Silver Hill station
Silver Hill | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | Merriam Street at Silver Hill Road Weston, Massachusetts | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 42°23′45″N 71°18′07″W / 42.39570°N 71.30191°W | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Fitchburg Route | ||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||
Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||
Fare zone | 3 | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | June 17, 1844 | ||||||||||
Closed | December 14, 2020 | ||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||
2018 | 11 (weekday average boardings)[1] | ||||||||||
Former services | |||||||||||
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Silver Hill station was an
Station design
Silver Hill station was located at Merriam Street in Weston, about 1,400 feet (430 m) away from North Avenue (
History
Early history
The
In 1905, the Weston Land Association began the development of a
In December 1958, Silver Hill was one of eleven stations – four commuter rail stations in Waltham and Weston, and seven stops west of Fitchburg – on the Fitchburg Route proposed for closure.[13] Stony Brook in Weston and the seven western stations were closed on June 14, 1959; limited service continued to Silver Hill, Riverview, and Beaver Brook.[14][15]
MBTA era
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was formed in 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter rail service. On January 18, 1965, the MBTA began subsidizing some B&M service, including as far as West Concord on the Fitchburg Route.[14] The MBTA bought most B&M commuter rail assets, including the Fitchburg Route, on December 27, 1976.[14]
A three-sided shelter, which resembled similar shelters commonly found at flag stops decades before, was built in 1979 to replace the former station building.[6] The station was briefly closed on February 1, 1981, due to budget cuts, but reopened soon after.[16][6] The Merriam Street bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 as a contributing property to the Silver Hill Historic District.[9]: 22
A February 2005 study for the Fitchburg Line Improvement Project recommended consolidation of the three Weston stations (Silver Hill, Hastings, and Kendal Green) into a single expanded Kendal Green station to reduce travel times, as did a September 2005 preliminary implementation plan.[4][17] However, by 2007, the preferred alternative did not include station consolidation.[18]
Closure
With 11 weekday daily boardings by a 2018 count, Silver Hill was the lowest-ridership station in the MBTA Commuter Rail system.[1] By that time, the station was served by only two peak-hour inbound trips and three peak-hour outbound trips out of nineteen weekday round trips operated on the Fitchburg Line; weekend service did not stop at the station.[19] Reduced schedules based on existing Saturday schedules were in effect from March 16 to June 23, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These schedules did not include Silver Hill and five other limited-service stations not normally served on Saturdays.[14]
In November 2020, as part of service cuts during the pandemic, the MBTA proposed to permanently close Silver Hill, Hastings, and four other low-ridership stations. Silver Hill was nominated for closure because of its low ridership and lack of accessibility; Kendal Green station is just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the southeast.[2][20] On December 14, reduced schedules went into effect due to limited employee availability.[21] Again based on the existing Saturday service, these temporary schedules did not include service to Silver Hill and four other stations.[14][22] That day, the MBTA Board voted to enact a more limited set of cuts, including indefinitely closing Hastings, Silver Hill, and three of the other four stations.[23][24] The closure of the five stations became indefinite effective April 5, 2021.[25]
References
- ^ a b Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
- ^ a b Held, Patrick R. (2010). "Massachusetts Bay Colony Railroad Track Charts" (PDF). Johns Hopkins Association for Computing Machinery. p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 8, 2013.
- ^ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
- ^ a b McMahon Associates (February 2005). "Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line Service Expansion Study" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. pp. 7, 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 18, 2006.
- ^ Godwin, Ariel (April 27, 2011). "Inventory of Park-and-Ride Lots at MBTA Facilities". Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization.
- ^ ISBN 9780942147087.
- ^ ISBN 9780685412947.
- ^ Fox, Pamela (January 2001). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Kendal Green Historic District". National Park Service – via Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System.
- ^ a b c d e Fox, Pamela (June 2004). National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Silver Hill Historic District. File Unit: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: Massachusetts, 1964 - 2012. National Park Service.
- ^ "Silver Hill Depot Destroyed". Boston Globe. March 18, 1893. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Cosgro, Matthew D. "Boston & Maine Silver Hill, Massachusetts". Nashua City Station.
- ^ Henry, Alan P. (August 10, 1977). "There's no depot like an old depot". Boston Globe. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "B. & M. Seeks to Drop 78 Trains, 27 Stops". Boston Globe. December 5, 1958. pp. 1, 7 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
- ^ "Train Cuts Due June 12". Brattleboro Reformer. May 14, 1959. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "T changes start today". Boston Globe. February 1, 1981. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Branch Improvements". Fitchburg Commuter Rail Line Improvement Implementation Plan. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. September 2005. Archived from the original on January 29, 2014.
- ^ "Fitchburg Rail Line Improvement Project Alternatives Analysis" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. September 2007.
- ^ "Fitchburg Line effective November 20, 2017" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. November 20, 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 9, 2021.
- ^ Paget-Seekins, Laurel; Benesh, Kat (November 9, 2020). "Forging Ahead: Scenario and Service Planning" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. p. 21.
- ^ "Commuter Rail to Temporarily Operate Reduced Service Schedule Starting December 14" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 10, 2021.
- ^ "2020/2021 Reduced Service Schedule: Fitchburg Line" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 14, 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 9, 2021.
- ^ Enwemeka, Zeninjor (December 14, 2020). "MBTA Control Board Votes To Scale Back Bus, Train And Ferry Service". WBUR. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
- ^ Paget-Seekins, Laurel; Benesh, Kat (December 14, 2020). "Forging Ahead: Service Proposal" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. p. 17.
- ^ "Spring 2021 Service Changes". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. February 2021. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 24, 2021.