Kingston/Route 3 (MBTA station)

"Kingston station (MBTA)" and "Kingston (MBTA station)" redirect here. For the proposed MBTA station in Rhode Island, see Kingston Railroad Station (Rhode Island).
KINGSTON/ROUTE 3

Kingston/Route 3 station in January 2013
Location 194 Marion Drive
Kingston, Massachusetts
Coordinates 41°58′36″N 70°43′24″W / 41.9768°N 70.7233°W / 41.9768; -70.7233Coordinates: 41°58′36″N 70°43′24″W / 41.9768°N 70.7233°W / 41.9768; -70.7233
Owned by MBTA
Line(s)
  Kingston/Plymouth Line
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 1
Construction
Parking 1,039 spaces ($4.00 fee)
25 accessible spaces
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 8
History
Opened September 29, 1997[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 683 (weekday inbound boardings)[2]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
Kingston/Plymouth LineTerminus

Kingston/Route 3 (often abbreviated as Kingston) is a passenger rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Plymouth/Kingston Line, located of Massachusetts Route 3 south of downtown Kingston, Massachusetts. It opened in 1997 during the restoration of Old Colony Lines service. Like all stations on the Old Colony Lines, Kingston/Route 3 station is fully handicapped accessible.

History

The former Kingston station, now a restaurant, in February 2013

The Old Colony Railroad's Kingston station was located in downtown Kingston off Summer Street (MA-3A). Service ended in 1959, though the station is still extant and used as a restaurant.

Kingston/Route 3 station was built to provide a park and ride station for Route 3 so that traffic to the station would not go through downtown Kingston. A completely new right of way - the first new section of mainline rail in the state since the Needham Cutoff in 1906 - was constructed along Route 3 and through unused land. The spur passes under the Route 3 / 3A interchange in a lengthy tunnel. A layover yard for Plymouth/Kingston Line service is located just past the station. Peak service began to Kingston/Route 3 on September 29, 1997, with off-peak and weekend service beginning on November 29.[1]

The fork at the end of the line creates operational issues - a single train cannot serve both terminal stations efficiently. Three daily trips run 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 may address the unusual routing during schedule changes in late 2015.[3]

Bus connections

Kingston/Route 3 station is outside the normal MBTA Bus service district. GATRA operates two routes to the station:

References

  1. 1 2 Belcher, Jonathan (27 June 2015). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district 1964-2015" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14 ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Dungca, Nicole (4 October 2015). "Rail trip from Kingston shows MBTA's 'scheduling anomalies'". Boston Globe. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
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