| SOUTH ACTON | |||||||||||
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South Acton MBTA Station |
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| Station statistics | |||||||||||
| Address | 10 Central Street Acton, MA, 01720 |
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| Lines | |||||||||||
| Structure | at-grade | ||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 side platform | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 1 | ||||||||||
| Parking | 287 spaces, 170 Resident Sticker Spaces ($50 Annually) 107 Non-Sticker ('Open') spaces ($2.50 12 hours daily) | ||||||||||
| Bicycle facilities | 44 spaces | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Opened | October 1, 1844 | ||||||||||
| Owned by | Town of Acton | ||||||||||
| Fare zone | 6 | ||||||||||
| Traffic | |||||||||||
| Passengers (2009) | 856 weekday avg.[1] 3.3% | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
(NOTE: Some trains terminate at South Acton)
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South Acton is a station[2] on the MBTA Fitchburg Line in Acton, Massachusetts. The station is owned by the Town of Acton and is located at 10 Central Street near Massachusetts Route 27. It is the busiest station on the Fitchburg line, accounting for roughly 873 weekday passenger boardings, generating 15% of the line's traffic.[3]
The station is 25.06 miles (40.3 km) away from North Station. While most trains on the Fitchburg Line run to Fitchburg, some trains terminate at South Acton instead, and the line is sometimes referred to as the Fitchburg/South Acton Line by MBTA. The station is located in Zone 6.
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There are 300 parking spaces including 6 handicap accessible spaces at South Acton split between two lots. The main lot contains 282 spaces, which are split between 155 resident permit parking spaces and 107 daily 12-hour spaces. The secondary "overflow" lot is located two-tenths of mile from the station on School Street and contains 15 resident permit parking spaces. Resident Parking Permits cost $50 annually, whereas the daily 12-hour spaces cost $2.50 a day.
The Fitchburg Railroad began serving the town with a stop, located off of School St, when it reached the town on October 1, 1844. The railroad completed the first station in 1845 and, when the new station was built in 1892, the old station was moved to Jones Farm and utilized as a fire station until 1927.[4] The new South Acton Station served the Boston & Maine Railroad until the company sold the building in the early 1970s after it exited the passenger transportation business. This station burned in 1984 and was torn down.[5] South Acton served as a station stop for both the Fitchburg Branch and Marlborough Branch of the B&M. The Marlborough Branch split off from the Fitchburg Railroad after the station. The station also maintained a two-stall round house, a freight house, and a turntable, located off the Marlborough Branch. The South Acton station was temporarily closed on January 17, 1965 but reopened on June 28, 1965. In the 1980s, the Town of Acton and the MBTA moved the station stopping point two tenths of a mile westward, off of Central Street, to provide expanded on-site parking. The original site is now the site of the "overflow" parking lot.
South Acton averaged 856 inbound weekday boardings in 2009, making it the most heavily used station, for commuters going inbound towards Boston, on the Fitchburg Line.[6] It is the sole train station in Acton, a town with over 20,000 residents. The station also serves commuters from Route 2, which is 1.6 miles to the north.[7] High ridership is also due to convenience. South Acton is the only station on the Fitchburg Line, besides North Station (Boston) and Porter (Cambridge), at which all trains stop.[8]
Children's and Science Discovery Museums
Clock Tower Shuttle provides connecting service between the South Action station and the Clock Tower Place office park in downtown Maynard.[9] The Town of Acton is planning to launch a new shuttle in spring 2010.[10]