East Somerville station


East Somerville is a planned light rail station on the MBTA Green Line D branch in Somerville, Massachusetts. The station will consist of one island platform, which will serve the D branch's two tracks.

History

Railroad station

The Boston and Lowell Railroad opened between its mainsake cities in 1835. Passenger service initially ran express between the two cities, but local stops were soon added. One of the first was Milk Row, just south of Washington Street. Opened in 1835, it was Somerville's first railroad station.
The Boston and Maine Railroad acquired the B&L in 1887 and soon made improvements to a number of B&M stations in Somerville. Milk Row was replaced with Prospect Hill off Alston Street, slightly to the north, by 1889.
In 1926, the Boston and Maine Railroad began work on North Station plus an expansion of its freight yards. The B&M soon proposed to abandon East Cambridge and Prospect Hill stations in order to realign the ex-B&L into the new North Station. Although the closure of East Cambridge was protested, Prospect Hill had largely been replaced by streetcars to Lechmere station and its closure was unopposed. The Public Utilities Commission approved the closures in March 1927. The stations closed at some point between then and May 22, when trains were rerouted over the new alignment. The building remained in disuse until at least 1933, but was later demolished.

Green Line station

Early plans called the station Brickbottom. 2014 plans announced it as Washington Street station, with an expected opening in December 2017. The MBTA announced in December 2016 that the opening would be delayed until 2021 in the wake of cutbacks, and that the name of the station would be changed to East Somerville, reflecting the name of the neighborhood