(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on July 19, 2010.)
On Friday, Massachusetts and local officials held a groundbreaking for a $17.7 million Four Corners/Geneva commuter-rail station in Dorchester, one of four stations to be built along the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Four Corners/Geneva corridor as part of the Fairmount commuter-rail line rehabilitation project.
The Four Corners/Geneva station project includes the construction of high-level platforms with detectable warning strips, canopies, access ramps, passenger shelters, electronic message signs and walkways. The station is slated for completion in 2012.
Launched in 2005, the Fairmount commuter-rail project calls for rehabilitating a nine-mile corridor — the only commuter-rail line in Boston. The state of Massachusetts provided $37 million for the completed first phase, which included the rehabilitation of two stations, reconstruction of three bridges and installation of a new interlocking. The second phase calls for the design and construction of four new stations, which in addition to the one under way at Four Corners/Geneva, includes facilities at Talbot Avenue, Blue Hill Avenue and Newmarket.