Needham Heights | |||||||||||
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General information | |||||||||||
Location | 95 West Street Needham, Massachusetts | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 42°17′36″N71°14′10″W / 42.2934°N 71.2360°W | ||||||||||
Line(s) | Needham Branch (Charles River Branch) | ||||||||||
Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||
Tracks | 1 | ||||||||||
Connections | MBTA bus: 59 | ||||||||||
Construction | |||||||||||
Parking | 71 spaces (permit only) | ||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | 6 | ||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||
Other information | |||||||||||
Fare zone | 2 | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | c. 1860 [1] | ||||||||||
Closed | October 13, 1979–October 19, 1987 [2] | ||||||||||
Rebuilt | 1980s | ||||||||||
Previous names | Highlandville [1] | ||||||||||
Passengers | |||||||||||
2018 | 329 (weekday average boardings) [3] | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
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Location | |||||||||||
Needham Heights station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in the Needham Heights neighborhood of Needham, Massachusetts. It is the terminus of the Needham Line. The station has one low-level side platform with a mini-high section for accessibility serving the single track of the Needham Branch.
Highlandville station opened around 1860 as an infill station on the New York and Boston Railroad (Charles River Branch Railroad). It was renamed Needham Heights in 1907. It became the terminus of passenger service on the line in 1932. The station was rebuilt during the 1979–1987 closure of the Needham Line.
On June 1, 1853, the Charles River Branch Railroad was extended from Newton Upper Falls into Needham as the first stage of a line to Dover and beyond. [1] The railroad was not able to follow its original plan to go through the East Village, Needham's historical center, because one landowner refused to sell. Instead, it was routed to Great Plain station in Great Plain Village further to the east. [4] [5] A station at Highlandville was added around 1860, by which time the line was under control of the New York and Boston Railroad. [1]
The line became part of the New Haven Railroad's Midland Division in 1898. [1] Around 1900, a movement began to change the name of the Highlandville neighborhood. Needham Highlands was rejected for the similarity to Newton Highlands; on May 28, 1907, the post office was renamed as Needham Heights. The station was also changed to Needham Heights by November 1907. [5]
In 1906, the New Haven opened the Needham cutoff, a faster route to Boston that avoided the rival Boston and Albany Railroad's Highland branch tracks. The line through Needham was thus downgraded from an intercity route to a branch line. [1] Loop service jointly run by the B&A and the New Haven operated over the cutoff and the Highland branch via Needham from 1911 to 1914; after that, most Needham trains originated at Needham Heights. Service between Newton Highlands and Newton Upper Falls ended in 1927, and between Needham Heights and Newton Upper Falls in 1932, leaving Needham Heights as the terminus of the line. [1]
The Needham Heights station building, a gable-roofed wooden structure, was removed in the 1960s. The MBTA bought Penn Central's southside commuter rail assets, including the Needham Line, on January 27, 1973. [2] The station was closed with the rest of the line from October 13, 1979 to October 19, 1987 during Southwest Corridor construction. [2] A mini-high platform was added during the closure, making Needham Heights fully accessible. The mini-high platform was indefinitely closed on September 8, 2022, with a portable lift used for accessibility; it reopened by early November. [6] [7]
Forest Hills station is an intermodal transfer station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA rapid transit Orange Line and three MBTA Commuter Rail lines and is a major terminus for MBTA bus routes. It is located in Forest Hills, in the southern part of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Most Providence/Stoughton Line and Franklin/Foxboro Line trains, and all Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains, pass through the station without stopping.
The Green Line D branch is a light rail line in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, and Somerville, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. The line runs on a grade separated surface right-of-way for 9 miles (14 km) from Riverside station to Fenway station. The line merges into the C branch tunnel west of Kenmore, then follows the Boylston Street subway and Tremont Street subway to North Station. It is the longest and busiest of the four Green Line branches. As of February 2023, service operates on 8 to 9-minute headways at weekday peak hours and 8 to 11-minute headways at other times, using 13 to 19 trains.
The Highland branch, also known as the Newton Highlands branch, was a suburban railway line in Boston, Massachusetts. It was opened by the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1886 to serve the growing community of Newton, Massachusetts. The line was closed in 1958 and sold to the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), the predecessor of the current Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which reopened it in 1959 as a light rail line, now known as the D branch of the Green Line.
Fenway station is a light rail stop on the MBTA Green Line D branch, located under Park Drive near the Riverway in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It opened along with the rest of the D branch on July 4, 1959, when trolleys replaced Highland branch commuter rail service. The station is fully accessible from Park Drive via the Landmark Center parking lot, as well as from Miner Street. Named after the Fenway parkway rather than Fenway Park, it is further from the stadium than Kenmore, though still used during events.
The Needham Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, running west from downtown Boston, Massachusetts through Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, West Roxbury, and the town of Needham. The second-shortest line of the system at just 13.7 miles (22.0 km) long, it carried 4,881 daily riders in October 2022. Unlike the MBTA's eleven other commuter rail lines, the Needham Line is not a former intercity mainline; instead, it is composed of a former branch line, a short segment of one intercity line, and a 1906-built connector.
Beaconsfield is an MBTA light rail station in Brookline, Massachusetts. It serves the Green Line D branch. It is located off Dean Road and Beaconsfield Road just south of Beacon Street. Like the other stops on the line, it was a commuter rail station on the Boston and Albany Railroad's Highland branch until 1958, when the line was closed and converted to a branch of what is now the Green Line. The station reopened along with the rest of the line in 1959.
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Newton Highlands station is a surface-level light rail station located in Newton, Massachusetts on the Green Line D branch of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
Readville station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail station located in the Readville section of the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by MBTA Commuter Rail Fairmount Line and Franklin/Foxboro Line. Readville is the outer terminus for most Fairmount service, though some trips continue as Franklin/Foxboro Line trains. The station is located at a multi-level junction, with the Northeast Corridor tracks at ground level and the Dorchester Branch above; Franklin/Foxboro Line trains use a connecting track with a separate platform. Platforms are available for the Providence/Stoughton Line on the Northeast Corridor tracks, but they are not regularly used. An MBTA maintenance and storage yard and a CSX Transportation freight yard are located near the station.
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Needham Junction station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Needham, Massachusetts. It serves the Needham Line. It is located on Junction Street near Chestnut Street in the southwestern part of Needham. It opened in 1906 when the New Haven Railroad built the Needham Cutoff to connect the Charles River Railroad to its main line. The station has a single side platform with an accessible mini-high platform serving the line's single track.
Needham Center station is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Needham Line, located just north of Great Plain Avenue (MA-135) in downtown Needham, Massachusetts. The first station at Needham opened in 1853; it burned in 1887 and was replaced with a stone station, some of which is still in place. The station has one side platform with an accessible mini-high platform serving the line's single track.
West Roxbury station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Boston, Massachusetts, served by the Needham Line. It is located on an embankment above Lagrange Street in the West Roxbury neighborhood. The station is accessible with a short mini-high platform on the outbound end of the main platform.
Chestnut Hill station is a light rail station on the MBTA Green Line D branch, located off Hammond Street north of Massachusetts Route 9 in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Newton, Massachusetts. The station has two side platforms serving the line's two tracks. Chestnut Hill station is not accessible, but renovations are planned.
The Charles River Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It ran from a connection with the end of the Charles River Branch Railroad in Dover to Bellingham through the current-day towns of Medfield, Millis, and Medway.
The Millis Branch was a branch of what is now the MBTA Commuter Rail system. Branching off the still-operating Needham Line at Needham Junction, it ran through the towns of Dover, Medfield, Millis, and Medway. Due to lack of subsidies and poor ridership, the line was cut back to Millis station in April 1966, and all service ended on April 21, 1967.
Media related to Needham Heights station at Wikimedia Commons