Boston Surface Railroad


The Boston Surface Railroad Company is a proposed private commuter rail service between Providence, Rhode Island, Worcester, Massachusetts and Nashua, New Hampshire on trackage owned by the Genesee & Wyoming and Pan Am Railways.
The company was formed in 2014 by Vincent Bono, when it began a feasibility study for operating three trains daily over the route, with a single intermediate stop in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The estimated initial budget was between $3 and $5 million, largely for building a platform at Worcester Union Station, building a single passing siding, and the purchase and refurbishment of three locomotives and twelve passenger cars. The project was to be privately financed, and would have used a mix of money from investors and commercial credit.
By August 2015, the feasibility study had been completed, and the company had agreed to a memorandum of understanding with the PW for the use of its trackage and had submitted a safety plan to the Federal Railroad Administration. It had begun negotiating with the PWRR for a final trackage rights agreement pending identification of all infrastructure improvements required, and had also begun work on an agreement with Amtrak for access into Providence. In September 2016, the operation won approval from the Surface Transportation Board.
In 2016 the Rhode Island Department of Transportation leased the Woonsocket Depot in Woonsocket to the BSRC to by used by the company as a hub for the line. Later in 2016, the company moved its headquarters to the depot.
In June 2017, the company revised the start date to mid-2019 due to difficulties acquiring rolling stock and negotiating track usage costs with Genesee & Wyoming. However, two locomotives were acquired via auction from the Connecticut Department of Transportation in August 2018.
On June 28, 2019, the Boston Surface Railroad Company was involuntarily dissolved for failure to file an annual report by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, though it was reinstated two months later after the delinquent reports were filed.
On October 6, 2019, the company filed a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire. At the time, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation had won an eviction case against the company that would have ousted it from what its web site listed as its headquarters: 1 Depot Square, Woonsocket, RI.

Planned operations

The railroad had planned to begin operation in 2020 with two round trips over the line each day, with morning trains traveling southbound and evening trains northbound, and a total trip time of between 65 and 70 minutes. On-board amenities were planned to include wireless Internet access and assigned seating via an electronic ticketing system. It expected to initially attract about 600 passengers per day, with ridership rising in following years.
The service was planned to extend north as far as Bedford, New Hampshire and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. In October 2017, Nashua city leaders approved a proposal to partner with Boston Surface Railroad to bring rail to the city.
It was revealed in October, 2019 that the company plans to offer passenger bus service between Providence, Woonsocket and Worcester in February, 2020. Rail service is reportedly planned by the company between the same cities in late 2020.