River Works (MBTA station)

RIVER WORKS
Inbound platform at River Works in April 2015
Location	1000 Western Avenue Lynn, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°27′N 70°58′W / 42.45°N 70.97°W / 42.45; -70.97Coordinates: 42°27′N 70°58′W / 42.45°N 70.97°W / 42.45; -70.97
Owned by	MBTA
Line(s)	Newburyport/Rockport Line
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Other information
Fare zone	2
History
Opened	September 9, 1965
Previous names	G.E. Works (until ca. 1980)
Traffic
Passengers (2013)	56 (daily inbound average)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Chelsea toward North Station Newburyport/Rockport Line Lynn toward Newburyport or Rockport

River Works (sometimes written Riverworks) is a passenger rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Newburyport/Rockport Line, located in West Lynn, Massachusetts. The station is only open to General Electric Aviation employees who work at the River Works plant. Trains only stop at River Works on weekdays. It is served by inbound trains in the morning and outbound trains in the evening for commuting plant workers, as well as trains in the opposite directions for reverse commuting workers.

River Works station is proposed to be opened to the public, made handicapped-accessible, and renamed to Lynnport as part of plans for a development on adjacent land. In May 2017, the developer reached an agreement with MassDOT, although financing had not yet been secured.

The station opened as G.E. Works on September 9, 1965 to serve workers of the plant, which had opened early in the century and been substantially expanded during World War II. The name was changed to River Works in the late 1970s. It did not appear on maps until the MBTA bought the northside commuter lines in 1976, and was listed only as a footnote on public timetables until January 1989.

River Works station has two bare concrete platforms with bus shelters to serve the line's two tracks; it is not handicapped accessible. The River Works plant formerly shipped large products like electrical transformers by rail; the two-track main line was flanked with running tracks which connected sidings serving the plant. The platforms are located on the outside of these former tracks; making the station accessible would require building platforms which would preclude future freight rail access.

The land east of the station was formerly home to General Electric's Gear Plant, which closed in 2011. Four years prior to the closure, the city upzoned the 77-acre (31 ha) site to allow buildings up to 20 stories high in hopes of attracting new commercial development. In July 2014, a developer reached an agreement with GE to buy 65.5 acres (26.5 ha) of the site. The developer, Charles Patsios, indicated that he planned to leave an easement for public access to the station.