South Acton station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Acton, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line. It is located off Route 27 near Route 2 in the South Acton area. It is the busiest station on the Fitchburg line, averaging 991 weekday boardings. It serves as a park and ride station for Acton and other suburbs of Boston, with a 287-space parking lot owned by the town.
There has been a station on the Fitchburg mainline at the South Acton site since 1844; until 1958 it also served a branch line to Maynard which in earlier years had extended through Hudson to Marlborough. This unused right-of-way became the Assabet River Rail Trail. South Acton has had continuous Boston commuter service since its inception except for five months in 1965 during the transition from fully private railroad operations to state subsidy.
As part of a $277 million project upgrading the Fitchburg Line, South Acton station was completely rebuilt with two accessible high-level platforms connected with an overhead pedestrian bridge, as well as a drop-off lane off Maple Street. The work began in 2012 and the new station opened on December 19, 2015.
History
B&M era
The Fitchburg Railroad began serving the town with a stop, located off of School Street east of Main Street, when it reached the town on October 1, 1844. The railroad completed the first station in 1845 and, when the new station was built in 1892, the old station was moved to Jones Farm and used as a fire station until 1927. The station was reduced to a single agent in 1932. The building was used as a plumbing and electrical supply store by 1962, though tickets were still sold at the store. The Boston and Maine Railroad sold the building in the early 1970s; it burned in 1984 and was torn down.
South Acton served as a station stop for both the Fitchburg Branch and Marlborough Branch of the B&M. The Marlborough Branch split off from the Fitchburg Railroad west of the station. The station also maintained a two-stall round house, a freight house, and a turntable, located off the Marlborough Branch. Marlborough Branch passenger service ended in 1939, though freight service continued on the line until around 1970. The stub of the branch at South Acton was used as a siding to turn RDC trains until its abandonment in 1979. The right-of-way has since been reused for the Assabet River Rail Trail on its Hudson and Marlborough section. In 2018 rail trail construction will be completed on a 3.4 mile section starting at train station and extending southeast through Maynard to the Maynard/Stow border.
MBTA era
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority was formed in August 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter rail service. On January 17, 1965, northside services were cut to the boundaries of the MBTA funding district. The Fitchburg Line was cut to until June 28, 1965 when it was reopened to . After service to Ayer was discontinued on March 1, 1975, South Acton was the end of the line until service was restored as far as on January 13, 1980. During that time, the line was known as the South Acton Line.
Around 1977, the Town of Acton and the MBTA built a new platform two tenths of a mile westward, off of Central Street west of Main Street, to provide expanded on-site parking. The original parking lot is now the "overflow" parking lot; portions of the former platform remain in the brush off the north side of the tracks. The former station building was demolished between 1985 and 1995.
Fitchburg Line upgrades
Until 2011, the main double-track section of the Fitchburg Line ended a quarter mile east of the station, with a short second under the Main Street bridge to allow a trainset to sit while preparing for an inbound run. The 1980s-constructed station had a single low platform, which was not handicapped accessible, serving the single track. As part of the ongoing upgrades to the Fitchburg Line infrastructure, South Action station was rebuilt and opened 2015, as the second track was added to the Acton-Ayer section of the line. The new station has separate platforms for inbound and outbound service; both platforms are full-length high-level for accessible boarding. They are connected by a pedestrian bridge which includes ADA-required elevators.
A single-platform design was considered in 2009, but the imposing design and the need for large ramps were disliked by town residents. The two-platform design, accepted in 2010, eliminated the need for large ramps and allowed for Maple Street access. The new design was largely based on community input.