former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad line...

 at Mansfield and the Boston Subdivision

Boston Subdivision

The Boston Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The line runs from Boston west to near Springfield along a former New York Central Railroad line. Its east end is at Amtrak's Northeast Corridor at Back Bay Station, over which CSX has...

 in Boston (via the Dorchester Branch).

History

The oldest section of the Middleboro Subdivision is from northwestern Taunton into downtown Taunton, opened in 1836 as part of the Mansfield-Taunton Taunton Branch Railroad

Taunton Branch Railroad

The Taunton Branch Railroad was one of the earliest railroads to be established in Massachusetts. It was chartered by the state in 1835 as a branch of the Boston and Providence Railroad running between Mansfield and Taunton, Massachusetts...

. The New Bedford and Taunton Railroad

New Bedford and Taunton Railroad

The New Bedford and Taunton Railroad was originally incorporated at the Old Colony Railroad Corporation in 1838 as an extension of the Taunton Branch Railroad between Taunton, Massachusetts and New Bedford. The name was changed to New Bedford and Taunton Railroad in 1839 before service began in 1840...

 completed an extension from Taunton south to New Bedford in 1840, including the current Middleboro Subdivision southeast of downtown Taunton. The Middleboro and Taunton Railroad opened a line from southeastern Taunton east to Middleborough, and the Old Colony Railroad

Old Colony Railroad

The Old Colony Railroad was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island. It operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Newport, Providence, Fitchburg, Lowell and Cape Cod...

built a branch from northwestern Taunton west to Attleboro around 1870. The lines became part of the NYNH&H and Conrail through leases, mergers, and takeovers, and the Attleboro-Middleborough line was known as the Middleboro Secondary by the 1990s. The entire line was assigned to CSX in the 1999 breakup of Conrail, but CSX only applied the Middleboro Subdivision name west of the junction with the New Bedford Subdivision.