Canton Junction 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

Canton, Massachusetts Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,370 at the 2020 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston. Hist ...

. It serves the

Providence/Stoughton Line The Providence/Stoughton Line is an MBTA Commuter Rail service in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, primarily serving the southwestern suburbs of Boston. Most service runs entirely on the Northeast Corridor between South Station in Boston and Provi ...

, and is planned for future service on the

South Coast Rail South Coast Rail is a project to build a new southern line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system along several abandoned and freight-only rail lines. The line has been planned to restore passenger rail service between Boston and the cities of Taunton, ...

line. It is located slightly north of the

Canton Viaduct Canton Viaduct is a blind arcade cavity wall railroad viaduct in Canton, Massachusetts, built in 1834–35 for the Boston and Providence Railroad (B&P). At its completion, it was the longest () and tallest () railroad viaduct in the world; toda ...

and west of downtown Canton. At Canton Junction, the Stoughton Branch of the Providence/Stoughton Line splits from the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

and runs southeast to

Stoughton, Massachusetts Stoughton (official name: Town of Stoughton) is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 29,281 at the 2020 census. The town is located approximately from Boston, from Providence, Rhode Island, and from Cape ...

. The Providence section of the line follows the Northeast Corridor south to

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

and beyond.

History

Canton Junction opened with the

Boston and Providence Railroad The Boston and Providence Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island which connected its namesake cities. It opened in two sections in 1834 and 1835 - one of the Rail transport in the United States, first rail ...

in 1835; the Stoughton Branch Railroad opened in early 1845. The current station building was designed by

Bradford Lee Gilbert Bradford Lee Gilbert (March 24, 1853 – September 1, 1911) was a nationally active American architect based in New York City. He is known for designing the Tower Building in 1889, the first steel-framed building anywhere and the first skysc ...

in the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

style and built by the

Old Colony Railroad The Old Colony Railroad (OC) was a major railroad system, mainly covering southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island, which operated from 1845 to 1893. Old Colony trains ran from Boston to points such as Plymouth, Fall River, ...

in 1892. It became part of the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

a year later in 1893.Existing Railroad Stations in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
/ref> From 1989 to 1994, Boston– trains for events at

Foxboro Stadium Foxboro Stadium, originally Schaefer Stadium and later Sullivan Stadium, was an outdoor stadium in the New England region of the United States, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It opened in 1971 and served as the home of the New England Pa ...

operated over the Northeast Corridor, with intermediate stops including Canton Junction. Boston–Foxboro service was rerouted over the

Franklin Line The Franklin Line, also called the Franklin/Foxboro Line, is part of the MBTA Commuter Rail system. It runs from Boston's South Station in a southwesterly direction toward Franklin, Massachusetts, utilizing the Northeast Corridor before splitti ...

in 1995. The massive footbridge, built around 2000, showed significant rust and damage to concrete by 2015. Keolis (the commuter rail contract operator) begin major repairs on the footbridge in 2016; however, the company failed to obtain the proper building permits. Construction was suspended in March 2017 with the western ramp and stairs still closed; passengers had to detour on foot over the Spaulding Street bridge to access the Providence-bound platform and the Jackson Street parking lot. Construction resumed in July 2017 and was completed in August.

References

External links

MBTA - Canton Junction

Station from Google Maps Street View
Stations on the Northeast Corridor MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Rail junctions in the United States Former New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1835 1835 establishments in Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-railstation-stub

History

References

Further reading

External links