North Station
 upright Chelsea
 up Malden
 upleft West Medford
 left Porter Sq
 
Green Line
Orange Line
down 
 Downeaster   Woburn/Anderson, MA next stop to theup 
Home<Boston MBTA<Commuter Rail<Fitchburg Line<North Station
Home<Boston MBTA<Commuter Rail<Haverhill Line<North Station
Home<Boston MBTA<Commuter Rail<Lowell Line<North Station
Home<Boston MBTA<Commuter Rail<Newburyport/Rockport Line<North Station
Home<Amtrak·Boston<Downeaster<Boston - North Station, MA

Boston North Station is slightly smaller and less impressive counterpart to its grand second Boston Station South Station on the southern side of downtown. These two stations are completely separated from each other and proposals to build a north-south rail link have been rejected due to cost. This makes the Amtrak Downeaster the only line that is completely segregated from the rest of the Amtrak system. Amtrak will sell you a ticket from a Maine/New Hampshire destination to any station in the Amtrak System; you will just have to take a 'self-transfer' as the reservation system blocks it via taxi or the Orange Line (via Back Bay) at your own expense between stations. It also gives MBTA Commuter Rail two completely separate non-connected operations between north and south. There is a slow and complicated routing around Boston that is used by MBTA and Amtrak for equipment moves.

The passengers amenities at North Station itself are quite small for a downtown terminus. Its waiting area, small ticket office, and a few restaurants/concessions are located in a shared lobby with the Boston Garden that is above it. These in turn lead to doors out to the ten station tracks (5 island platforms) where the trains end at this dead-end station beginning at bumper-blocks. Most of the platform lengths are exposed to the elements except for those right near the station entrance due to the Boston Garden Above, there are highway overpasses (ramps to I-93 that cross above the tracks). All trains run with their locomotives on the away from Boston end of the trains (Amtrak as well, using a Cabbage former F40 NPCU control unit at the other end) to avoid diesel fumes beneath the Garden.
Photos 1-11 taken on 23 August, 2009, 12-19 on 15 December, 2011, 20-29 on 10 August, 2013, 30-52: 22 August, 2013, 53-55: 3 August, 2014

Page 1|Page 2|Page 3
north_station1
Getting off the Downeaster
north_station2
A platform sign on track 9
north_station3
Passengers leave the Amfleets of the Downeaster
north_station4
Approaching the Downeasters Cabbage Car
north_station5
Cabbage (Non-Powered Control Unit) #90220 has in Downeaster Livery, just arrived in Boston
north_station6
A small add to 'Take the train to Maine' at the exit of the Downeaster platform
north_station7
The modern LED display board for both MBTA and Amtrak trains, its a weekend so service is light
north_station8
The modern bullets for the entrances to tracks 9 and 10
north_station9
The small ticket counter and office. There not Amtrak tickets but Downeaster tickets (they look the same as regular Amtrak tickets)
north_station10
The small concourse at North Station
north_station11
An entrance to the Boston Garden directly in North Station
north_station12
The track and platform entrances
north_station13
TD Garden signage dominates that for North Station with just a small sign to the exit to Causeway Street
north_station14
north_station15
north_station16
The main waiting area
north_station17
Doors into the station, a display lists the tracks of the next commuter rail departures via train number, not time
north_station18
The west entrance to North Station
north_station19
The walkway to the west entrance to North Station beyond some garden ticket windows
north_station20
Getting off the Downeaster on Track 9
Page 1|Page 2|Page 3
Home<Amtrak·Boston<Downeaster<Boston - North Station, MA
Home<Boston MBTA<Commuter Rail<Fitchburg Line<North Station
Home<Boston MBTA<Commuter Rail<Haverhill Line<North Station
Home<Boston MBTA<Commuter Rail<Lowell Line<North Station
Home<Boston MBTA<Commuter Rail<Newburyport/Rockport Line<North Station
MBTA Gommuter Rail on the SubwayNut Amtrak

Last Updated: 7 July, 2011
This website is not affiliated with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Their official website is here
This Website is maintained and copyright © 2011, Jeremiah Cox. Please do not remote link images or copy them from this website without permission.