Wickford Junction (MBTA station)
| WICKFORD JUNCTION | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Station under construction in January 2012 |
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| Station statistics | |||||||||||
| Address | Wickford Junction Plaza, Ten Rod Road (Route 102, near Route 4), North Kingstown, Rhode Island [1] | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 41°34′51″N 71°29′29″W / 41.5808°N 71.4914°WCoordinates: 41°34′51″N 71°29′29″W / 41.5808°N 71.4914°W | ||||||||||
| Lines | |||||||||||
| Platforms | 1 850-ft side platform[2] | ||||||||||
| Tracks | 3 (two main and one platform siding) | ||||||||||
| Parking | 1200 spaces[2] | ||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||
| Opened | April 2012 (expected) | ||||||||||
| Electrified | Main tracks (but not platform siding) | ||||||||||
| Accessible |  |
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| Owned by | RI | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Wickford Junction is a station under construction in North Kingstown, Rhode Island on the Northeast Corridor, extending the Providence/Stoughton Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail south from Providence. It will serve local commuters to Providence and Boston, Massachusetts. The new station will have a park and ride garage and is part of a $336 million project that includes the new T. F. Green Airport station.
The name, "Wickford Junction," comes from a previous station in the same area that also served the now-abandoned branch to Wickford Landing.[3] The previous station was served by a state-subsidized Providence-to-Westerly commuter train starting in 1972, and later by Amtrak's Beacon Hill from 1978 to 1981.[4][5][6]
Partial funding for the new station is contained in the 2005 Transportation Bill. An additional $12,269,449 was contained in an earmark to the FY2008 Transportation and Housing & Urban Development appropriations bill. In late 2009, the State of Rhode Island spent $3.2 million to purchase 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) of land for the station and parking garage, with hopes that it could be in service in 2011.[7] The MBTA expects to use a siding at this station to allow its trains to reverse direction.
Ground was broken for the new station on August 18, 2010 and service is expected to start in early 2012 with eight trains in each direction per day[8] Travel time to Providence will be 25 minutes; time to Boston will be approximately 100 minutes. Some 80% of the 1700 riders per day projected for the extension to T.F. Green and Wickford are expected to board at Wickford Junction.[9]
Primary construction work on the station platform was completed in December 2011.[2] Most remaining work involves connecting the station siding to the Northeast Corridor at Stoney interlocking.
[edit] References
- ^ "Intermodal Planning". Rhode Island Department of Transportation. http://www.dot.ri.gov/engineering/intermod/index.asp#ComRail. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
- ^ a b c "January Luncheon: Wickford Junction Commuter Rail Station". Advancing Women in Transportation Rhode Island Chapter. http://www.wtsinternational.org/uploadedFiles/Chapters_-_Community/Rhode_island/Document_Library/WTS-Rhode%20Island%20-%20January%20Luncheon%20Flyer(1).pdf. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
- ^ United States Geographic Survey (1944). "Wickford quadrangle SW". University of New Hampshire - Dimond Library. http://docs.unh.edu/RI/wick44sw.jpg. Retrieved 21 December 2011. (topographic map)
- ^ Belcher, Jonathan (31 December 2011). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit. http://www.transithistory.org/roster/MBTARouteHistory.pdf. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- ^ Hebert, H. Josef (August 26, 1981). "New Amtrak Network Keeps Most of System Intact". Associated Press.
- ^ Amtrak (February 3, 1980). "Passenger Stations". http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19800203&item=0011. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
- ^ Associated Press (31 December 2009). "RI moves forward with commuter rail service plans". Worcester Telegram and Gazette. http://www.telegram.com/article/20091231/APN/312319434/-1/NEWS05. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
- ^ Samantha, Turner (4 November 2010). "Commuter Rail Station To Open In 2012". North Kingston Patch. http://northkingstown.patch.com/articles/commuter-rail-station-to-open-in-2012. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- ^ Associated Press (18 August 2010). "RI to break ground on commuter rail station". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2010/08/ri_to_break_gro.html. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wickford Junction (MBTA station) |
- MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Rhode Island
- Railway stations in Rhode Island
- Proposed railway stations in the United States
- Proposed railway stations scheduled to open in 2012
- North Kingstown, Rhode Island
- Buildings and structures in Washington County, Rhode Island
- Transportation in Washington County, Rhode Island
