Taunton (Amtrak station)

Taunton
The 1986-built platform photographed in December 2014
Location	2-10 Oak Street, Taunton, MA 02780
Line(s)	Cape Codder
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
History
Opened	August 1836 (NB&TRR) 1986 (Amtrak)
Closed	1958 (New Haven) 1996 (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station Providence toward New York City Cape Codder (1986-1996) Wareham toward Hyannis Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad Attleboro Terminus Attleboro Branch (1988) Wareham toward Hyannis or Falmouth

Taunton was a passenger rail station located south of Oak Street in downtown Taunton, Massachusetts. As Taunton Central Station, it served local and Boston-focused routes from 1836 to 1958. A later station at the same site served Amtrak's Cape Codder from 1986 to 1996, and Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad commuter trains in 1988.

The New Bedford and Taunton Railroad opened from Mansfield to Taunton in August 1836 - one of the first branch lines in the state. Its Taunton Central Station was located between Oak Street and Wales Street, surrounded by the Taunton Locomotive Manufacturing Company and Mason Machine Works.

The line passed to the Old Colony Railroad in 1879 and the New Haven Railroad in 1893. The New Haven operated passenger service by various routes to Taunton until 1958.

A new station nearby was built for Amtrak's Cape Codder service from 1986 to 1996. Located off Oak Street next to the GATRA Bloom Bus Terminal (where a ticket counter was located), the station consisted of a single bare asphalt platform serving the single track.

Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad commuter trains stopped at the station on Attleboro-Cape Cod runs in 1988.

As of 2014^[update] the 1980s-built platform is still extant, though partially covered by vegetation, and the old ticket window could be seen in the Bloom Bus Station that served as the terminal, until a renovation in 2015.