Fall River station (Fall River Depot) is an under-construction

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 Fall River, Massachusetts. The station is being constructed as part of the South Coast Rail project and is expected to open in mid-2024.

History

Former station

The Fall River Railroad opened from Myricks to

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

on June 9, 1845, and to the Old Colony Railroad at South Braintree in December 1846. They merged as the Old Colony and Fall River Railroad in 1854. As the

Old Colony and Newport Railway 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, ...

, it opened a line from Fall River south to

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

in 1864. The

Dighton and Somerset Railroad The Dighton and Somerset Railroad, currently referred to as the Dean Street Industrial Track, is a railroad that ran between Fall River and Braintree, Massachusetts. It opened in 1866; from the 1890s to the 1930s and again in the late 1950s, i ...

opened in 1866, joining the Fall River mainline at Somerset Junction, north of Fall River. Fall River station 1912 postcard

Bowenville station opened in the north part of Fall River around 1870. The railroad changed names again to become the Old Colony Railroad in 1872. The Old Colony constructed a station building at Bowenville, located on the east side of the tracks between Turner Street and Old Colony Street, in 1874. A branch of the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad (known as the Fall River, Warren and Providence Railroad) opened over the new Slade's Ferry Bridge on December 5, 1875, connecting to the Fall River mainline north of Bowenville; the branch provided electrified passenger service between

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

and Fall River from 1900 to 1934. A new station designed by

Bradford 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 ...

opened in 1892 between Lincoln Avenue and Pearce Street, just north of the existing Bowenville station. Named Fall River, it became the main station for the city. The station was raised as part of a 1902–1905 project that eliminated eleven grade crossings in the city. Service to Providence, and to Taunton over the Dighton and Somerset, both ended in 1932. Newport service ended in 1938 due to the

88 stations case The 88 stations case was a 1935–40 controversy and court case involving the Old Colony Railroad, Old Colony Division of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The New Haven entered bankruptcy in 1935; the next year, it ended the 1893 leas ...

; Ferry Street station was closed until around 1950, leaving Fall River as a terminal. Fall River service was suspended from 1949 to 1952, and ultimately ended on September 5, 1958.

South Coast Rail

In September 2008, MassDOT released 18 potential station sites for the South Coast Rail project, including Fall River Depot off Davol Street. A 2009 conceptual design called for a single

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

serving the west track, with a second track allowing freight trains to pass the high-level platform; a two-story parking deck would be located on the west side of the tracks. Plans released as part of the Final Environmental Impact Report in 2013 were nearly identical. A 2009 corridor plan called for mixed-use transit-oriented development around the new station. On June 11, 2010, the state took ownership of the Fall River Subdivision and several other

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

lines as part of a sale agreement. In 2017, the project was re-evaluated due to cost issues. A new proposal released in March 2017 called for early service via Middleborough by 2024, followed by full service via Stoughton by 2029. The January 2018 ''Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report'' reconfigured the planned parking lot configuration, as part of the previously planned deck site had been developed for use by a business. A parking lot on the west side of the tracks will be constructed during Phase 1, with a possible eastern lot (on the site of an existing retail structure) to be added later. The MBTA awarded a $159 million contract for construction of the Fall River Secondary portion of the project, including Fall River station, in May 2020. Service was then planned to begin in November 2023. Two former industrial buildings were demolished in 2020 to make room for the station and its parking lot. The station was 32% complete by February 2022, with 96% of platform foundations and some retaining walls in place. Construction of the station reached 90% completion in October 2022, with the platform and canopies in place. Substantial completion of the Fall River Secondary work was announced in December 2022. Opening was delayed to mid-2024 in September 2023.

References

External links

{{commons category inline MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Bristol County, Massachusetts Railway stations scheduled to open in 2024 Buildings and structures in Fall River, Massachusetts Railway stations opened in 1892 Railway stations closed in 1958 Under-construction MBTA Commuter Rail stations