Following the Wellesley Select Board’s approval this week of a bunch of purple signage to help people figure out how to navigate the Wellesley Square train station and its new accessible platforms, the MBTA has announced those platforms will open for service on Monday, Feb. 17. The first trains scheduled are outbound at 5:36 a.m. and inbound at 6:04 a.m.
As we wrote earlier this month, the mini-high platforms on the inbound and outbound sides of the Wellesley Square commuter rail station will make it feasible for more people with disabilities to use the train. The platforms should also come in handy for those with carriages and others.
Some in town have been working toward this goal for more than a decade (we’ve been writing about it since at least 2018). It was announced this past summer that $500,000 in federal accessibility funding secured by Congresswoman Katherine Clark would make completion of the $3M project early this year a reality.
Mini-high platforms allow for level boarding at two cars of the train. Those being installed at Wellesley Square will be connected to the low-level platforms by a ramp. Riders will position themselves on the mini-high platform before the train arrives, and the operator will then provide assistance.
Work on the commuter rail parking lots and sidewalks is scheduled for completion this spring to improve the route between the two platforms.
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This is a game changer for me and for the environment. Now I can use my electric vehicle to ride another electric vehicle into Boston.
Hopefully it runs well. It will likely be cut by the current Federal Admin. for upkeep but hopefully forward looking and intelligent Massachusetts will set aside maintenance costs for the sites rather than the trains. I began advocating for this with Select Board in Wellesley about 20 years ago… the excuses were so polite but so flawed – the other ableist projects were more important – though noone used the words ableist. Ableism is akin to racism – it keeps people out and segregated. The latter is a category of destructive policies of some town governments that has been made the custom of the land. For those who cannot see change; think about your own mobility about 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years down the path of life!
Let’s see how long these train platforms last. Not much else does on the MBTA.