Suffolk Downs (MBTA station)

SUFFOLK DOWNS
Location	1230 Bennington St at Walley St, East Boston, Massachusetts 02128
Coordinates	42°23′25″N 70°59′49″W / 42.3904°N 70.9970°W / 42.3904; -70.9970Coordinates: 42°23′25″N 70°59′49″W / 42.3904°N 70.9970°W / 42.3904; -70.9970
Line(s)	Blue Line
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Parking	110 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	April 21, 1952
Rebuilt	January 3, 1984 June 24, 1995
Previous names	Belle Isle (BRB&L)
Traffic
Passengers (2009 daily)	794[1]
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Orient Heights toward Bowdoin Blue Line Beachmont toward Wonderland

Suffolk Downs is a station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Blue Line, named for the nearby Suffolk Downs racetrack. The station is on the surface section of the Blue Line, the only part of the MBTA's heavy rail lines that uses overhead lines instead of third rail.

History

An outbound train at Suffolk Downs in 1967

Suffolk Downs station was originally built on April 21, 1952, on the site of a former Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad depot called Belle Isle. The 1952 station lost its outbound platform to fire on February 14, 1976.^[2] The station was rebuilt in 1983 and reopened on January 3, 1984.

The station was closed for approximately one year starting on June 25, 1994, as the station was rebuilt once agin. Blue Line service temporarily ended at Orient Heights and buses served the closed outer stations during the $467 million improvement project to upgrade four stations on the line. The station officially re-opened on June 24, 1995.^[3]

Unusual for an MBTA station, Suffolk Downs has no bus connections.

Platform layout

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Suffolk Downs (MBTA station).

• MBTA - Suffolk Downs
• Bennington Street entrance from Google Maps Street View

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Subway lines (List of stations) Heavy rail      Blue      Orange      Red Light rail      Green "B" Branch "C" Branch "D" Branch "E" Branch      Ashmont–Mattapan      Commuter Rail lines (List of stations) North Station lines Fitchburg Haverhill (Wildcat Branch) Lowell Newburyport/Rockport South Station lines Fairmount Framingham/Worcester Franklin Greenbush Needham Old Colony (Kingston/Plymouth Middleborough/Lakeville      CapeFLYER) Providence/Stoughton Bus routes (List of routes)      Silver Crosstown routes Key routes Trackless trolleys Routes East Boston, Chelsea, Revere Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield South Boston Other services      Boat The Ride Component parts of system lines      Boylston Street Subway      Haymarket North Extension      Lechmere Viaduct      Tremont Street Subway      Washington Street Subway Under construction           Government Center closure      Green Line Extension      South Coast Rail      Wachusett extension Proposed      Lynn extension           Red Line—Blue Line Connector Urban Ring Project      North–South Rail Link      Plaistow extension      Nashua extension      Westerly extension      Indigo Line (Fairmount Grand Junction Track 61) History Predecessor companies Boston Elevated Railway Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Middlesex and Boston Street Railway Newton and Boston Street Railway Former lines      Atlantic Avenue Elevated      Causeway Street Elevated      Charlestown Elevated      Green Line "A" Branch      Lexington Branch Streetcar lines      Washington Street Elevated      Woburn Loop      History of the Green Line Other Accessibility Arts on the Line "Charlie on the M.T.A." CharlieCard Police Nomenclature Yards and maintenance facilities