Savin Hill station

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Savin Hill
Savin Hill station from bridge, November 2015.JPG
Savin Hill platform and glass headhouse in November 2015
Location125 Savin Hill Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°18′39″N 71°03′13″W / 42.3109°N 71.0535°W / 42.3109; -71.0535Coordinates: 42°18′39″N 71°03′13″W / 42.3109°N 71.0535°W / 42.3109; -71.0535
Line(s)Ashmont branch
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks2
Construction
Parking20 spaces
Disabled accessYes
History
OpenedNovember 1845 (original station)
November 5, 1927 (rapid transit)[1]
Closed1926 (original station)
RebuiltMay 9, 2004–July 31, 2005
Passengers
FY20192,199 boardings (weekday average)[2]
Services
Preceding station MBTA.svg MBTA Following station
JFK/UMass
toward Alewife
 Red Line Fields Corner
toward Ashmont
Former services
Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station
Crescent Avenue
toward Boston
 Boston–​Mattapan
toward Mattapan
Boston–​Braintree
toward Braintree

Savin Hill station is a rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the Ashmont branch of the MBTA's Red Line. It is located at 121 Savin Hill Avenue adjacent to Sydney Street in the Savin Hill area of the Dorchester neighborhood. Opened in 1845 as a commuter rail station, Savin Hill was converted to rapid transit in 1927 and rebuilt in 2004–05 for accessibility. Averaging 2,199 daily boardings by a FY 2019 count, Savin Hill is the least-used station on the Red Line.

History[]

Savin Hill Avenue station in 1923, four years before the conversion to rapid transit
The newly-constructed station in 1927

Old Colony Railroad[]

The Old Colony Railroad opened from Plymouth to South Boston in November 1845.[3] A station was built at Savin Hill, located just north of the modern location.[4] In December 1872, the Old Colony opened its Shawmut Branch to Milton, which added local service to Savin Hill.[3] Around that time, the station was moved to its modern location just south of Savin Hill Avenue.[5] The new station featured a brick building on the west side of the tracks and a wooden building on the east side (the Old Colony had left-hand running until 1895, so the larger brick building was originally on the inbound side). The station was served only by local trains on the outer tracks, while express trains used the inner tracks.[6][7]

Conversion to rapid transit[]

Commuter rail service on the Shawmut Branch ended in September 1926.[3] The Boston Elevated Railway, which had bought the line, began converting it into the Dorchester Extension, a rapid transit extension of the Cambridge-Dorchester Tunnel line. Savin Hill, located on the Old Colony mainline, was rebuilt as a rapid transit station as part of the extension. The commuter rail platforms and station buildings were removed, though a temporary station was used until November 4, 1927.[6][8] Savin Hill reopened on November 5, 1927 along with Columbia and Fields Corner as part of the first phase of the extension.[1]

In 1934, the Boston Elevated Railway requested the addition of a busway on the west side of the station. Construction on the busway and a pedestrian overpass to the platform began in August and finished in December 1934. Fare control was relocated to the platform level; a platform extension to the south was constructed - without interrupting train service - to accommodate this.[9] When the bus routes were diverted away from the station in 1962, the busway was converted to a parking lot.[1]

Savin Hill station was further modified during the remainder of the 20th century with the removal of the waiting room in the 1970s and a longer platform extension in the late 1980s to allow 6-car trains. By the end of the century, however, it still contained the most original structure of any of the pre-war stations on the line.[10] However, like the rest of the stations on the branch, Savin Hill was not accessible, placing it in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

2004–05 reconstruction[]

City Councilor Michael Flaherty, Transportation Secretary Daniel Grabauskas, State Senator Jack Hart, State Representative Marty Walsh, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, City Councilor Maureen Feeney, and Mayor Tom Menino at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the renovated station

The MBTA broke ground for the Red Line Rehabilitation Project – a $67 million reconstruction of Shawmut, Fields Corner, and Savin Hill stations – in October 2003.[11] Construction began in March 2004.[12] The 1927-built station was closed on May 9, 2004, and was completely razed to make way for the new ADA-compliant station which involved adding elevators for full accessibility.[1][13] A bus shuttle was run from JFK/UMass station during the 14-month closure, which ended with the opening of the new station on July 31, 2005.[1][14] The closure was originally scheduled to last 10 months, but was delayed by inclement weather and slow procurement of structural steel.[15] Most of the station was complete by April 2005; however, it could not be reopened until the accessible elevators and escalators were completed.[16] Original plans to include public art as part of the Arts on the Line program were removed in budget cuts; only historical interpretive panels were installed.[17][18]

Station layout[]

Savin Hill platform, with commuter rail track to the left and Braintree branch tracks at far left
G Street level Exit/entrance, station house, fare control, parking
P
Platform level 		Northbound ←      Red Line (Braintree branch) does not stop here
Southbound →      Red Line (Braintree branch) does not stop here →
Commuter ←           MBTA Commuter Rail and CapeFLYER do not stop here →
Northbound ←      Red Line toward Alewife (JFK/UMass)
Island platform
Southbound →      Red Line toward Ashmont (Fields Corner) →

Trains on the Braintree branch of the Red Line and the Old Colony and Greenbush commuter rail lines run past Savin Hill on parallel tracks without stopping. Nearby JFK/UMass, a busy transfer station, received a Braintree branch platform in 1988 and a commuter rail platform in 2001.[1] However, Savin Hill primarily serves the local neighborhood and is therefore served by only Ashmont branch trains.

In January 2012, the state's Central Transportation Planning staff released a conceptual plan for widening the Southeast Expressway which would involve rearranging Savin Hill station. In this scenario, a second commuter rail track would be added and both placed in a shallow cut-and-cover tunnel under the southbound lanes, while the Braintree branch tracks would be placed in a deeper tunnel. The Ashmont branch tracks and station would remain in place.[19]

Bus connections[]

Savin Hill is not directly served by any MBTA bus routes. However, route 18 runs on Dorchester Avenue about one-tenth of a mile from the station. This route is the successor to streetcar service which once ran on Dorchester Avenue from South Station to River Street in Milton.[20] The next station to the south, Fields Corner, is a major bus transfer station.

Until the 1960s, four bus routes including the 18 terminated at Savin Hill. However, the M.T.A. desired to build a parking lot at the Savin Hill busway location. In September and December 1962, the 13 and 14 routes were rerouted away from Savin Hill to keep buses off local streets, while the 12 and 18 were combined into the modern 18 route.[1][10][21]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  2. ^ "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 10.
  3. ^ a b c Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 310–315. ISBN 0942147022.
  4. ^ J.B. Shields (1852). "Boston 1852". WardMaps LLC. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  5. ^ Walker Lithograph & Publishing Co. (1891). "Boston & Cambridge & Dorchester & South Boston". Topographical Atlas of Massachusetts, 1891. WardMaps LLC. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  6. ^ a b Cheney, Frank (2002). Boston's Red Line: Bridging the Charles from Alewife to Braintree. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 80–81. ISBN 0738510475.
  7. ^ Jacobs, Warren (October 1928). "Dates of Some of the Principal Events in the History of 100 Years of the Railroad in New England. 1826-1926". Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin. Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. 17 (17): 15–28. JSTOR 43504499.
  8. ^ "Station at Savin Hill to End Service Nov 4". Boston Globe. October 19, 1927. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  9. ^ Boston Transit Department (1935). Annual Report of the Transit Department for the Year Ending December 31, 1934. City of Boston Printing Department. pp. 41–42 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ^ a b O'Regan, Gerry (2005). "MBTA Red Line". nycsubway.org. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  11. ^ "MBTA Breaks Ground On Three New Red Line Stations" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. October 7, 2003. Archived from the original on December 2, 2003.
  12. ^ "Red Line Rehabilitation Project To Begin" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. March 5, 2004. Archived from the original on April 18, 2004.
  13. ^ "Shawmut, Fields Corner, Savin Hill MBTA Stations". Barletta Companies. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  14. ^ "Healey, Menino Tout Newly-Renovated Savin Hill Station" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. August 3, 2005.
  15. ^ "Update On Status Of The Rehabilitation Of Savin Hill Station On The Red Line" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. January 28, 2005.
  16. ^ Walker, Adrian (April 28, 2005). "Good sense derailed". Boston Globe. p. B1 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  17. ^ Slack, Donovan (April 19, 2003). "Budget cuts leave no room for art at Dorchester T stops". Boston Globe. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  18. ^ "On the Red Line" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2017. pp. 10, 11.
  19. ^ Central Transportation Planning Staff (January 2012). "Improving the Southwest Expressway: A Conceptual Plan" (PDF). Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  20. ^ See 1925 Boston Elevated Railway streetcar map
  21. ^ "Savin Hill Bus To Quit Runs Dec. 29". Boston Globe. December 12, 1962. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[]

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