Plymouth station (MBTA)

Plymouth station is a closed MBTA Commuter Rail station in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It served the Plymouth/Kingston Line and was located in the Cordage Park complex of North Plymouth. Plymouth was one terminus of the MBTA's Kingston/Plymouth Line, along with Kingston/Route 3 station in nearby Kingston, Massachusetts. Plymouth station provided non-peak service to Boston's South Station, as well as some peak service, which ran in addition to peak trips to Kingston. Most trains on the line served only Kingston station; service to and ridership from Plymouth were thus very limited. Due to this limited ridership and service, as well as due to the fact that trains had to reverse in and out of the station in order to serve it, Plymouth station was indefinitely closed in April 2021.

Plymouth
Looking inbound from the station's single side platform
General information
Location385 Court Street
Plymouth, Massachusetts
Coordinates41.9812°N 70.6903°W / 41.9812; -70.6903
Line(s)Plymouth Branch
Platforms1 side platform
Tracks1
ConnectionsBus transport GATRA: Freedom Link, Liberty Link
Construction
Parking96 spaces ($4.00 fee)
Bicycle facilities8 spaces
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone8
History
OpenedNovember 29, 1997[1]
ClosedJune 30, 1959 (former station)
April 5, 2021 (suspension; modern station)
Previous namesNorth Plymouth (1873–c. 1880)
Seaside (c. 1880–January 1925)
Cordage (January 1925–June 30, 1959)
Passengers
201821 (weekday average boardings)[2]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Halifax
toward South Station
 Kingston Line Terminus
Former services
Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station
Cordage station
Kingston
toward Boston
 Boston–​Plymouth Plymouth
Terminus
South Shore Line
Service ended 1938
Plymouth station
Cordage
toward Boston
 Boston–​Plymouth Terminus
South Shore Line
Service ended 1938
Darby
toward Middleborough
 Plymouth and Middleborough Branch
Service ended 1927

History
A black-and-white postcard of a small railway station
Cordage station in 1930
A train at Plymouth station in August 2001

A previous station was located at Boundary Lane on the Plymouth/Kingston border, just north of the current site. Built as North Plymouth in 1873, it was renamed to Seaside around 1880 and Cordage in January 1925.[3][4][5] A new freight house was built in 1881.[6] The station closed with the rest of the Old Colony Division passenger rail service in southeastern Massachusetts on June 30, 1959.[7]

Because Plymouth did not want trains running through upscale residential areas near the downtown area, Plymouth station is located in Cordage Park, a commercial and light industrial park in North Plymouth. The rest of the Plymouth/Kingston Line and the Middleborough/Lakeville Line opened for rush hour service on September 29, 1997. Plymouth, with no rush hour trains, did not open until midday and weekend service began on November 29, 1997.[1] The station was closed from November 3 to December 23, 2010, during tie replacement on the line.[1][8]

Due to a FY 2013 budget shortfall and claims of low ridership by the MBTA, weekend service to the South Shore (and two other lines[9]) was discontinued in July 2012.[10] MassDOT and the MBTA subsequently received substantial feedback from rail commuters and legislative representatives to reinstate weekend service to those lines. In 2014, funding was reallocated to the FY 2015 state budget (for a trial period) and weekend service resumed on the (formerly) suspended lines on December 27, 2014.[11] Prior to the return of weekend service on the Kingston/Plymouth Line, the MBTA held special weekend service to Plymouth for 2 weekends leading up to the 2014 Thanksgiving holiday. The two trains per day were intended only for tourists going to Plymouth; they did not run on schedules allowing day trips to Boston.[12]

The fork at the end of the line creates operational issues - a single train cannot serve both terminal stations efficiently. Three daily trips ran to both Kingston and Plymouth sequentially, which doubles travel time from Kingston to Boston during much of the day (Kingston is first on all weekday and one weekend trip). Between Kingston and Plymouth, the train is simultaneously acting as an inbound train (from the first station to Boston) and an outbound train (from Boston to the second station). Keolis and the MBTA planned to address the unusual routing during schedule changes in late 2015, but did not do so.[13]

The station was indefinitely closed in April 2021 along with four other low-ridership stations.[1] In June 2021, the MBTA indicated that the station would reopen on July 5, 2022 (the start of a new fiscal year).[14] However, due to budget cuts, this service restoration did not occur as planned, with no certain date for resumption of service announced by that time.[15]

References
  1. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
  2. Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  3. Tenth Annual Report of the Old Colony Railroad Co. to the Stockholders. Old Colony Railroad Company. November 1873. p. 8.
  4. Humphrey, Thomas J. & Clark, Norton D. (1986). Boston's Commuter Rail: Second Section. Boston Street Railway Association. p. 25. ISBN 9780938315025.
  5. 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.
  6. Eighteenth Annual Report of the Old Colony Railroad Co. to the Stockholders. Old Colony Railroad Company. November 1881. p. 6.
  7. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. p. 310. ISBN 0942147022.
  8. "Old Colony Tie Replacement Project Underway Temporary Closure of Plymouth Station" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. November 2, 2010.
  9. "MBTA restoring weekend commuter rail service on three lines". Metro Magazine. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  10. Trufant, Jessica (20 February 2014). "Duxbury man leads push to restore weekend rail service on South Shore". The Patriot Ledger. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  11. MassDOT Press Office (7 October 2014). "Patrick Administration Announces Restoration Of Weekend Service On Three Commuter Rail Lines". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  12. "Take the Special Seasonal Weekend Train to Plymouth!" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  13. Dungca, Nicole (4 October 2015). "Rail trip from Kingston shows MBTA's 'scheduling anomalies'". Boston Globe. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  14. Kindy, Dave (June 18, 2021). "North Plymouth train station scheduled to reopen in 2022". Wicked Local.
  15. Smith, David R. (July 13, 2022). "MBTA commuter rail is not coming back to Plymouth. Here's what we know". Retrieved July 20, 2022.

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