Anderson Regional Transportation Center

Anderson Regional Transportation Center (RTC) (noted on MBTA schedules and maps as Anderson/Woburn, and on Amtrak schedules and maps as Woburn–Anderson) is a train and bus station located at 100 Atlantic Avenue, off Commerce Way, in Woburn, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. It can be accessed from Exit 37C off Interstate 93 or the Washington Street exit off Interstate 95/Route 128.

Anderson RTC
Anderson RTC in January 2011
Location100 Atlantic Avenue, Woburn, Massachusetts
Coordinates42.5174°N 71.144°W / 42.5174; -71.144
Owned byMassport
Line(s)New Hampshire Main Line
Platforms1 island platform
Tracks3
Connections Logan Express
Construction
ParkingYes
Bicycle facilitiesNo
Disabled accessYes
Other information
Station codeWOB (Amtrak)
Fare zone2 (MBTA)
History
OpenedApril 8, 2001 (bus)[1]
April 28, 2001 (rail)[2]
Passengers
20181,296 (weekday average boardings)[3] (MBTA)
201913,702[4]  1.91% (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Boston North
Terminus
 Downeaster Haverhill
toward Brunswick
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Mishawum
toward North Station
 Lowell Line Wilmington
toward Lowell
Winchester Center
toward North Station
 Haverhill Line
rush hours only
 Wilmington
toward Haverhill

It opened on April 28, 2001, replacing nearby Mishawum as Woburn's main Amtrak and MBTA station. It was named in memory of James R. "Jimmy" Anderson (1968–1981), whose death led to the Woburn Wells court case (Anderson v. Cryovac) chronicled in the book, and film, A Civil Action.[5]

As of 2018, there are 26 commuter-rail departures to Boston each weekday. Of the eleven Amtrak stations in Massachusetts, Woburn was the seventh busiest in FY2010, boarding or detraining an average of approximately 40 passengers daily.[6]

History
An outbound MBTA commuter train departing from Anderson RTC.

The station and the surrounding commercial-industrial area was redeveloped from the Industri-Plex Superfund site.[7][8] The site is a former chemical and glue manufacturing facility. Industri-Plex was used for manufacturing chemicals such as lead-arsenic insecticides, acetic acid, and sulfuric acid for local textile, leather, and paper manufacturing industries from 1853 to 1931. Chemicals manufactured by other industries at the site include phenol, benzene, and toluene. Industri-Plex was also used to manufacture glue from raw animal hide and chrome-tanned hide wastes from 1934 to 1969. The by-products and residues from these industries caused the soils within the site to become contaminated with elevated levels of metals, such as arsenic, lead, and chrome. During the 1970s, the site was redeveloped for industrial use. Excavations uncovered and mixed industrial by-products and wastes accumulated over 130 years. During this period, residues from animal hide wastes used in the manufacture of glue were relocated on-site from buried pits to piles near swampy areas on the property. Many of the animal hide piles and lagoons on-site were leaching toxic metals into the environment. In the 1980s, the site contained streams and ponds, a warehouse and office buildings, remnant manufacturing buildings, and hide waste deposits buried on the site.[9] The site was cleaned up using the capping technique, in which an impermeable layer seals the top of the hazardous waste site, preventing further pollution.

The station was originally to be called MetroNorth Center after the surrounding development.[10] A groundbreaking ceremony for the station was held in April 2000.[11] In October 2006, the MBTA added four short turn round trips that terminated at Anderson RTC.[12] By 2012, the parking lot was still underused.[12]

Connections
A Logan Express bus leaving the station in 2015

Massport operates Logan Express bus service from the station directly to Logan Airport terminals, with service on hourly or half-hourly headways except late at night. Logan Express service moved from Mishawum to Anderson RTC on April 8, 2001, three weeks ahead of rail service.[1] The move doubled Logan Express parking available in Woburn from 450 spaces to 900.[13]

Several other connecting services have previously been run. Beginning in June 2005, the Route 128 Business Council ran a "Metro North Shuttle" from the station to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center and a business center in Woburn. The service was discontinued in July 2006 due to poor ridership and a loss of state funding.[2] In November 2006, the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport began a shuttle service between the airport and Anderson station, free to ticketed airline passengers. The shuttle, part of a strategy to expand Manchester's visibility as a less crowded alternative to Logan Airport, was replaced with a non-free private shuttle to downtown Boston at the end of June 2008.[14][15]

There are separate parking lots for overnight parking and for commuter rail (day-only) parking. The former is intended for airport and Amtrak customers and is more expensive. The Massport lot has 875 spaces and the MBTA lot has 1,500 spaces.

References
  1. "Woburn Logan Express Service Moves To New Anderson Regional Transportation Center" (Press release). Massachusetts Port Authority. April 3, 2001.
  2. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit.
  3. Central Transportation Planning Staff (2019). "2018 Commuter Rail Counts". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  4. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2019, State of Massachusetts" (PDF). Amtrak. May 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  5. "Anderson v. W.R. Grace". Seattle University School of Law. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
  6. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2011, Commonwealth of Massachusetts" (PDF). Amtrak. December 2011. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
  7. "Review Recent Publications and Articles About the Industri-plex Project". Greenfield Environmental Trust Group. Archived from the original on 2007-05-31.
  8. "MetroNorth: Digging up the Region's Most Challenging Projects". Archived from the original on 2011-10-09.
  9. "Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England: Industri-Plex". Environmental Protection Agency.
  10. Cole, Caroline Louise (January 4, 1998). "Haverhill sees train station as downtown 'centerpiece'". Boston Globe. p. 68 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Palmer, Thomas C., Jr. (April 24, 2000). "Ground covered, then broken, for Woburn transportation center". Boston Globe. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Still plenty of parking at the Anderson lot in Woburn". Boston Globe. March 4, 2012. p. B3 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. Palmer, Thomas C., Jr. (March 19, 2001). "A SIGN OF SUCCESS FOR LOGAN EXPRESS - FULL PARKING LOTS". Boston Globe. p. B3. ProQuest 405378677.
  14. "Manchester Shuttle". Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. Archived from the original on 2008-06-07.
  15. "Manchester Shuttle Pilot Program Proves Successful! Private Ground Transportation Company to Offer High Frequency, Affordable Service to Northern Massachusetts and Boston" (Press release). Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. June 18, 2008. Archived from the original on July 16, 2008.
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