Medford/Tufts station

Medford/Tufts
A train at Medford/Tufts station in December 2022
General information
Location	Boston Avenue at College Avenue Medford, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°24′29.35″N 71°7′2.37″W / 42.4081528°N 71.1173250°W / 42.4081528; -71.1173250
Line(s)	Medford Branch New Hampshire Main Line
Platforms	1 island platform (Green Line)
Tracks	2 (Lowell Line) 2 (Green Line)
Connections	MBTA bus: 80, 94, 96
Construction
Bicycle facilities	"Pedal and Park" bicycle cage
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	September 15, 1977 (Lowell Line)[1] December 12, 2022 (Green Line)
Closed	October 1979 (Lowell Line)[2]
Passengers
2030 (projected)	2,420 daily boardings[3]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station Terminus Green Line E branch Ball Square toward Heath Street
Proposed services Preceding station MBTA Following station Mystic Valley Parkway Terminus Green Line E branch Ball Square toward Heath Street
Former services Preceding station MBTA Following station West Medford toward Lowell or Woburn Lowell Line 1977–1979 North Station Terminus Preceding station Boston and Maine Railroad Following station Medford Hillside toward Concord, NH Boston – Concord, NH Until 1958 North Somerville toward Boston
Location

Medford/Tufts station is a light rail station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line located off Boston Avenue near College Avenue in Medford, Massachusetts, adjacent to Tufts University. The accessible station has a single island platform serving the two tracks of the Medford Branch. It opened on December 12, 2022, as part of the Green Line Extension (GLX), which added two northern branches to the Green Line, and is the northern terminus of the E branch.

The location was previously served by railroad stations. The Boston and Lowell Railroad (B&L) opened Stearns Steps station near what is now College Avenue by 1849. It was soon named Tufts College, then College Hill, after the 1852-founded college. The original station building – a converted house – was replaced with the brick Tufts College station slightly to the south in 1897. The station was served by the Boston and Maine Railroad, successor to the B&L, until 1958. Tufts University station served the Lowell Line from 1977 to 1979 at the same location.

Extensions to the Green Line were proposed throughout the 20th century, most with Tufts University as one of the intermediate stations. A station site between College Avenue and Winthrop Street was chosen for the GLX in 2008. However, the planned station was moved to College Avenue in 2009. Cost increases triggered a wholesale reevaluation of the GLX project in 2015, and a scaled-down station design was released in 2016. A design-build contract was issued in 2017. In January 2020, the station was renamed Medford/Tufts under an agreement between the MBTA and the university. Construction of the station began in mid-2020 and was largely completed by early 2022.