JFK/UMass station

JFK/UMass
A southbound train on the Braintree Branch platform in 2013
General information
Location	599 Old Colony Avenue Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°19′14″N 71°03′09″W / 42.32058°N 71.05239°W / 42.32058; -71.05239
Line(s)	Old Colony Mainline Ashmont branch Braintree branch
Platforms	1 side platform (Commuter Rail) 2 island platforms (Red Line)
Tracks	1 (Commuter Rail) 4 (Red Line)
Connections	MBTA bus: 8, 16, 41 UMass Boston shuttle
Construction
Bicycle facilities	Racks available
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	1A (Commuter Rail)
History
Opened	November 5, 1927[1]
Rebuilt	June 1987–December 14, 1988
Previous names	Columbia (1927–1982)
Passengers
2018	362 daily boardings[2] (Commuter Rail)
FY2019	8,012 daily boardings[3] (Red Line)
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station Andrew toward Alewife Red Line Savin Hill toward Ashmont North Quincy toward Braintree South Station Terminus Greenbush Line Quincy Center toward Greenbush Middleborough/​Lakeville Line Quincy Center toward Middleborough/​Lakeville Kingston Line Quincy Center toward Kingston
Former services (Crescent Avenue station) Preceding station New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Following station South Boston Closed ca. 1917 toward Boston Boston–​Mattapan Savin Hill toward Mattapan Boston–​Braintree Savin Hill toward Braintree
Future services Preceding station MBTA Following station South Station Terminus South Coast Rail Quincy Center toward Fall River or New Bedford
Location

JFK/UMass station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intermodal transfer station, located adjacent to the Columbia Point area of Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by the rapid transit Red Line; the Greenbush Line, Kingston/Plymouth Line, and Middleborough/Lakeville Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, and three MBTA bus routes. The station is named for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the University of Massachusetts Boston, both located nearby on Columbia Point.

JFK/UMass station has four tracks and two island platforms for the Ashmont and Braintree branches of the Red Line, with one track and one side platform for Commuter Rail. A waiting room and fare lobby over the Red Line platforms is connected to Columbia Road, Sydney Street, and the busway on the east side of the station by footbridge. The station is fully accessible. North of the station, the complex Columbia Junction connects the two Red Line branches with the downtown tunnel and Cabot Yard lead tracks.

The Old Colony Railroad first opened through the area in 1845, with Crescent Avenue serving as a flag stop by 1848. A station building opened in 1868 and was rebuilt in 1883. The Boston Elevated Railway began construction of Columbia station on the Dorchester Extension of the Cambridge–Dorchester Tunnel in 1925. Crescent Avenue station closed in July 1927; Columbia station opened on November 5, with an additional footbridge added in 1929. Columbia station was modernized in 1970, though without a platform for South Shore (Braintree Branch) service, which started in 1971. UMass Boston moved to Columbia Point in 1974, while the Kennedy Library opened in 1979; the station was renamed JFK/UMass in 1982. A 1987–88 renovation added a platform for the Braintree Branch. Commuter Rail service on the former Old Colony, last operated in 1959, resumed in 1997. However, the platform at JFK/UMass did not open until 2001.