Malden Center station

MALDEN CENTER MALDEN CENTER
Malden Center station viewed from the Commercial Street busway on the east side of the station
Location Commercial Street at Pleasant Street
Malden, Massachusetts 02148
Coordinates 42°25′36″N 71°04′28″W / 42.426715°N 71.074349°W / 42.426715; -71.074349Coordinates: 42°25′36″N 71°04′28″W / 42.426715°N 71.074349°W / 42.426715; -71.074349
Owned by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Line(s)
  Haverhill Line
  Orange Line
Platforms 1 side platform (Haverhill Line)
1 island platform (Orange Line)
Tracks 1 (Haverhill Line)
2 (Orange Line)
Construction
Parking 188 spaces ($6.00 fee)
4 accessible spaces
Bicycle facilities 104 spaces in "Pedal and Park" bicycle cage
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 1A
History
Opened December 27, 1975 (Orange Line)[1]
Rebuilt May 1, 1977 (Haverhill Line)[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2012) 102 daily boardings[2] (Haverhill Line)
Passengers (2013) 12,686 daily boardings[3] (Orange Line)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
Terminus
Haverhill Line
toward Haverhill
toward Forest Hills
Orange Line
Terminus

Malden Center is an intermodal transit station in Malden, Massachusetts. Located on an elevated grade above Pleasant Street in downtown Malden, it serves the MBTA's rapid transit Orange Line and the MBTA Commuter Rail Haverhill Line, as well as 13 MBTA Bus routes. The current station opened on December 27, 1975, replacing an older brick station which has since been repurposed as a restaurant.

History

Malden Pearl Street station in 1906

The Boston and Maine Railroad ran trains to Pearl Street Station, several blocks north of the modern station site, after the line was elevated around 1900. Pearl Street Station remained open as the new elevated station was built.

The new Malden station opened on December 27, 1975, as part of the MBTA's Haymarket North Extension of the Orange Line. Expansion to Malden had been a long-time goal of the Boston Elevated Railway, and the Everett extension of the Charlestown Elevated was originally planned to go past Everett and into Malden and Reading via Main Street. However, residents of Malden were opposed to the elevated railroad structure that was planned, and prevented the extension. The 1975 extension was built along the existing Haverhill Line embankment and was considered less disruptive than a separate, fully elevated railroad would have been.

Pearl Street Station closed simultaneously with the opening of the Orange Line station; the station building is now a restaurant. A high-level platform - the first on the MBTA system - was installed along the Reading Line track, but Reading Line trains did not stop. The platform opened for regular service on May 1, 1977.[1] It was again closed on September 1, 1979 due to low usage. On January 20, 1984, a fire destroyed the approach trestle to the Charles River Bridge at North Station; Haverhill Line trains were run to Oak Grove. North Station reopened on April 20, 1985; the commuter platform at Oak Grove closed but the platform at Malden was reopened.[1]

In 1989, the MBTA studied a possible accessible footbridge at the station, which would have cost $2.8 million and opened in 1991.[4] In 2005, a renovation added a second exit stairwell and two elevators, making the station handicapped accessible.[5]

Because of its Orange Line connection, Malden Center can serve as a temporary inbound terminus for the Haverhill Line when commuter rail service is disrupted between Malden and Boston's North Station. It served this role in 2016 during reconstruction work on the Woods Memorial Bridge, which carries the Revere Beach Parkway over the rail lines and the Malden River.[6]

Bus connections

Malden Station is a major bus transfer station, with 13 routes serving the station via its two busways.

  • 97 Wellington Station - Malden Center Station via Commercial & Hancock Streets
  • 99 Boston Regional Medical Center - Wellington Station via Main Street & Malden Center Station
  • 101 Sullivan Square Station - Malden Center Station via Salem Street, Main Street & Broadway
  • 104 Sullivan Square Station - Malden Center Station via Ferry Street & Broadway
  • 105 Sullivan Square Station - Malden Center Station via Newland Street Housing
  • 106 Lebanon Street, Malden or Franklin Square - Wellington Station via Main Street
  • 108 Linden Square - Wellington Station via Malden Center Station & Highland Avenue
  • 131 Melrose Highlands - Malden Center Station via Oak Grove Station
  • 132 Redstone Shopping Center - Malden Station
  • 136 Reading Depot - Malden Station via Wakefield, Melrose & Oak Grove Station
  • 137 Reading Depot - Malden Station via North Avenue, Wakefield, Melrose & Oak Grove Station
  • 411 Malden Center Station - Revere/Jack Satter House via Granada Highlands and Northgate
  • 430 Saugus Center - Malden Center Station via Square One Mall

Station layout

Orange Line (left) and Haverhill Line platforms

The station, located on a high grade, is one of a small number of elevated rapid transit stations remaining in the MBTA system. (The only others are Science Park, Beachmont, Wollaston, Charles/MGH, and Fields Corner.) Boston once had several elevated lines, but the Atlantic Avenue Elevated, Charlestown Elevated, Washington Street Elevated, and Causeway Elevated were all torn down in favor of subway and surface-level lines.

Platforms Southbound ← Orange Line toward Forest Hills (Wellington)
Island platform, doors will open on the left
Northbound → Orange Line toward Oak Grove (Terminus) →
Commuter rail ← Haverhill Line →
Side platform, doors will open on the left, right
Ground Street level, lobby Fare barriers, entrance/exit

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Belcher, Jonathan (March 22, 2014). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ Humphrey, Thomas J. (December 21, 2012). "MBTA Commuter Rail Passenger Count Results" (PDF). Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
  4. ↑ Ackerman, Jerry (October 23, 1989). "Breakaway poles to be tried this week". The Boston Globe. p. 18 Metro – via Proquest Historical Newspapers. (Subscription required (help)). Separately, the MBTA hired Fay, Spofford & Thorndike Inc. of Lexington for a maximum of $146,000 to design a wheelchair-access pedestrian overpass at the Malden commuter-rail station. The authority estimates the overpass will cost $2.8 million and set a 1991 completion date.
  5. ↑ 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. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Commuter Rail Service Alerts: Haverhill Line". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. May 11, 2016. Archived from the original on May 19, 2016.
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