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Wellesley Square station is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Framingham/Worcester Line, located just north of the MA 16-MA 135 intersection in downtown Wellesley, Massachusetts. It serves both walk-up and park-and-ride commuters, with a 224-space parking lot for the latter group. The station has low-level platforms and is not accessible.
Wellesley Square | |||||||||||||
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 Station platforms viewed from Crest Road in 2013 | |||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||
| Location | 1 Grove Street Wellesley, Massachusetts | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 42.29755°N 71.29375°W | ||||||||||||
| Line(s) | Worcester Line | ||||||||||||
| Platforms | 2 side platforms | ||||||||||||
| Tracks | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||
| Parking | 224 spaces ($4.50 fee) | ||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 3 | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
| Opened | c. 1845 | ||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1889, 1962[1] | ||||||||||||
| Previous names | Wellesley | ||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||
| 2018 | 626 (weekday average boardings)[2] | ||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||
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The Boston & Worcester Railroad (B&W), extending outwards from Boston, reached through the West Parish of Needham in mid-1834.[3] In 1839, the line was double tracked through the area.[4] Around 1844, the railroad proposed to relocate the Needham station building to West Needham, which had more population.[5] A new station building was constructed at West Needham within a year instead.[6][1]
It was renamed to Wellesley after the adjacent village in 1863, though the West Parish did not formally separate from Needham to become Wellesley until 1881.[7] The wood-framed building was moved half a mile to the east in 1889 (where it still stands, in use as a restaurant), when H. H. Richardson's successors Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge designed a stone Richardsonian Romanesque station for the Boston & Albany Railroad (B&A), which had taken over the B&W.[1]
The 1889-built depot was demolished around 1962 to make room for a post office; only bare asphalt platforms remained.[8] Amtrak Inland Route service served it until 1975, and from 1984 to 1986. In 1977 or 1978, the station was renamed Wellesley Square to differentiate it from the other two stations in Wellesley.[9][10]
In 2019, the MBTA listed Wellesley Square as a "Tier I" accessibility priority.[11] In June 2021, the MBTA issued a $28 million design contract for a project to add a third track from Weston to Framingham, including reconstruction of the three Wellesley stations and West Natick station. The project was expected to cost around $400 million, of which rebuilding Wellesley Square station would be $31-35 million, with completion in 2030.[12] As of November 2023[update], the MBTA plans to pilot a freestanding temporary accessible platform design at Beverly Depot in March 2024. If successful, Wellesley Square would be one of the first four stations to receive a temporary platform while a full reconstruction is planned.[13]
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