North Station is a
commuter rail and
intercity rail terminal station in
Boston,
Massachusetts. It is served by four
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 ...
lines – the
Fitchburg Line
The Fitchburg Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system which runs from Boston's North Station to Wachusett station in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The line is along the tracks of the former Fitchburg Railroad, which was built across norther ...
,
Haverhill Line,
Lowell Line, and
Newburyport/Rockport Line
The Newburyport/Rockport Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running northeast from downtown Boston, Massachusetts towards Cape Ann and the Merrimack Valley, serving the North Shore. The first leg, operating via the Eastern Rou ...
– and the
Amtrak intercity service. The concourse is located under the
TD Garden arena, with the platforms extending north towards drawbridges over the
Charles River. The
eponymous subway station, served by the
Green Line
Green Line may refer to:
Places Military and political
* Green Line (France), the German occupation line in France during World War II
* Green Line (Israel), the 1949 armistice line established between Israel and its neighbours
** City Line ( ...
and
Orange Line, is connected to the concourse with an underground passageway.
Description
The concourse of the station, named for longtime
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
coach and executive
Red Auerbach, is located under the
TD Garden arena, with two entrances from Causeway Street, as well as entrances from Nashua Street to the west. Five
island platforms serving ten tracks run north from the concourse. Just north of the platforms, a
pair of two-track drawbridges cross the
Charles River. Eight commuter rail lines and three Amtrak services terminate at
South Station about to the south, with no direct rail link between the two stations. The proposed
North–South Rail Link
The North–South Rail Link (NSRL) is a proposed rail tunnel, or pair of tunnels, that would connect North Station and South Station in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.
The project would build new underground stations near the existing stat ...
would link the two halves of the commuter rail system, with new underground platforms at both stations.
North Station is
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.e ...
on all modes.
MBTA bus
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates List of MBTA bus routes, 170 bus routes in the Greater Boston area. The MBTA has a policy objective to provide transit service within walking distance (defined as ) for all residents ...
route runs on Causeway Street, with stops near Canal Street. The
EZRide
The EZRide shuttle is a bus service run by the Charles River Transportation Management Association, a nonprofit organization. It operates from North Station in Boston, Massachusetts to Fort Washington (Massachusetts), Fort Washington/Cambridgeport ...
Shuttle loops on Red Auerbach Way with a stop near the secondary entrance to North Station.
Lovejoy Wharf, located off Beverly Street northeast of North Station, is the
head of navigation
The head of navigation is the farthest point above the mouth of a river that can be navigated by ships. Determining the head of navigation can be subjective on many streams, as the point may vary greatly with the size or the draft of the ship be ...
of the
Charles River due to the adjacent
Charles River Dam.
It is served by
water taxi services to
Logan Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...
and the Boston waterfront by two private companies, and a Lovejoy Wharf – Fan Pier ferry route.
History
Previous stations
The four major northside railroads originally built separate terminal stations in Boston. The
Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) was the first to open, with service beginning on June 24, 1835.
The first station was built later in 1835 along Lowell Street (now Lomasney Way) and was several blocks north of Causeway Street. A new station was built at Causeway Street east of Nashua Street in 1857, with the original depot converted to a freight house.
An even larger third station on the Causeway Street site, constructed of brick with towers at the front corners, was opened on November 24, 1873.
The
Boston and Maine Railroad
The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022).
At the end of 1970, B ...
(B&M) opened in July 1845, with a temporary station at Canal and Traverse streets. The permanent station, opened on October 20, was between Canal and Haverhill streets and fronted on
Haymarket Square. Trains had to cross busy Causeway Street to reach the station; at first, a city ordinance required the railroad to pull cars across the street with oxen rather than locomotives. In 1867, the station was extended northwards from Market Street to Traverse Street.
The 1843-opened
Fitchburg Railroad
The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main li ...
originally terminated in
Charlestown, near the north end of the
Warren Bridge. On August 9, 1848, the railroad opened a new station with large Norman style towers at Causeway Street, just east of the B&M tracks.
The second floor was the largest auditorium in New England at the time; it was the site of two performances by
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and a ...
in October 1850 during her
tour of the United States.
The
Eastern Railroad
The Eastern Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Portland, Maine. Throughout its history, it competed with the Boston and Maine Railroad for service between the two cities, until the Boston & Maine put an end to the compe ...
opened in 1838 with an East Boston terminal; ferries carried passengers between there and
Lewis Wharf
Lewis Wharf is a showpiece of waterfront urban renewal in Boston's historic North End. The granite structures on the wharf were built as an early 19th-century shopping mall in the era before railroads when water transport was the most efficient wa ...
in Boston.
On April 10, 1854, the railroad opened its Boston terminal on Causeway Street opposite Friend Street – west of the B&M tracks and east of the soon-to-be-built B&L station.
This "temporary" station was destroyed by fire on June 21, 1862.
The brick replacement station, completed the next year, "had a reputation of being dirty, unattractive, and uninviting."
North Union Station
The B&M leased the Eastern in 1884, though it continued to use its own terminal.
As a condition of the B&M's 1887 lease of the B&L, the state required the B&M to construct a
union station for use by the combined B&M system plus the Fitchburg.
After years of resistance by the B&M, construction on North Union Station began in 1893.
The station was built as an eastward expansion of the B&L station, with a total frontage of on Causeway Street. The center of the new facade was an -high granite
triumphal arch flanked by four massive columns.
The east side was formed by a five-story baggage and express building.
The station was designed by the firm of
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, which designed
South Station several years later.
The new station was opened in stages from August 1893 to June 1894.
The Eastern depot had been demolished in 1893 to allow construction to proceed.
The B&M depot was demolished in 1897, with the site used for the
Canal Street incline
The Canal Street incline (also Canal Street portal) was a ramp connecting two transit tunnels in Boston with surface and elevated lines. It was located in the Bulfinch Triangle between North Station and Haymarket Square in two blocks bounded by Ca ...
of the
Tremont Street subway.
The Fitchburg was leased by the B&M in 1900, after which the former Fitchburg depot was used as the B&M offices.
By that time, the station was popularly known as "North Station".
The former Fitchburg depot burned on January 17, 1925; it was demolished in 1926–28.
North Station
In 1926, the B&M began work on an expansion and modernization of the freight yards north of North Station in Somerville. The next November, the railroad announced plans for a new North Station complex. Demolition of the old station began the next month.
The partially-complete station was opened on August 19, 1928; it was formally opened on November 14, 1928 – one year after the original announcement.
The new station had 22 tracks paired around island platforms, largely similar to its previous configuration.
The concourse was topped with the
Boston Garden arena, with a 14-story office building to the east and a hotel to the west. (Early plans had called for these to be integrated into the station like the arena.
) The complex fronted on Causeway Street for from Nashua Street to Beverly Street. A project lasting from August 26, 1930 to mid-1931 rebuilt the approach to the station, with four new drawbridges crossing a relocated Charles River channel.
Until the 1960s, the station was the hub for
long-distance B&M service to multiple locales north and west of
Boston, usually in conjunction with other railroads. Service cutbacks began in the 1950s, and service soon dwindled down to
commuter rail operations. The last
intercity service to
Portland, Maine and to north of
Concord, New Hampshire
Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua.
The village of ...
ended on January 4, 1965.
By this point, the intercity train itineraries consisted of self-propelled
Budd Rail Diesel Car
The Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC, Budd car or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily adop ...
s, often just one or two cars for the trip. Single commuter-oriented daily round trips on these routes to Concord and
Dover, New Hampshire lasted until June 30, 1967.
(Limited
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 ...
service to Concord was run from January 28, 1980 to March 1, 1981 as part of a federally funded experiment.
) In the 1960s, the B&M removed two drawbridges and cut the station to ten tracks. The south end of the platforms were removed to make room for a parking lot.
Prior interstate train service from North Station:
MBTA era
New station
On January 20, 1984, a fire destroyed the wooden trestles leading to the North Station drawbridges. Temporary terminals were soon established:
Haverhill/Reading trains terminated at ,
Rockport/Ipswich trains at a temporary platform at , and
Lowell and
Gardner trains at a temporary station near .
On June 28, 1984, the MBTA awarded a $11.3 million contract for construction of replacement trestles plus new tracks and platforms.
The rebuilt station opened on April 20, 1985.
On March 29, 1989, the MBTA awarded a $13.7 million construction contract to raise the five commuter rail platforms for
accessibility
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. ...
.
(Until then, a modified
forklift
A forklift (also called lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th century by various c ...
was used as a mobile lift.)
Groundbreaking was held for the underground garage on June 25, 1990, followed by the platform project on July 12.
However, the nearest accessible subway transfer was
State station over half a mile away; not until 2001 were the North Station and Haymarket subway stations made accessible.
second page
third page
In February 1993, the state reached a deal with a developer for the replacement of the aging Boston Garden. In exchange for the land and easements to construct the
FleetCenter
TD Garden is a multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after its sponsor, TD Bank, a subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Ontario. It opened in 1995 as a replacement for the original Boston Garden and has been k ...
, the developer would construct a new train shed and waiting area on the ground floor of the new arena. The MBTA would also be granted easements for a Green Line tunnel under the arena to replace the Causeway Street Elevated, for a combined underground "superstation" for the Green and Orange lines, and for pedestrian access to North Station. The FleetCenter, North Station concourse, and garage opened in 1995.
Two
MBTA Boat
The MBTA boat or MBTA ferry system is a public boat service providing water transportation in Boston Harbor. It is operated by Boston Harbor Cruises (BHC) under contract to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). In , the system h ...
routes – the F3 Lovejoy Wharf –
Boston Navy Yard and F5 Lovejoy Wharf –
World Trade Center via
Moakley Courthouse – began operation in 1997 during
Big Dig construction.
They were discontinued on January 21, 2005 due to low ridership.
The F5X Lovejoy Wharf – World Trade Center Express route, which did not rely on MBTA funding, was run until February 24, 2006.
A one-year pilot of the privately funded Fan Pier route, intended mostly as a private employee shuttle, began in January 2019.
In 2001, intercity service returned to North Station with Amtrak's ''
Downeaster'' to
Portland, Maine (later extended to
Brunswick), using the Lowell and Haverhill lines to the
New Hampshire border. It has become one of the more popular routes in New England.
Due in part to this, North Station was the 24th busiest Amtrak station in the country in fiscal 2019, and the sixth busiest in New England (behind South Station,
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 ...
,
New Haven Union, Back Bay and
Route 128).
In April 2006, the MBTA announced plans for an enlargement of the waiting area at North Station. The project covered over the southern of the platforms, adding of waiting and retail space. The $5 million project was completed in February 2007. Two large train information displays, with electronic noises to imitate
Solari board
A split-flap display, or sometimes simply a flap display, is a digital electromechanical display device that presents changeable alphanumeric text, and occasionally fixed graphics.
Often used as a public transport timetable in airports or r ...
s, were added in November 2007.
Boston Garden Towers changes
Beginning in early 2016,
Boston Properties
Boston Properties, Inc. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in premier workplaces in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. As of June 30, 2022, the company owned or had interest ...
built 'The Hub On Causeway', a
mixed-use development
Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...
including two towers, on the former Boston Garden site. The development included a new entrance to the rail station from Causeway Street opposite Canal Street, plus an underground passageway from the rail station to the subway station. The passageway opened on January 6, 2019.
Installation of
fare gates on the North Station concourse began on March 24, 2022. The gates were activated on October 1, 2022.
Drawbridge replacement
The
two aging two-track drawbridges at North Station are planned to be replaced by three new two-track spans, which will be more reliable and have higher capacity. The unfinished sixth platform will be completed to serve long out-of-service tracks 11 and 12, the
Fitchburg mainline will be slightly relocated to provide more layover space near the maintenance facility, and FX interlocking will be reconfigured.
The signals contract associated with the new drawbridges was awarded in May 2019. By November 2022, signal work was expected to be completed in August 2023.
Design of the new
vertical lift bridges began in 2019 and was 75% complete by May 2023, with design completion expected in 2024.
References
External links
MBTA – North StationMBTA – North Station Draw One Bridge Replacement
{{Boston Celtics
Boston North
MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Boston
Railway stations in Boston
Former Boston and Maine Railroad stations
Union stations in the United States
West End, Boston
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1928
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1995
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1893