Brighton Station (Massachusetts)
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Boston Landing station is an
MBTA Commuter Rail The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...
station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It serves the
Framingham/Worcester Line The Framingham/Worcester Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system runs west from Boston, Massachusetts to Worcester, Massachusetts through the MetroWest region, serving 17 station stops in Boston, Newton, Wellesley, Natick, Framingham, Ashlan ...
. It is located in the
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
neighborhood just west of the Everett Street bridge, next to the
Massachusetts Turnpike The Massachusetts Turnpike (colloquially "Mass Pike" or "the Pike") is a toll highway in the US state of Massachusetts that is maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The turnpike begins at the New York state li ...
. It serves the Allston-Brighton area as well as the Boston Landing development including
Warrior Ice Arena Warrior Arena is an ice hockey arena and practice facility in Brighton, Boston, Massachusetts. The arena is part of a larger mixed-use development being constructed by New Balance at Boston Landing that includes the headquarters of New Balance an ...
. The station is fully accessible, with a single full-length high-level
island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
. Elevators and stairs lead to Arthur Street and to the Everett Street bridge. The station, which was officially announced on June 7, 2012, is the result of discussions dating back to 1998. It was then projected to cost $16 million and to serve as many as 2400 daily riders by 2030. It is an
infill station An infill station (sometimes in-fill station) is a train station built on an existing passenger rail, rapid transit, or light rail line to address demand in a location between existing stations. Such stations take advantage of existing train serv ...
, since commuter rail trains passed frequently on existing tracks through the site. In November 2012,
New Balance New Balance Athletics, Inc. (NB), best known as simply New Balance, is one of the world's major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the multinational corporation was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch ...
announced their intention to open the station in 2014. However, in May 2014, the expected opening was pushed back to the fall of 2016. The new station is being financed by New Balance under a public-private partnership agreement. Prior to a May 2013 renaming, the proposed station project was known as New Brighton Landing. A groundbreaking ceremony for the $20 million station was held on May 12, 2015. The station opened on May 22, 2017.


Station design

Boston Landing station is fully handicapped accessible, with elevators on the pedestrian bridge to Arthur Street and another elevator to the Everett Street bridge. Route directly serves the station location via Arthur Street.


History


Former stations


Early stations

The
Boston and Worcester Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. P ...
(B&W) opened as far as West Newton in April 1834. The first intermediate station was located at Brighton; it was alternately known at first as Winship Gardens after the adjacent gardens. The small depot was located on the north side of the tracks near and probably just west of Market Street. The first train to arrive at Brighton was reportedly greeted by a celebratory cannon shot. Serving both tourists headed to the gardens and livestock dealers bound for the nearby cattle market, it quickly became one of the railroad's busiest stations. By 1850, the station reported generated $5,000 in revenues some weeks, with round-trip tickets to Boston costing just 12.5 cents. Railroads frequently built stations in rural areas on their suburban lines, hoping to attract new development and thus prompt more commuters to use their lines. A
flag stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, st ...
with limited service was later added at Cambridge Crossing, where what is now Cambridge Street crossed the line at grade. The name confused travelers, as the station was not particularly close to Cambridge itself; by 1850 the name "East Brighton" was proposed instead. The B&W merged with its extension/rival, the Western Railroad, in 1867 to become the
Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pass ...
(B&A). That year, the B&A built a wood-frame depot off Cambridge Street near Harvard Street. Wishing to further distance itself from Cambridge, the village voted in 1868 to rename itself as
Allston Allston is an officially recognized neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was named after the American painter and poet Washington Allston. It comprises the land covered by the zip code 02134. For the most part ...
after the painter
Washington Allston Washington Allston (November 5, 1779 – July 9, 1843) was an American painter and poet, born in Waccamaw Parish, South Carolina. Allston pioneered America's Romantic movement of landscape painting. He was well known during his lifetime for ...
. The Post Office acknowledged the name change, as did the B&A; the station was officially renamed Allston on June 1, 1868. By 1870, ridership was at double 1867 levels. The railroad had originally been built on the northern fringes of Brighton to appease residents who did not want the noise and danger of a railroad in their village center. However, as its popularity grew, so did the local regret for that choice. In 1871, residents attempted to privately finance a branch line that would split from the mainline at Allston and run to Brighton Center. From there, the branch would have either ran north to rejoin the mainline, or continued west through Oak Square and reached the main at
Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...
. Two surveys were carried out - the latter of which proposed to extend the branch through
Newton Lower Falls Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts is one of the thirteen villages within the city of Newton in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The commercial area extends across the river into Wellesley, Massachusetts, where it is known as Wellesl ...
to Grantville - but the branch was not built.


1880s stations

After years of deferred investment after the
Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "Lon ...
, the B&A began a substantial improvement program to its suburban stations around 1879. This was likely to divert profits - capped at 10% under state law - into capital investment which would serve as an expanded base for larger profits later. Famed architect
H.H. Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...
would ultimately design nine stations for the railroad before his 1886 death; his successors
Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic, religious, and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry ...
designed an additional 23 stations by 1894. A new Brighton station was commissioned in July 1884, and construction by the Norcross Brothers firm was completed in 1885. The new station opened on July 6, 1885. The station agent was removed from Allston in May 1949, but the station building remained in use as shelter for passengers. Allston and Brighton stations were closed in April 1959 (along with
University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, Faneuil, and
Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...
) when much of the main line was reduced from 4 to 2 tracks during the building of the Massachusetts Turnpike. 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. It was designated a
Boston Landmark A Boston Landmark is a designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission for historic buildings and sites throughout the city of Boston based on the grounds that it has historical, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to New Engla ...
by the
Boston Landmarks Commission The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) is the historic preservation agency for the City of Boston. The commission was created by state legislation i1975 History Urban renewal in the United States started with the Housing Act of 1949, part of Preside ...
in 1997. Regina Pizzeria closed in July 2020; that August, Allston music venue Great Scott announced that they were in negotiations to lease the station to replace their former location. That plan fell through in 2022.


Planning a new station

In 1998, a new station in Allston-Brighton began to be considered as part of the
Urban Ring The Urban Ring was a proposed project of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to develop new public transportation routes that would provide improved circumferential connections amon ...
planning process. In 2007, the City of Boston allocated $500,000 in funding for the Allston Multimodal Station Study. 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. Allston was soon determined the most likely location for an initial commuter rail stop, using either the Everett Street or Cambridge Street location, with more stops and DMU service to follow later. Local opinion was skewed towards Cambridge Street, with residents citing better bus connections and access to Union Square, plus security risks at Everett Street. The station was estimated to serve 2,000 daily riders by 2030, cost $10 million, and take ten years to actually reach completion when the recommendations were made in 2009. 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 Beacon Park Yard was a CSX Transportation rail yard in Allston, Boston, now owned by Harvard University. The yard opened in 1890 on the site of a former trotting park, from which it took its name. It was closed in 2013 following the relocation ...
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. However, with no funding source available, construction of a station was not pursued. In March 2012,
New Balance New Balance Athletics, Inc. (NB), best known as simply New Balance, is one of the world's major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the multinational corporation was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch ...
submitted initial plans for a mixed-use development in Brighton, which included the possibility of a commuter rail station. 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.


Boston Landing

One June 7, 2012, Allston-Brighton officials announced that New Balance and the
Massachusetts Department of Transportation The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Session of t ...
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. The associated New Brighton Landing development was approved by the Boston Redevelopment Authority on September 13, 2012, with construction to begin later that year. 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. In March 2013, the names of the station and the development were changed to Boston Landing. The proposed station was approved by a
MassDOT The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Session of t ...
finance board on May 14, 2013, and the agency's Board of Directors on May 22. 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. A groundbreaking ceremony for the $20 million station was held on May 12, 2015, still with an expected opening in the fall of 2016. 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. The mainline tracks were put back in service during a similar weekend shutdown in April 2017, restoring double track through Allston for the first time since the 1950s. State legislators representing communities along the Worcester Line have expressed concern that Boston Landing and the planned West Station would slow down trips for suburban commuters. It was originally proposed to limit service to the stop to two inbound trains in the morning rush hour and two outbounds in the afternoon (plus an unknown amount of off-peak service), but later schedules added additional stops. In April 2017, the MBTA announced that the station would be in Zone 1, which would have given suburban commuters inexpensive interzone fares but increased the cost of reaching downtown from Boston Landing. After criticism, the agency placed the station in Zone 1A. The station opened on May 22, 2017.


References


External links

{{Commons category
MBTA – Boston Landing
*Station viewed fro
Everett StreetArthur Street
an
I-90
on Google Maps Street View
Boston Landing
(associated development) Boston Landing MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Boston Railway stations in the United States opened in 2017 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1834