Owned by MBTA Rebuilt 1897 Platforms in use 2 | Opened 1839 Added to NRHP 11 October 1979 Tracks 2 | |
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Location 12 Park Street
Beverly, Massachusetts Line(s) Newburyport/Rockport Line Connections MBTA Bus: 451
CATA: Beverly Shuttle Parking 500 spaces ($5.00 fee)
Accessible spaces available Bicycle facilities "Pedal and Park" bicycle cage Address Beverly, MA 01915, United States Owner Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Similar Salem, Hamilton/Wenham, Beverly Farms, Rockport, West Gloucester | ||
Beverly Depot is a regional rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Newburyport/Rockport Line, located in downtown Beverly, Massachusetts. Beverly Depot is one of five stations in the city. It is the junction of the line's two branches to Newburyport and Rockport and is served by every train on both branches, for as many as 30 departures to Boston on weekdays. This is the most frequent inbound service from any MBTA Commuter Rail station save Anderson RTC. By a 2013 count, Beverly Depot had the third highest inbound ridership on the system (behind only Providence and Salem) with 2,058 inbound riders on a typical weekday.
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The Eastern Railroad was extended through Beverly to Ipswich in 1839. The 1839 station was replaced in 1855; that station was in turn replaced by one designed by Bradford Lee Gilbert in 1897. The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is a contributing property of the Beverly Depot-Odell Park Historic District which was added in 2014. A 500-space parking garage at Beverly opened on August 2, 2014.
History
The current Beverly Depot is this third station to serve Beverly. The first station, opened in 1839, was located next to the Essex Bridge; its 1855 replacement was a larger wooden building with a train shed at the modern site. The train shed was torn down for the 1897 construction of the Bradford Lee Gilbert station that still stands. A copy was built ten years later at Andover.
The ticket office closed in 1965 with passenger traffic in free fall as the newly formed MBTA began to subsidize service to Beverly. The station was sold soon after; it partially burned on February 15, 1971, but was renovated and reopened as a restaurant by that December.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The modern station facilities, located adjacent to the depot building, consist of two platforms serving the line's two tracks. Short high-level platforms are located on the outbound end of the longer low-level platforms, making the station fully handicapped accessible.
On November 16, 1984, the Beverly Bridge, which carried the line between Salem and Beverly, was destroyed by a fire. For 13 months, Beverly was the connection point between a Salem-Beverly-Ipswich shuttle bus and a Beverly-Rockport shuttle train. Regular service over a new bridge was restored on December 1, 1985.
Garage
On September 15, 2012, the MBTA approved funding for a new parking garage to be built near the station. The three-story, 500-space garage more than quintiples former parking capacity and include facilities such as electric car charging stations and roof-mounted solar panels as well as a covered walkway leading over Pleasant Street to the station platforms. The $34.1 million project began construction in November 2012.
The garage was originally planned to open in December 2013, but the opening was delayed several times due to construction difficulties. A retaining wall required additional reinforcement, unusually cold winter temperatures prevented contractors from pouring concrete, and contaminated soil had to be unexpectedly brought to out-of-state disposal locations when in-state facilities closed. The city of Beverly contributed $500,000 in city funds to cover additional construction costs from these delays.
The garage ultimately opened on August 2, 2014. After four weeks, only 100 of the 500 spaces were being used on a daily basis. By September 2015, usage averaged 260 cars on weekdays.
Bus connections
No MBTA Bus routes directly serve the station. However, the 451 North Beverly - Salem Depot via Cabot Street or Tozer Road route runs on Cabot Street several blocks to the east.
Additionally, the Cape Ann Transportation Authority runs a Beverly Shuttle route as part of its Yellow Line service.