Line(s) Lexington Branch Passengers 7–12 daily (1976) | Fare zone 1 | |
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Owned by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Opened 1846 (original)
October 1965 (MBTA) Closed May 16, 1958 (original);
10 January 1977 (final) Owner Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority | ||
Arlington Centre (signed as Arlington) was a regional rail station on the Lexington Branch, located in downtown Arlington, Massachusetts. It was closed in January 1977 when service on the Lexington Branch was suspended.
History
The Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad opened from West Cambridge to Lexington on September 1, 1846. Arlington Centre station was located near the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Mystic Street in Arlington.
On April 18, 1958, the Boston and Maine Railroad received permission from the Public Utilities Commission to drastically curtail its suburban commuter service, including abandoning branches, closing stations, and cutting trains. Among the approved cuts was the closure of the Lexington Branch's four stations in Arlington (Lake Street, Arlington Centre, Brattles, and Arlington Heights), as Arlington was part of the funding district of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which provided parallel bus service on Massachusetts Avenue. The four stations were closed on May 16, 1958.
Due to community input, Arlington Centre station was reopened in October 1965, followed by Lake Street in March 1968. On a typical day, no more than 7 to 12 passengers used Arlington Centre station; although taking the Lexington Branch allowed one to reach downtown faster than if they had used the 77 bus and the Red Line (transferring at Harvard, then the northwestern terminus of the Red Line), it had only one round trip per day (one train inbound to Boston in the morning, and then one back out to Bedford Depot in the evening) and was substantially more expensive.
In January 1977, following a major snowstorm which temporarily shut down the Lexington Branch, stranding a train at Bedford Depot, the MBTA announced that commuter rail service on the branch would not be restored. In the 1980s, the MBTA planned to extend the Red Line through Arlington and Lexington to Route 128 along the former path of the Lexington Branch as part of the Northwest Extension, including renewed service to Arlington Centre station, but fierce opposition from Arlington residents scuttled this plan, and the Northwest Extension was cut short to Alewife in northwestern Cambridge.
The only surviving stations of the Lexington Branch are Bedford Depot and Lexington; Arlington Centre was demolished at some point following the branch's closure.