Packards Corner station (announced as Brighton Avenue/Packards Corner) is a

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

stop on the

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

's Green Line B branch located at

Packard's Corner Packard's Corner is located in Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, ...

—the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Brighton Avenue—in

Allston Allston is an officially recognized neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was named after the American painter and poet Washington Allston. It comprises the land covered by the zip code 02134. For the most part, Allston is ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. The station is located in a median between the westbound travel lanes and frontage road of Commonwealth Avenue.

History

The

Green Line A branch The A branch or Watertown Line was a streetcar line in the Boston, Massachusetts, area, operating as a branch of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line. The line ran from Watertown through Newton Corner, Brighton, and Alls ...

formerly diverged just north of the platforms; its streetcars stopped at separate platforms on Brighton Avenue. The Brighton Avenue streetcar reservation was removed from July 1 to October 5, 1949, and the side platforms for the Watertown Line were replaced with an

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

. The A branch was closed on June 21, 1969, and replaced with the route bus, though the trackage was retained for non-revenue moves to

Watertown Yard Watertown Carhouse is a bus maintenance facility and former streetcar carhouse located in the southern section of Watertown, Massachusetts, across the Charles River from Watertown Square. As Watertown Yard, the site also serves as a bus depot ...

. The line was finally abandoned in 1994; a several-hundred-foot stub track was left until the mid-2000s to temporarily store disabled trains. The switch and the last few feet of track were not disconnected until track work in 2014. Packards Corner was not made accessible during the initial 2001–03 round of Green Line station renovations. In 2019, the MBTA listed Packards Corner as a "Tier I" accessibility priority. Track work in 2018–19, which included replacement of platform edges at several stops, triggered requirements for accessibility modifications at those stops. Design for Packards Corner and four other B Branch stops was 30% complete by December 2022. By November, construction was expected to begin at Packards Corner in spring 2024, ahead of other B Branch stations. A design shown in March 2024 called for the platforms to be rebuilt at their current locations, with a new track crossing and crosswalk to the west sidewalk at the south end of the station. In May 2024, the

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

awarded the MBTA $67 million to construct accessible platforms at 14 B and C branch stops including Packards Corner. Additional stops were added to the B branch project in 2024. , the MBTA plans to advertise the $74 million design-build contract for bidding in May 2025. Construction is expected to take place from fall 2025 to mid-2027. File:Watertown Line platforms at Packards Corner, April 1948.jpg, Watertown Line (future A Branch) platforms in 1948 File:MBTA 3248 at Packards Corner, September 1965.jpg, A Boston College-bound (future B Branch) train at Packards Corner in 1965 File:Green Line A Branch turnoff.jpg, Former A branch turnout switch in 2011

References

External links

MBTA – Packards CornerStation from Brighton Avenue from Google Maps Street View
Green Line (MBTA) stations Railway stations in Boston {{MBTA-stub