Forge Park/495 station

FORGE PARK/495
Forge Park/495 station in May 2017
Location 1000 West Central Street
Franklin, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°05′24″N 71°26′20″W / 42.0899°N 71.4390°W / 42.0899; -71.4390Coordinates: 42°05′24″N 71°26′20″W / 42.0899°N 71.4390°W / 42.0899; -71.4390
Owned by MBTA
Line(s)
  Franklin Line
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 1
Connections GATRA Bellingham T shuttles
Construction
Parking 716 spaces ($4.00 fee)
15 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilities 14 spaces
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 6
History
Opened June 2, 1988[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 747 (weekday average boardings)[2]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
TerminusFranklin Line

Forge Park/495 is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Franklin, Massachusetts. It is the terminus of the Franklin Line. It is located near I-495 and Route 140; it serves as a park-and-ride station for Franklin and other communities southwest of Boston.

The station has two side platforms serving a single track - a layout unique on the MBTA system.[3] This allows passengers to access trains from the parking lots on both sides of the track. A mini-high platform on the south platform makes the station handicapped accessible.

History

The station opened on June 2, 1988 as a 2.8-mile (4.5 km) extension of the Franklin Line from Franklin/Dean College station.[4][1] It is located not on the former Norfolk County Railroad mainline (which became the Franklin Line), but on the Milford and Woonsocket Railroad which splits from the mainline south of downtown Franklin. Although still an active freight line, the branch had not seen passenger traffic since 1940.[5] The MBTA leased the branch from Conrail for the extension, with the possibility of future purchase.[1] The developer of the adjacent Forge Park industrial park donated 8 acres (3.2 ha) of land to build parking lots for the station.[4]

Bus connections

The station is served by two GATRA feeder bus routes:[6]

  • North Bellingham T Shuttle
  • South Bellingham T Shuttle

References

  1. 1 2 3 Belcher, Jonathan (November 21, 2016). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district 1964-2016" (PDF). NETransit.
  2. ↑ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
  3. ↑ Held, Patrick R. (2010). "Massachusetts Bay Colony Railroad Track Charts" (PDF). Johns Hopkins Association for Computing Machinery. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2013.
  4. 1 2 Howe, Peter J. (June 2, 1988). "FRANKLIN MBTA OPENS NEW STATION SERVICE SLATED TO BEGIN TODAY; 700 PARKING SPACES PLANNED". Boston Globe.
  5. ↑ Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 304–306. ISBN 0942147022.
  6. ↑ "Bellingham T Shuttles". Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority.

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