Lansdowne station (formerly Yawkey station) is an
MBTA Commuter Rail station in
Boston, Massachusetts. 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 ...
. Landsdowne is located 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 ...
in the
Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood near
Kenmore Square
Kenmore Square is a square in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, consisting of the intersection of several main avenues (including Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue) as well as several other cross streets, and Kenmore station, an MBTA ...
, below grade between
Beacon Street
Beacon Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts and its western suburbs Brookline and Newton. It passes through many of Boston's central and western neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway–Kenmore, the Boston U ...
and
Brookline Avenue
Brookline Avenue is a principal urban artery in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It runs from Kenmore Square in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, forming a 1.5-mile straight line to its other terminus at Washington Street in the Brookline Vill ...
.
The station, originally named after former
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
owner
Tom Yawkey
Thomas Austin Yawkey, born Thomas Yawkey Austin (February 21, 1903 – July 9, 1976), was an American industrialist, philanthropist, conservationist and Major League Baseball executive. Born in Detroit, Yawkey became president of the Boston Red S ...
, opened as 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 ...
in 1988, for limited service to baseball games at
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Bas ...
. Regular commuter service began in 2001 for riders headed to
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
, Kenmore Square, and the
Longwood Medical and Academic Area
The Longwood Medical and Academic Area (also known as Longwood Medical Area, LMA, or simply Longwood) is a medical campus in Boston, Massachusetts. Flanking Longwood Avenue, LMA is adjacent to the Fenway–Kenmore, Audubon Circle, and Mission H ...
. Inbound and outbound trains formerly shared a single two-car platform on the inbound track, requiring passengers to embark or debark from the front two cars of outbound trains or the rear two cars of inbound trains.
In 2012, work began on a new, fully
accessible
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...
station, including two longer high-level platforms and an overhead pedestrian bridge which will eventually allow direct access from the Beacon Street and Brookline Avenue overpasses through the planned Fenway Center development. Passengers boarded from the east end of the new station from June 2013 until March 10, 2014; after delays, it opened fully that day. The new station is served by all Worcester Line trains, which was expected to increase ridership from 585 total daily boardings and alightings to 937. By a 2018 count, there were 2,491 daily (1,195 boardings and 1,296 alightings).
The station was renamed Lansdowne (after nearby Lansdowne Street) effective April 8, 2019, following the May 2018 renaming of
Yawkey Way
Jersey Street is a street in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, part of a scheme of alphabetical street names in Back Bay. It lies parallel to Ipswich Street and Kilmarnock Street, and runs from Brookline Avenue to Pa ...
back to Jersey Street.
History
Former 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 to on April 16, 1834, and was extended westwards soon after.
An early station was located at the west end of the
Boston & Roxbury Mill Dam
The Boston & Roxbury Mill Dam was an engineering project in Boston's Back Bay. Commissioned in 1814, the project intended to enclose the Back Bay basin and utilize the flowing tidal waters for industrial production. Constructing the dam would allow ...
, near what is now
Kenmore Square
Kenmore Square is a square in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, consisting of the intersection of several main avenues (including Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue) as well as several other cross streets, and Kenmore station, an MBTA ...
. It was variously known as Beacon Street, Mill Dam, Brookline, and Brookline Junction — the latter name reflecting the Brookline branch (later the
Highland branch
The Highland branch, also known as the Newton Highlands branch, was a suburban railway line in Boston, Massachusetts. It was opened by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1886 to serve the growing community of Newton, Massachusetts. The line was ...
), which opened in 1848.
By 1857, passenger service there was replaced with Cottage Farm station (later University station), 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, s ...
at Commonwealth Avenue in the
Cottage Farm neighborhood.
Mill Dam station remained in use by Brookline branch trains for some time.
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. Pa ...
(successor to the B&W) maintained a freight yard at Brookline Junction into the 20th century.
Service on the Highland branch ran until May 31, 1958, when it was abandoned for conversion to the
Riverside Line
Metrolink's Riverside Line is a commuter rail line running from Los Angeles Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles to Riverside along the Union Pacific Railroad. It runs weekday peak commuter hours only, with very little midday and reverse co ...
; a stub remained at Brookline Junction until the 1970s for freight service.
The B&A attempted to drop all service to University,
Brighton, and Faneuil in February 1958; however, minimal service was maintained until the railroad discontinued all commuter stops east of in April 1959. Remaining commuter service on the line was subsidized by the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
(MBTA) beginning in 1973, eventually coming under full public control as the
Framingham Line.
Game-day service
![Yawkey platform 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Yawkey_platform_2.JPG)
Originally named in honor of long-time
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
owner
Tom Yawkey
Thomas Austin Yawkey, born Thomas Yawkey Austin (February 21, 1903 – July 9, 1976), was an American industrialist, philanthropist, conservationist and Major League Baseball executive. Born in Detroit, Yawkey became president of the Boston Red S ...
, the station was opened on April 29, 1988, and initially was only used for special service to Fenway Park for baseball games.
It was used by Framingham Line trains as well as special weekend-only "Fenway Flyer" baseball trains from the Attleboro (now
Providence/Stoughton),
Fairmount, and
Franklin
Franklin may refer to:
People
* Franklin (given name)
* Franklin (surname)
* Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class
Places Australia
* Franklin, Tasmania, a township
* Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
lines. Service from the Attleboro and Fairmount lines began on July 12, 1988, followed by the Franklin Line on July 27.
The "Fenway Flyer" trains had an annual ridership of 58,000 in 1990. The station became popular enough that the MBTA added regular commuter service. This largely obviated the need for "Fenway Flyer" specials, though certain weekend Providence trains ran to Yawkey as late as 2007. Similar special trains continue to serve
Foxboro station
Foxboro station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Foxborough, Massachusetts, located adjacent to Gillette Stadium and the Patriot Place shopping center. The station has a single side platform serving the main track of the Framingham Secondary. ...
during football and soccer games and special events at
Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is southwest of downtown Boston. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for both the New England Patriots of the National Foot ...
.
The station was built with a low-level asphalt platform and was not initially
accessible
Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...
. With the pending passage of the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...
(ADA), the MBTA began a project to build a
mini-high platform
Railway platform height is the built height – ''above top of rail (ATR)'' – of passenger platforms at stations. A connected term is ''train floor height'', which refers to the ATR height of the floor of rail vehicles. Worldwide, there are ...
on March 14, 1990.
However, the mini-high platform only served one of the line's two tracks, limiting the number of trains that could stop at the station.
Regular service
In early 2000, the MBTA released a study which analyzed the possibility of full-time commuter service to then-Yawkey station to serve workers at nearby
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
, Kenmore Square, and the
Longwood Medical and Academic Area
The Longwood Medical and Academic Area (also known as Longwood Medical Area, LMA, or simply Longwood) is a medical campus in Boston, Massachusetts. Flanking Longwood Avenue, LMA is adjacent to the Fenway–Kenmore, Audubon Circle, and Mission H ...
. An addendum released in August 2000 analyzed increased service (on all modes) to Fenway Park on game days. Possibilities studied included running game day service from the
Plymouth/Kingston Line with an unused trainset, a South Station-Yawkey shuttle, increased Green Line service, and bus shuttles to the
Red Line in Cambridge and to
Ruggles station
Ruggles station is an intermodal transfer station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit, bus, and commuter rail services and is located at the intersection of Ruggles and Tremont str ...
. Consideration was given to building a dedicated terminal spur and station on the remains of the former Highland branch.
Regular weekday commuter service to the station began on January 2, 2001, with four daily round trips. Weekend service was still initially limited to game days.
Regular weekend service was added on April 30, 2001.
From 2001 to 2014, not all trains stopped at the station; most peak-direction trains stopped, but many off-peak trains did not. Before the rebuilding began in 2012, some trains stopped at the station only on game days during the Red Sox season.
New station
![Yawkey construction December 2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Yawkey_construction_December_2012.JPG)
In August 2007, the MBTA published a feasibility study exploring the possibility of rebuilding the station as a full-service station. The recommended alternative had a footbridge in the center of the platform, with elevators to the Beacon Street bridge.
The study concluded that full service to the rebuilt station would increase ridership by 60%, from 585 daily boardings and alightings to 937.
On November 15, 2010, Governor
Deval Patrick and other officials broke ground on a major rebuilding of the station, originally expected to be completed in the spring of 2012.
The new station has two full-length high-level platforms that provide level, accessible boarding for all passengers; the old platform had only a wooden ramp for accessibility. The two 700-foot-long platforms (a
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 platform ...
between the tracks plus a side platform on the south side of the tracks) are connected with an overpass, and passengers no longer have to cross the tracks to access certain outbound trains.
The rebuilt station was intended to be the first component of a larger, mostly private development called Fenway Center. The new station, which cost about $13.5 million, was planned to be powered entirely by solar panels after the development opened.
Although the developer wished to close the station during rebuilding, the MBTA elected to keep it open. Fenway Center, which was to be built on the air rights over the adjacent
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 ...
(I-90), would eventually cover much of the station.
As part of the development, walkways would be built above the station, allowing passengers to walk directly to the pedestrian bridge and platforms from Beacon Street and Brookline Avenue rather than passing through private parking lots. After lengthy negotiations, an air-rights deal between the city and the developer regarding Fenway Center was reached in May 2013.
![Train at Yawkey May 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Train_at_Yawkey_May_2013.JPG)
The Framingham/Worcester line schedule was changed slightly in April 2012 to allow for temporary single-tracking through the station for construction. Actual station construction activity started in June 2012, and in August one track was cut, reducing the line to one track through the station. The platforms were installed in late November 2012; construction of the elevator shafts began in February 2013. A temporary ramp opened in June 2013 for passengers to use the east end of the future outbound platform; the old platform was demolished soon afterwards to make room for the west ends of the new platforms. The pedestrian bridge was lifted into place in August 2013, followed by the various roof and canopy elements. The second track was rebuilt in late September, followed by the remaining platform segments.
The new station fully opened on March 10, 2014, coinciding with planned service increases on the Framingham/Worcester Line. Before the reconstruction, 17 trains stopped at the station each weekday; after, all 48 daily trains (24 round trips) stopped.
The opening was first planned for January 13, then January 27, but was delayed due to problems with the station's elevators and adjustments to the schedule based on public comment.
The walkway between the new station and Fenway Park includes large lit statues of the
uniform numbers retired by the Red Sox.
In July 2017, the developer and the state reached an agreement under which the buildings south of the station would be built first. The developer paid the state $21 million for the right to delay building the deck. The lease agreement was finalized that December. The first phase of the project added a pedestrian deck over the west part of the platforms, connecting to Beacon Street and the station footbridge. The Beacon Street staircases were closed on December 1, 2018, due to the construction of Fenway Center. They were originally expected to reopen in March 2020, though this was delayed into 2021. After special events, such as concerts at Fenway Park, the MBTA sometimes runs special commuter rail shuttles from the station to South Station.
Cancelled plans
The station was a proposed stop on 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 ...
– a circumferential
bus rapid transit (BRT) line designed to connect the existing radial MBTA rail lines to reduce overcrowding in the downtown stations. Under draft plans released in 2008, the Urban Ring would have accessed the station via Mountfort Street to the north and a new tunnel paralleling the
Green Line D branch
The Green Line D branch (also referred to as the Highland branch or Riverside Line) is a light rail line in Newton, Brookline, and Boston, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. ...
to the southwest, with a turnoff and surface station at Overland Street. The project was cancelled in 2010
In 2014, it was revealed by the state that the stop would be part of the proposed
Indigo Line
The Indigo Line was a proposed service of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority that would have incorporated parts of the former Grand Junction Railroad, the Seaport District's Track 61, a spur to the Riverside station and other MB ...
system with frequent
DMU service, but that plan was canceled in 2015.
Renaming
In December 2015, ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' columnist Adrian Walker proposed renaming
Yawkey Way
Jersey Street is a street in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, part of a scheme of alphabetical street names in Back Bay. It lies parallel to Ipswich Street and Kilmarnock Street, and runs from Brookline Avenue to Pa ...
and Yawkey station after alleging their namesake,
Tom Yawkey
Thomas Austin Yawkey, born Thomas Yawkey Austin (February 21, 1903 – July 9, 1976), was an American industrialist, philanthropist, conservationist and Major League Baseball executive. Born in Detroit, Yawkey became president of the Boston Red S ...
, was a racist who made the Red Sox
the last major league team to hire black players. In August 2017, amid heightened media coverage of the
removal of Confederate monuments and memorials
More than 100 monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America (CSA; the Confederacy) and associated figures have been removed, all but five since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn do ...
in the United States, the Red Sox organization began advocating for the city to change the street's name. A bill to change the station's name was filed in the state legislature. Changing the street name was approved in April 2018 and implemented in May 2018. The MBTA announced that the station would also be renamed, though a new name was not immediately determined. On March 28, 2019, the MBTA announced that the station would be renamed Lansdowne (after nearby Lansdowne Street) effective April 8.
Station design
![Fenway Center deck and Lansdowne station footbridge, July 2021](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Fenway_Center_deck_and_Lansdowne_station_footbridge%2C_July_2021.jpg)
The station is
fully accessible, with two full-length high-level platforms. The station has an unusual platform layout, where the outbound
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 platform ...
is between the tracks rather than to the side. This is because the station is located on a tight curve; doors located on the end of passenger cars would have
gaps next to a convex platform.
A footbridge with elevators and stairs connects the platforms to Overland Street. The Fenway Center pedestrian deck covers the west portion of the platforms, connecting Beacon Street and the station footbridge.
Staircases to Beacon Street are also available from the west ends of the platforms.
Connections
![MBTA route 65 bus passing Yawkey Way, August 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/MBTA_route_65_bus_passing_Yawkey_Way%2C_August_2016.JPG)
Four
MBTA bus routes stop on Brookline Avenue at Jersey Street:
*:
Harbor Point–
*: –Kenmore or station
*: Chestnut Hill–Kenmore station
*: Brighton–Kenmore station
Kenmore station
Kenmore station is a light rail station on the MBTA Green Line, located under Kenmore Square in the Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The station opened on October 23, 1932 as a one-station extension of the Boylston Street ...
, located to the northeast along Brookline Avenue, provides connections to the
B,
C, and
D branches of the
MBTA Green Line
The Green Line is a light rail system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in the Boston, Massachusetts, metropolitan area. It is the oldest MBTA subway line, and with tunnel sections dating from 1897, the oldest subway ...
, as well as bus routes and .
MASCO, a consortium of medical facilities and universities, runs a number of private and semi-private bus routes that serve its member organizations. Its "Fenway" shuttle route stops at Lansdowne station as well as Fenway Park parking lots.
References
External links
{{Commons category
MBTA – Lansdowne*Google Maps Street View
from I-90David Ortiz DriveBeacon StreetFenway Center
Fenway–Kenmore
MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Boston
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1988
Railway stations in the United States opened in 2014
1988 establishments in Massachusetts