Line(s) Lexington Branch Passengers (1976) Fewer than 10 daily | Fare zone 1 | |
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Owned by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Opened 1846 (original);
March 1968 (MBTA) Closed 1958 (original);
10 January 1977 (final) Owner Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Similar Tremont Street Su, Mattapan, Boylston, Bowdoin, Braintree | ||
Lake Street is a former regional rail station on the Lexington Branch, located in the East Arlington section of 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. Lake Street station was located at the crossing of the eponymous street.
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 four stations on the Lexington Branch in Arlington - Lake Street, Arlington Centre, Brattles, and Arlington Heights - because 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. Ridership at Lake Street station generally did not exceed 10 passengers per day; although taking the Lexington Branch allowed a faster trip than taking the 77 bus to Harvard (then the northwestern terminus of the Red Line) and then transferring to the Red Line to get to downtown Boston, it had only one trip per day and was substantially more expensive.
On January 10, 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, 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; Lake Street was demolished at some point following the branch's closure.