Boston Landing (MBTA station)

This article is about the planned railway station in the United States. For the railway station in Britain, see New Brighton railway station.
BOSTON LANDING

Construction of the station in April 2016
Location Everett Street at Guest Street
Brighton, Massachusetts
Line(s)
  Framingham/Worcester Line
Platforms 1 island platform[1]
Tracks 4 (prior to station construction)
3 (after station construction)[1][2]
Connections MBTA Bus: 64
Construction
Parking 1750 (at associated development)
Bicycle facilities Bicycle racks; Hubway bikeshare station
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 1A
History
Opened Fall 2016 (planned)[2]
Closed 1857, April 1959[3]
Previous names Everett Street (1834-1857)
Allston and Brighton (1857-1959)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
toward Worcester
Framingham/Worcester Line
2016 (planned)
2020 (planned)

Boston Landing is a commuter rail station under construction on the MBTA's Framingham/Worcester Line located in Brighton, a neighborhood in the western part of Boston, Massachusetts. The station will be located just west of the Everett Street bridge, next to the Massachusetts Turnpike.[4] It will serve the Allston-Brighton area as well as the Boston Landing development which is being built nearby. The station is an infill station, since commuter rail trains currently pass frequently on existing tracks through the site. Prior to a May 2013 renaming, the proposed station project was known as New Brighton Landing.

The planned station, which was officially announced on June 7, 2012, is the result of discussions dating back to 1998. It was projected to cost $16 million and to serve as many as 2400 daily riders by 2030.[1][4] The station will consist of a single island platform, with elevators leading to Arthur Street and handicapped-accessible ramps leading to Everett Street. In November 2012, New Balance announced their intention to open the station in 2014.[5] However, in May 2014, the expected opening was pushed back to the fall of 2016. The new station will be financed by New Balance under a public-private partnership agreement.[2]

A groundbreaking ceremony for the $20 million station was held on May 12, 2015, still with an expected opening in the fall of 2016.[6]

History

Former stations

Brighton station in the late 1800s. The station, designed by H.H. Richardson, was demolished in 1959.

The Boston & Albany Railroad originally had a number of stations in the inner ring of suburbs, including a station at Everett Street which was demolished in 1857.[7] It was replaced with stations at Allston (Cambridge Street) and Brighton (Market Street), each about one quarter mile away. Those stations, along with several others in Newton and Boston, were closed in April 1959 when much of the main line was reduced from 4 to 2 tracks during the building of the Massachusetts Turnpike.[4][3] The station closures left the northern part of Brighton lacking rail service. The Brighton station was demolished during highway construction, while the Allston station remained intact. The Allston Depot Steakhouse opened in the building in 1972, followed by Sports Depot in 1988 and Regina Pizzeria in 2010.[8][9]

Planning a new station

Allston depot, one of the station sites considered in the 2009 study, seen here in 2012

In 1998, a new station in Allston-Brighton began to be considered as part of the Urban Ring planning process. In 2007, the City of Boston allocated $500,000 in funding for the Allston Multimodal Station Study.[10] The study analyzed both commuter rail and DMU local service along the corridor, with potential stops at Faneuil, Market Street, Everett Street, Cambridge Street, West (Ashford Street), and Commonwealth Avenue.[1] The final recommendation, for a commuter rail station at Everett Street with DMU stops added later at the other locations, sparked local controversy but was mostly well received.[11]

In 2009 and 2010, the state negotiated a major agreement with CSX Transportation that involved the purchase of several rail lines, including purchasing the line between Framingham and Worcester. The agreement also included CSX moving its intermodal freight operations from the Beacon Park Yard in Allston to a new yard in Worcester. The abandonment of Beacon Park Yards allows for an increase in MBTA service on the Framingham/Worcester Line; additionally, the elimination of the single-track bottleneck through the yard opened the possibility for a station to be built in Allston while still allowing passing tracks.[12] However, with no funding source available, construction of a station was not pursued.[4]

In March 2012, New Balance submitted initial plans for a mixed-use development in Brighton, which included the possibility of a commuter rail station.[13] In May, they officially announced the $500 million development, which is to be one block away from the station site. A company spokesperson told the Boston Globe that "If designated by MassDOT, New Brighton Landing will design, permit and construct a commuter rail station in Allston-Brighton" and that New Balance was willing to contribute to funding the station.[14]

Boston Landing

Track work near the station site in November 2015

One June 7, 2012, Allston-Brighton officials announced that New Balance and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation had signed a letter of intent to build a station at Everett Street, to be named New Brighton Landing. The public-private partnership, in which New Balance will "fund all permitting, design, construction and annual maintenance costs" for the station - then projected to cost $16 million - was the first of its kind for the MBTA.[4] The associated New Brighton Landing development was approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority on September 13, 2012, with construction to begin later that year.[15]

No timetable was initially laid out for station construction. On November 9, 2012, the company announced plans to open the station in 2014. Design and permitting were to be completed in 2013, with construction finished within a year.[5] In March 2013, the names of the station and the development were changed to Boston Landing. The proposed station was approved by a MassDOT finance board on May 14, 2013, and the agency's Board of Directors on May 22.[16][17] By 2013 the expected completion date had slipped to mid-2015, and in May 2014 New Balance announced that the station would not open until the second half of 2016. The company cited the unanticipated complexity of the planning and construction for the delay.[2]

A groundbreaking ceremony for the $20 million station was held on May 12, 2015, still with an expected opening in the fall of 2016.[6] Construction began in October 2015 with the removal of the three yard tracks at the station site. The inner part of the Framingham/Worcester Line was closed for a weekend in December 2015 to allow construction of a temporary shoo-fly track, which allows the mainline track to be removed during construction.[18]

State legislators representing communities along the Worcester Line have expressed concern that Boston Landing and West Station would slow down trips for suburban commuters.[19] Service to the stop will initially be limited to two inbound trains in the morning rush hour and two outbounds in the afternoon, plus an unknown amount of off-peak service.[16] Boston Landing station will be fully handicapped accessible, with elevators on the pedestrian bridge to Arthur Street and an accessible ramp to the Everett Street bridge.

Bus connections

The station is intended to connect several MBTA Bus routes in Allston-Brighton.[1] Currently, the 64 Oak Square - University Park, Cambridge or Kendall/MIT via North Beacon Street route directly serves the station location via Arthur Street. The 57 and 66 routes are accessible at nearby Union Square, while the 86 route runs on Market Street several blocks to the west.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Allston Multimodal Station Study" (PDF). Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation. 15 June 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Powers, Martine (30 May 2014). "Brighton rail station opening pushed back to 2016". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 1 June 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  3. 1 2 Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 24. ISBN 9780685412947.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Rocheleau, Matt (7 June 2012). "Commuter rail stop to be built in Allston-Brighton near proposed New Balance development". Boston Globe. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 Rocheleau, Matt (9 November 2012). "New Balance aims to open commuter rail station in 2014". Boston Globe. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
  6. 1 2 Dungca, Nicole (12 May 2015). "New Balance and MBTA Break Ground on New Alston-Brighton Commuter Rail Station". Boston Globe. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  7. ↑ LaPointe, Gary (1998). "Stations Gone from Their Original Sites". Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Goddison, Donna (21 May 2010). "It’s game over for Sports Depot". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010.
  9. ↑ Rocheleau, Matt (26 October 2010). "Allston Regina Pizzeria, formerly Sports Depot, makes debut". Boston Globe. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  10. ↑ Elowitt, Karen (26 April 2007). "Allston could get commuter rail station". Wicked Local. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  11. ↑ Trachtenberg, Mark D. (11 June 2009). "Perspective: Commuter rail for Allston at last". Wicked Local. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  12. ↑ Dyer, John (16 June 2010). "Much is riding on Worcester rail deal". Boston Globe. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  13. ↑ Goodwin Procter LLP; et al. (20 March 2012). "Master Plan for Planned Development Area #87: New Brighton Landing" (PDF). New Brighton Landing LLC. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  14. ↑ Rocheleau, Matt (31 May 2012). "New Balance to spend $500m to build HQ, sports complex, hotel in Brighton". Boston Globe. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  15. ↑ Rocheleau, Matt (14 September 2012). "New Balance gets final OK to build $500m Brighton development". Boston Globe. Retrieved 14 September 2012.
  16. 1 2 Rocheleau, Matt (15 May 2013). "State to vote on plan for 'Boston Landing' commuter rail station near New Balance project in Brighton". Boston Globe. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  17. ↑ Rocheleau, Matt (22 May 2013). "State OKs plan for 'Boston Landing' commuter rail station near New Balance project in Brighton". Boston Globe. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  18. ↑ "Commuter Rail Service Alerts: Framingham/Worceester Line". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 25 November 2015. Archived from the original on 30 November 2015.
  19. ↑ "BBrown" (19 October 2014). "Relief coming to Wellesley Mass Pike, train commuters". The Swellesley Report. Retrieved 20 October 2014.

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Coordinates: 42°21′26″N 71°08′21″W / 42.3572°N 71.1393°W / 42.3572; -71.1393

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