Shawmut (MBTA station)

SHAWMUT
1928 Shawmut station headhouse
Station statistics
Address	Dayton Street between Centre Street and Lyndhurst Street, Dorchester, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°17′37″N 71°03′57″W / 42.29371°N 71.065912°W / 42.29371; -71.065912Coordinates: 42°17′37″N 71°03′57″W / 42.29371°N 71.065912°W / 42.29371; -71.065912
Line(s)	Red Line
Structure type	Subway
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Parking	None
Other information
Opened	1872; September 1, 1928
Closed	1926
Rebuilt	1928, 1981, 2009
Accessible
Owned by	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Formerly	Melville Avenue and Centre Street (pair of Shawmut Branch Railroad stations)
Traffic
Passengers (2009 daily)	2,241[1]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Fields Corner toward Alewife Red Line Ashmont Branch Ashmont Terminus

Shawmut is a subway station on the Ashmont branch of the MBTA Red Line, located on Dayton Street in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The station, the only underground station on the Red Line south of Andrew, is in of a shallow cut-and-cover subway tunnel that runs from Park Street in Dorchester south to Peabody Square where it surfaces at Ashmont. Shawmut opened along with Ashmont on September 1, 1928 as part of a southward extension of the Cambridge-Dorchester Line.^[2]

Station layout

History

Old sign directing passengers to trains

Platforms after the 2004-2009 renovation

Shawmut Branch Railroad

In 1872, the Old Colony Railroad took over the Shawmut Branch Railroad, which branched off the main line at Harrison Square and ran through Dorchester to Milton.^[3] The branch line included stations at Melville Avenue and Centre Street, just one-quarter mile apart, which were consolidated into Shawmut station in 1884.^[4] The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad acquired the Old Colony and took over operations in 1893. ^[5] In 1924, the Boston Elevated Railway bought the Shawmut Branch Railroad and part of the Milton Branch in preparation for extending the Cambridge-Dorchester Line, although New Haven trains ran on the line until 1926.^[3]

Rapid transit conversion

The Shawmut Branch reopened as a rapid transit extension in two sections: to Fields Corner (with intermediate stops along the Old Colony mainline at Columbia and Savin Hill) in November 1927, then further to Ashmont with an intermediate stop at Shawmut in September 1928.^[2] The Cambridge-Dorchester Line became the Red Line in August 1965.^[2]

The station was retrofitted in 1981 to accommodate six-car trains, which started service in 1988.^[2] The station was originally built with 420-foot platforms, making in the only pre-WWII station on the line designed for six-car trains.^[6]

Starting in 2004, the station was renovated as part of the Red Line Rehabilitation Project. The modernization included adding elevators for handicapped accessibility and was completed in 2009.^[7]

Bus connections

Because Shawmut is located in a residential neighborhood away from major streets, it is one of a small number of MBTA heavy rail subway stations without direct bus connections. The nearest buses are the 22, 23, and 26 three blocks west out of Codman Square, and the 18 two blocks east on Dorchester Avenue. Ashmont, one station to the south, is a major bus transfer point.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shawmut (MBTA station).

• MBTA – Shawmut Station
• Cambridge Seven Associates project page
• Dayton Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

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