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Hyde Park station (MBTA)

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Train station in Boston, Massachusetts, US
Hyde Park
Hyde Park station in March 2012
General information
Location1 Pingree Street
Hyde Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°15′19″N 71°07′31″W / 42.2552°N 71.1252°W / 42.2552; -71.1252
Line(s)Attleboro Line (Northeast Corridor)
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks3
ConnectionsBus transport MBTA bus: 24, 32, 33, 50
Construction
Parking121 spaces ($4.00 fee)
Bicycle facilities10 spaces
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone1
History
Openedc. 1850
ClosedNovember 3, 1979
RebuiltOctober 5, 1987
Previous namesKenny's Bridge
Passengers
2018526 (weekday average boardings)
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Readvilletoward Forge Park/495 or Foxboro Franklin/​Foxboro Lineweekdays Forest Hillslimited servicetoward South Station
Readvilletoward Wickford Junction or Stoughton Providence/​Stoughton Line
Former services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Readvilletoward Dedham Dedham BranchClosed 1967 Mount Hopetoward South Station
Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station
Readvilletoward New Haven Shore Line Mount Hopetoward Boston
Proposed services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Readvilletoward Battleship Cove or New Bedford South Coast RailPhase 2 (2030) Rugglestoward South Station
Location

Hyde Park station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Boston, Massachusetts. It primarily serves the Providence/Stoughton Line, and also serves some weekday outbound Franklin/Foxboro Line trains. It is located on the Northeast Corridor in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

Hyde Park's two platforms serve the outer tracks of the Northeast Corridor, which is three tracks wide through the station; all Amtrak trains to and from Boston pass through the station without stopping. The station is officially located at 1 Pingree Street; however, both platforms are accessible from the River Street bridge via a pair of lengthy ramps. Both platforms are at track level for most of their lengths; however, short high-level platforms provide accessibility on both sides.

History

Boston and Providence Railroad

A postcard of a wooden railway station with a mansard roof
The 1872-built station around 1910

The Boston and Providence Railroad was built through Hyde Park in 1832–34, but a station was not immediately placed in the area, which was still largely unsettled. Henry Grew moved into the area in 1845 and others followed. Within a few years, "Kenny's Bridge" (at today's River Street) was a stop. By 1852, a depot building had been built. It was renamed Hyde Park later that decade.

A new station building, 80 feet (24 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) wide, opened on August 5, 1872. Construction of a third track between Mount Hope and Hyde Park took place in 1881–82, completing triple-tracking of the line between Boston and Readville. Hyde Park served as a short turn turnback point for B&P trains from 1880 to 1899; before and after this period, the trains ran to Readville.

New Haven Railroad

A postcard of a railway station over a four-track railway cut
The 1913-built station over the tracks

The Boston & Providence Railroad was acquired by the Old Colony Railroad in 1888, which in turn became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1893. On October 24, 1895, the 4:15 pm train from Providence rear-ended the 5:18 pm local train from Sharon at Hyde Park at approximately 5:30 pm. The cause of the wreck was uncertain but may have been faulty signals. The engine of the Providence-originating train was driven halfway through the trailing passenger car of the Sharon train, killing two people and injuring over twenty more. Among the injured were several members of a wedding party.

The New Haven built a large overhead station building adjacent to River Street around 1913, replacing the earlier depot. The station was similar to other stations built by the railroad in and around New York City, rather than to geographically nearer stations. The overhead station structure was demolished during the 1970s, leaving just staircases from River Street leading to bare platforms to serve passengers. The NYNH&H folded into Penn Central in 1969, who sold the line and station to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1973. Conrail took over Penn Central in 1976 and the Boston & Maine Railroad was contracted to operate the southside commuter lines starting in March 1977, thus marking the sixth operator to run trains to Hyde Park.

MBTA era

A sign reading "Warning: fence treated with lubricant" on a fence between two railroad tracks
Sign warning about lubricated fence

In November 1979, the station was closed for Southwest Corridor construction, while all Providence and Franklin trains were rerouted over the Fairmount Line. During this time, the MBTA modernized the station with new ramps from River Street and mini-high platforms, making it one of the first MBTA stations to be retrofitted for full handicapped accessibility. The station reopened in October 1987 and has served Providence/Stoughton and Franklin line trains since. When Boston–Foxboro service (for special events at Foxboro Stadium) moved to the Providence/Stoughton Line in 1989, Hyde Park was one of the intermediate stops. However, it was dropped from the special events service in the early 1990s.

Crossing the tracks at Hyde Park is not only illegal but extremely dangerous, because Amtrak trains, as well as almost all Franklin/Foxboro Line trains and some express Providence/Stoughton Line trains, pass through the station without stopping. The blind curve to the north makes it difficult to know if a train is coming; moreover, trains may operate in either direction on any track without warning, and without regard to any normally intuitive current of traffic. (Franklin/Foxboro Line trains in both directions largely use the westernmost track, while most Amtrak trains use the center track.) To discourage trespassers, the fence between tracks is lubricated to make hopping it more difficult. Despite these measures, several trespassers have been struck at Hyde Park, including fatalities in 2011 and 2024.

Proposed Orange Line extension

Hyde Park is located in a densely populated neighborhood just eight miles from downtown Boston, and has long been reckoned as a strong candidate for rapid transit service rather than conventional low-frequency commuter rail service. As early as 1945, the Coolidge Commission Report recommended that an extension of the Main Line Elevated (now the Orange Line) south from Forest Hills be built to Dedham via West Roxbury rather than Hyde Park. The 1966 Program for Mass Transportation recommended a bifurcated Orange Line, with one branch to West Roxbury or Hersey and another to Readville or Route 128 via Hyde Park. Various reports over the next two decades continued to recommend various combinations of the extensions; however, due to cost, the 1987 relocation of the Orange Line to the Southwest Corridor was terminated at Forest Hills. Hyde Park, Readville, and the Needham Line instead received limited upgrades like accessible platforms.

The extension is still periodically discussed. The 2004 Program for Mass Transportation listed an extension to Route 128 with intermediate stops at Mount Hope, Hyde Park, and Readville at a cost of $342.8 million. The extension was listed as low priority due to environmental issue with crossing the wetlands south of Readville, and because the corridor already had commuter rail service.

References

  1. ^ Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 342, 345. Page numbers are accurate to the April 21, 2018 version.
  2. Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  3. Kennedy, Charles J. (Summer 1962). "Commuter Services in the Boston Area, 1835-1860". The Business History Review. 36 (2): 153–170. doi:10.2307/3111453. JSTOR 3111453. S2CID 154294514.
  4. Shields, F.G. (1852). Map of the city and vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts (Map). 1:39,600. J.B. Shields.
  5. Snow's Pathfinder Railway Guide. New England Railway Publishing Company. February 1858. p. 10.
  6. The Boston Directory. George Adams. July 1, 1857. p. 480.
  7. "Hyde Park". The Boston Globe. August 2, 1872. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. Report of the Board of Directors of the Boston and Providence Railroad Corporation for the Year Ending September 30, 1881. Boston and Providence Railroad. 1881. p. 8.
  9. Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1985). Boston's Commuter Rail: The First 150 Years. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 44. ISBN 9780685412947.
  10. ^ "Crushed in the Coaches: Many Passengers Injured in a Collision at Hyde Park, Mass" (PDF). New York Times. 24 October 1895. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  11. "Painter Falls 40 Feet to Death". Boston Globe. December 12, 1913. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  12. "Improvements for Hyde Park". Boston Globe. March 29, 1912. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  13. Humphrey, Thomas J.; Clark, Norton D. (1986). Boston's Commuter Rail: Second Section. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 31. ISBN 9780938315025.
  14. Ackerman, Jerry (September 18, 1989). "The latest words from the streets". Boston Globe. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "MBTA rail service is available to Patriots games". Boston Globe. September 12, 1993. p. 39 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Marino still in the Patriots' way". Boston Globe. September 9, 1990. p. 49 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. Dwinell, Joe; Remal, Gary J. (September 16, 2011). "Woman killed by train in Hyde Park". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011.
  18. Atwater, John (January 30, 2024). "Man struck, killed by train while trying to cross Commuter Rail tracks in Hyde Park, MBTA police say". WCVB 5 ABC. Archived from the original on January 31, 2024.
  19. Boston Elevated Railway and Boston Department of Public Utilities (1945). "Boston Rapid Transit System & Proposed Extentions [sic] 1945 - Metropolitan Transit Recess Commission Air View". Wardmaps LLC. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  20. MBTA planning staff (3 May 1966). "A Comprehensive Development Program for Public Transportation in the Massachusetts Bay Area: 1966". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. p. V-9. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  21. Central Transportation Planning Staff (15 November 1993). "The Transportation Plan for the Boston Region - Volume 2". National Transportation Library. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  22. Central Transportation Planning Staff (January 2004) . "Chapter 5C: Service Expansion" (PDF). 2004 Program for Mass Transportation. Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization. p. 5C-83. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2012.

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