MBTA kicks off Ruggles Station improvement project

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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Gov. Charlie Baker speaks at an event marking the beginning of the Ruggles Station improvement project.
Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) began a $38.5-million improvement project at Ruggles Orange Line and Commuter Rail Station on Aug. 22.

 

The multi-modal station serves 13 MBTA bus routes, seven private bus shuttles, the Orange Line subway and three commuter rail lines. The work to renovate the station includes new elevators, a reconstructed lower busway and a new 800-foot commuter rail platform to better service Track 2 and increase capacity for nearly all inbound commuter rail trains to stop at the station.

“This investment will improve service for riders and access to neighborhoods and employers in Boston for all communities around this T stop,” said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. “This new platform at Ruggles will reduce congestion and allow more trains to stop at this major and busy local hub for commuters throughout the region.”

A contract first authorized to Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., in March 2012 that included the layout and design of a brand new 800-foot commuter rail platform to service Track 2 was amended by the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) last December to include ADA improvements, a reconstructed lower busway and new elevators.

MBTA says approximately 30 percent of inbound trains bypass Ruggles due to physical limitations of the current platform and daily congestion along the corridor from MBTA and Amtrak trains. Construction will increase the size of the existing platform and improve the infrastructure in keeping with ADA guidelines to allow improved access to the neighboring community that includes the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, which is the largest employment center near Ruggles Station and Northeastern University (NEU).

The project is being funded with a $20-million federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant, Federal Transit Administration funding of $6.8 million and state funding of $11.7 million from the MBTA Revenue Bond fund. With the design phase completed in January 2017, construction is scheduled to be performed from 2017 through 2019.

“The upgrades underway at Ruggles Station, when completed, will provide more access and better service for our customers to and from this area,” said MBTA Interim General Manager Steve Poftak. “We appreciate the close coordination with Northeastern and are committed to these kinds of collaborations in the future.”

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