Framingham/Worcester Line Trains at Framingham

MBTA Commuter Rail (operated by Keolis) Framingham/Worcester Line evening rush hour action in downtown Framingham. The Framingham/Worcester Line is the former main line of the Boston & Albany Railroad, later the Boston Division of the New York Central Railroad and today one of the busiest lines on the MBTA Commuter Rail system. Despite its high ridership, the line historically has had one of the worst on-time performance records and the infrastructure in several locations is in need of improvement. The vast majority of the stations on the inner section of the line are not handicapped accessible, and up until 2013 CSX Transportation operated frequent intermodal freight trains to and from Beacon Park Yard in Allston, causing numerous delays. The relocation of the intermodal freight facility from Allston to Westborough has eliminated the need for through freight trains clogging up the railroad, but there are still several obstacles to overcome for service on the line to be completely "even" and equally serving all communities and markets on the line. Most notably, the three stations in Newton were destroyed in the 1960s to make room for the construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike, leaving behind only a single low-level platform serving one track adjacent to the highway. This single platform situation continues to create scheduling headaches to this day, as two trains cannot pass each other between Weston and Allston while also both serving Newton. Until Fall of 2023 the three Newton stations did not have any reverse-peak service at all, and currently only two outbound trains in the morning and five inbound trains in the evening stop in Newton.
Largely because of the high ridership the line sees, and because of the relatively high total distance between Boston and Worcester, during rush hours trains operate in two "zones", with a local train serving only the innermost stations between Boston and Framingham, before terminating there and turning back for Boston. Meanwhile, an outer zone train operates express from Boston to Framingham (sometimes making an intermediate stop at West Natick), then makes all stops to Worcester. This process is reversed in the morning rush, and as of Fall 2023 there are some reverse-peak trains that operate with a local/express setup as well. All trains on the Framingham/Worcester Line operate in the 500 series. Standard off-peak trains that make all stops between Worcester and Boston, and rush hour express trains to/from Worcester operate in the low end of the series, between 500 and 540. During rush hour Framingham locals operate in the high end of the series, between 580 and 598. Up until Fall 2023 a single round trip (inbound in the morning, outbound in the evening) super-express train operated, stopping only at Worcester, Framingham, and Boston. Branded as the "HeartToHub" service, this train operated as Train 552 inbound and 551 outbound. It was eliminated in Fall 2023, becoming a regular rush hour express train. However, this video was recorded one month before this change occurred, so the train was still operating here.
It is also worth noting that it can be seen here that trains are running left-handed. This is done during the evening rush hour because of the single platform situation in Newton, where the platforms are only on the south side of the railroad (i.e. the left-hand side when traveling west). It is operationally easier to just run trains left-handed during the peak of the evening rush rather than having to constantly switch multiple trains back and forth, though this does create problems for unfamiliar reverse-peak travelers who may be caught on the wrong platform if they don't read the posted signs, and because of the prevalence of high speed express trains most stations do not have level crossings across the tracks, necessitating an up-and-over transfer via street level to switch platforms.
There is also a small CSX freight facility immediately north of the Framingham station, and some shunting action will be seen here.

[@DoubleH2279]

Nice video, dude! Have you seen the new Ashland station?

[@massbytrainmpw]

Not yet... I don't go west of Framingham very often because I currently live in Newton and there is much more service to the Newton stations from the inner trains than the outer trains, which frequently run at least semi-express.