JFK/UMass station
JFK/UMass | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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UMass Boston shuttle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | Racks available | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fare zone | 1A (Commuter Rail) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | November 5, 1927[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rebuilt | June 1987–December 14, 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Previous names | Columbia (1927–1982) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
2018 | 362 daily boardings[2] (Commuter Rail) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
FY2019 | 8,012 daily boardings[3] (Red Line) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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JFK/UMass station is a
JFK/UMass station has four tracks and two
The Old Colony Railroad first opened through the area in 1845, with Crescent Avenue serving as a flag stop by 1848. A station building opened in 1868 and was rebuilt in 1883. The Boston Elevated Railway began construction of Columbia station on the Dorchester Extension of the Cambridge–Dorchester Tunnel in 1925. Crescent Avenue station closed in July 1927; Columbia station opened on November 5, with an additional footbridge added in 1929. Columbia station was modernized in 1970, though without a platform for South Shore (Braintree Branch) service, which started in 1971. UMass Boston moved to Columbia Point in 1974, while the Kennedy Library opened in 1979; the station was renamed JFK/UMass in 1982. A 1987–88 renovation added a platform for the Braintree Branch. Commuter Rail service on the former Old Colony, last operated in 1959, resumed in 1997. However, the platform at JFK/UMass did not open until 2001.
History
Old Colony Railroad and BERy
In 1845, the
In the early 1920s, the
Crescent Avenue was replaced with Columbia station, which primarily served the residential areas to the west.
Construction of the station began in 1925 with the reconstruction of the Columbia Road bridge.[14] The station platform was built in mid-1926.[10] Construction was completed in May 1927; the station was finished during the next several months under the possibility it would open before Savin Hill and Fields Corner.[11] The three stations ultimately opened together on November 5, 1927.[1][11]
In November 1928, the BERy began construction of a second station entrance from Sydney Street at Crescent Avenue. A footbridge was built over the southbound track at the south end of the station, with fare control located on a short extension of the platform.[15] The new entrance opened on March 18, 1929; by May, it was used by 42% of passengers at the station.[16][17] In late 1938, the footbridge was extended east over the other tracks to serve a parking area.[18][19]
MBTA era
On January 13, 1961, the MTA began operating "modified express service" on the line during the morning rush hour, following the introduction of similar service on the Forest Hills–Everett line the month before. Every other train bypassed Columbia and three other stations.[20] This was discontinued in September 1961 to reduce wait times at the skipped stations, most of which were outdoors.[21]
The New Haven Railroad ended commuter service on the Old Colony lines in 1959, but subway service to Ashmont via Columbia continued. On July 28, 1965, the MBTA signed an agreement with the
In 1967, the MBTA began a station modernization program; modifications to Columbia took place in 1970.[23] A southward extension made the platform long enough for six-car trains (which were not run until 1987).[1] The original brick headhouse was replaced with a plain concrete headhouse, which opened on February 20, 1970, and the platform waiting room was removed.[24][25] The footbridge was also replaced.[24] The South Shore Branch (later the Braintree Branch) opened in 1971. Trains used two new tracks on the east side of Columbia; they did not stop in order to speed travel time between Quincy and Boston.[1]
1980s
The Columbia Point Development opened to the southeast of the station in 1954; residents of the housing development secured the 1962 closure of the city dump, which opened the peninsula to development. Ridership at Columbia station grew quickly despite the MBTA's refusal to have the South Shore Branch stop.
In January 1980, the MBTA indicated that a $1 million renovation of the station, including a second platform, would be completed in 1982.[28] However, the project proved controversial; residents near Savin Hill station instead wanted a flyover there so that Braintree Branch trains would stop at both Savin Hill and JFK/UMass. State officials insisted that the flyover would be significantly more expensive than the second platform, and that five times as many South Shore riders were riding to JFK/UMass as to Savin Hill.[29][30]
The MBTA awarded a $13.5 million construction contract on February 4, 1987, and work began that June.
2000s
Commuter rail service on the Middleborough/Lakeville and Plymouth/Kingston lines was restored in September 1997.[1] The MBTA initially did not plan to include a stop at JFK/UMass; not until November 1996 did the agency agree to built the platform.[35] Construction began in 2000, and trains began stopping on April 30, 2001.[1][35] This was the first time that mainline commuter trains stopped at the station since 1927. Several rush-hour Greenbush Line trains began to stop concurrent with that line's restoration in 2007.[1] Not all weekday commuter trains on the lines stop, however, because the station is in a single-tracked bottleneck section of the otherwise double-tracked route. All weekend trains, which operate on more limited schedules, stop at the station.[36]
JFK/UMass station was a proposed stop on the MBTA's planned
On June 11, 2019, a Red Line train derailed just north of JFK/UMass station due to a broken axle, damaging three sheds of signal equipment that control the nearby Columbia Junction.[42][43] The Red Line was limited to 10 trains per hour (instead of the usual 13–14) for three months while repairs were made.[43][44] Full service resumed on September 25, 2019.[45]
Structural deterioration affected the station entrances in the early 2020s. On January 29, 2020, the stairs between Columbia Road and the east side of the station were taken out of service for repairs.[46] Boston University professor David K. Jones was killed when he fell through a missing section of the still-closed stairs (owned by the Department of Conservation and Recreation) on September 11, 2021.[47][48] The stairs from the east footbridge to the busway were closed from May to September 2022, and the southern stairs to Sydney Street were indefinitely closed in mid-2022.[49][50] In November 2022, the MBTA closed the Columbia Road entrance, with repairs initially expected to take at least a month.[50] Part of the Red Line was closed for a weekend in January 2023 to accommodate repairs.[51] The Columbia Road entrance reopened that month.[52] The MBTA included $2.3 million in its draft fiscal year 2024–2028 capital plan for a planning study to redesign the station.[53]
Buses replaced service on the Ashmont Branch from October 14–29, 2023, to allow for track work.[54][55] Repairs and repainting of the Red Line platforms at JFK/UMass station was also performed during the closure.[56]
Station layout
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JFK/UMass station is located south of Columbia Road near Kosciuszko Circle, with the Interstate 93 viaduct to the south and west and Morrissey Boulevard to the east. The Red Line has four tracks and two island platforms at the station; the west platform is served by the Ashmont branch, and the east platform by the Braintree branch.[57] (This unusual configuration is the result of the decision to not originally have the Braintree Branch stop at the station.)[7][36] East of the Red Line is a single track used by the three commuter rail lines, with a high-level side platform on its east side.[57] A two-lane busway, drop-off lane, and plaza are located east of the tracks.[24]
A waiting room and fare lobby is located over the middle of the Red Line platforms, with elevators and stairs to both platforms. Footbridges connect the lobby to the Columbia Road bridge to the north, Sydney Street to the west, and the east plaza via a ramp structure. Exit-only stairs also lead from the north ends of the Red Line platforms to Columbia Road, and from the south ends to Sydney Street at Crescent Avenue.[24] Because northbound Red Line trains arrive on two different platforms, an automatic illuminated sign in the lobby indicates which platform the next northbound train will arrive at.[36]
North of the station is a complex Red Line interlocking called Columbia Junction. The two track line from downtown Boston exits the tunnel under Dorchester Avenue about 0.4 miles (0.6 km) north of JFK/UMass station and splits into the four tracks with a flying junction. The junction also connects two yard leads from Cabot Yard, the main Red Line maintenance facility, which is located on the surface near Broadway.[57][36] South of the station, the Braintree Branch tracks cross over the commuter rail tracks via a lengthy flyover.[57] The flyover is dedicated to Milton DeVaughn, an MBTA track worker, who died in December 1993 when he fell under the wheels of an MBTA work train.[58]
Bus connections
Columbia was not built as a transfer station; streetcar—and later, bus—routes mostly served Andrew and Fields Corner. Bus service to the station began in 1954 when the Columbia Point Development was constructed, and increased in 1974 when the UMass campus opened.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
- ^ Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
- ^ "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 8.
- ISBN 0942147022.
- ^ "Old Colony Railroad". Boston Evening Transcript. January 20, 1848. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- JSTOR 43504499.
- ^ ISBN 9780738510477.
- ^ Twentieth Annual Report of the Old Colony Railroad Co. to the Stockholders. Old Colony Railroad Company. November 1883. p. 7.
- ^ "GETS PERMISSION TO CLOSE STATIONS: N. Y., N. H. & H. Abandons Shawmut Branch Sept 6 Commission Rules It Necessary to Complete New Service". Boston Daily Globe. August 27, 1926. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Boston Transit Department (1927). Report of the Transit Department for the Year ending December 31, 1926. City of Boston. pp. 31-32, 36–37 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c Boston Transit Department (1928). Report of the Transit Department for the Year ending December 31, 1927. City of Boston. pp. 26, 28, 33 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "State Approves Closing of Crescent-Av Station". Boston Globe. July 19, 1927. p. 28 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "First Station Completed on Dorchester Rapid Transit". Electric Railway Journal. 70 (11). McGraw-Hill Company: 428. 10 September 1927 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Boston Transit Department (1926). Report of the Transit Department for Eleven Months ending December 31, 1925. City of Boston. pp. 35–36 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Boston Transit Department (1929). Report of the Transit Department for the Year ending December 31, 1928. City of Boston. pp. 28–29 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Boston Transit Department (1930). Report of the Transit Department for the Year ending December 31, 1929. City of Boston. p. 55 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "Novel entrance to Columbia station". Co-operation. Vol. 8, no. 5. Boston Elevated Railway. May 1929. pp. 67–68.
- ^ "Columbia Station overpass to parking area". Boston Elevated Railway. December 23, 1938 – via Historic New England.
- ^ Twentieth Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Boston Elevated Railway Company for the Year Ending December 31, 1938. Boston Elevated Railway. 1939. pp. 21-22 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ "MTA Boosts Service For New Year's Eve". The Boston Globe. December 29, 1960. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "M.T.A. Dropping Morning Express". The Boston Globe. September 27, 1961. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Carr, Robert (July 29, 1965). "MBTA Buys Old Colony Line For a South Shore Express". The Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sixth Annual Report. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 1970. pp. 12, 18 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c d e f O'Regan, Gerry (2005). "MBTA Red Line". nycsubway.org. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Sanborn, George M. (1992). A Chronicle of the Boston Transit System. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2019-10-30 – via Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- ^ Malone, M.E. (September 27, 1986). "Planned Red Line stop expected to give easier access to UMass area". The Boston Globe. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Crocket, Douglas S. (July 27, 1985). "T board votes to change the names of some stations". Boston Globe. p. 26 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Richard, Ray (January 26, 1980). "A Better Day for Columbia Point / 'New' Columbia Point". The Boston Globe. pp. 1, 12 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Crocket, Douglas S. (June 28, 1984). "MBTA board approves contract for new North Station trestle". The Boston Globe. p. 27 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Crocket, Douglas S. (May 19, 1984). "MBTA says Savin Hill sign was removed as 'hazardous'". The Boston Globe. pp. 17, 20 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Howe Globe Staff, Peter J. (June 7, 1987). "Construction starts on platform for Braintree at JFK-UMass station". Boston Globe. p. 34 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Tran Systems and Planners Collaborative (August 24, 2007). "Evaluation of MBTA Paratransit and Accessible Fixed Route Transit Services: Final Report" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
- ^ Operations Directorate Planning Division (November 1990). "Ridership and Service Statistics" (3 ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. pp. 1–4 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b "New JFK/UMass T station opens". The Boston Globe. December 15, 1988 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Kahn, Ric (July 1, 2001). "T trains bypass new JFK stop". The Boston Globe City Weekly. pp. 1, 9 – via Newspapers.com. (second page, third page)
- ^ a b c d Central Transportation Planning Staff (January 2012). "Improving the Southwest Expressway: A Conceptual Plan" (PDF). Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization.
- ^ "Urban Ring Phase 2 FACT SHEET" (PDF). Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation. January 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2011.
- ^ "Conceptual alignments, profiles, station locations, and typical sections" (PDF). The Urban Ring Phase 2: Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report/Statement. Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation. November 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
- ^ Mullan, Jeffery B. (January 22, 2010). "Re: Urban Ring Phase 2, EOEEA #12565" (PDF). Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
- ^ Feathers, Todd (January 30, 2013). "MBTA installs 50 surveillance cameras at JFK/UMass Red Line stop to fight crime in area". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
- ^ Levenson, Michael; Dungca, Nicole (January 10, 2015). "Revenue to dictate difficult choices on Olympic transit projects". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
- ^ Buell, Spencer (September 16, 2019). "At Long Last, We Know What Caused the Red Line Derailment". Boston Magazine. Metrocorp. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
- ^ a b "Plans to Accelerate Red Line Signal Repairs" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 21, 2019.
- ^ Stout, Matt; Siu, Diamond Naga (June 21, 2019). "T says Red Line reduced schedule to last through summer". The Boston Globe.
- ^ "Completion of Red Line Signal Repairs" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. September 25, 2019.
- ^ "Alerts: Commuter Rail". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on March 1, 2020.
- ^ Fortier, Marc (September 13, 2021). "BU Professor Dies After Apparent Fall From Stairs Near MBTA Station in Boston". NBC Boston. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
- ^ MilNeil, Christian (September 14, 2021). "BU Professor Dies On Crumbling DCR Staircase In Dorchester". Streetsblog Massachusetts.
- ^ Dumcius, Gintautas (June 23, 2022). "MBTA stairs at JFK/UMass shut down, fixes are a 'priority'". Dorchester Reporter. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022.
- ^ a b Dumcius, Gintautas. "Citing 'critical structural finding,' MBTA closes Columbia Rd. entrance to JFK/UMass station". Dorchester Reporter. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022.
- ^ "Upcoming Weekend Service Changes on Orange, Green, Red Lines in January" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. January 2, 2023.
- ^ Armanini, Kate (January 10, 2023). "Pedestrian entrance at JFK/UMass stop set to reopen by the end of the week, MBTA says". Archived from the original on January 10, 2023.
- ^ Dumcius, Gintautas (March 29, 2023). "T finally adds JFK/UMass upgrade to list of projects". Dorchester Reporter. Retrieved March 30, 2023.
- ^ Dumcius, Gintautas (August 24, 2023). "MBTA to shut down Ashmont, Mattapan branches in October". Dorchester Reporter. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
- ^ "MBTA to Expedite Critical Track Work Between JFK/UMass and Ashmont Stations and on the Mattapan Line, Shuttle Buses to Replace Service on Ashmont Branch and Mattapan Line October 14-29" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. August 24, 2023.
- ^ Dumcius, Gintautas (September 13, 2023). "T chief, top aide tour JFK/UMass Station as Oct. shutdown looms". Dorchester Reporter. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
- ^ "T worker dies following accident". The Boston Globe. December 4, 1993 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "2023–24 System Map". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 17, 2023.
External links
- MBTA - JFK/UMass
- Google Maps Street View: Columbia Road entrance, Sydney Street entrance, Sydney Street exit, east plaza