Wachusett (MBTA station)

WACHUSETT
The first revenue train at Wachusett station in September 2016
Location	55 Authority Drive Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°33′12″N 71°50′52″W / 42.5534°N 71.8477°W / 42.5534; -71.8477Coordinates: 42°33′12″N 71°50′52″W / 42.5534°N 71.8477°W / 42.5534; -71.8477
Line(s)	Fitchburg Line
Platforms	800-foot high-level side platform
Tracks	3 (2 mainline plus 1 station siding)
Connections	MART: Gardner-Wachusett Commuter, Intermodal-Wachusett-Great Wolf Shuttle Wachusett Mountain shuttle bus (Winter only)
Construction
Parking	360 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	September 30, 2016
Traffic
Passengers (upon opening)	400 daily (forecast)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Terminus Fitchburg Line Fitchburg toward North Station

Wachusett is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line. It is northwest of the intersection of Massachusetts Route 2 and Route 31 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. It serves as the northwestern terminus for Fitchburg Line trains. The opening of Wachusett extended service 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west from Fitchburg on the Pan Am Southern main line, lengthening the Fitchburg Line to 54 miles (87 km). The station is expected to draw 400 daily riders.

After years of planning and discussion, work on the station began with site preparation in December 2012. Construction began in mid-2013. The station opened for limited weekday service on September 30, 2016 to satisfy the terms of the federal grant that funded it; full service began on November 21, 2016. At 54 miles (87 km) from North Station, Wachusett is the outermost MBTA station in Massachusetts; only Wickford Junction in Rhode Island is further from Boston.

The station is the successor to a pair of former stations on the Fitchburg Railroad which opened as part of the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad in 1851.

Westminster station, serving Westminster, Massachusetts, was located on Bartherick Road off State Road (MA 2A), about a mile west of the new station site. Service to the station ended around 1945.

Wachusett station (sometimes styled as Wachusetts) was located south of Princeton Road (MA 31) in the Crockerville section of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, about half a mile east of the new station. Service to Wachusett station lasted until 1960, when all passenger service west of Fitchburg was terminated by the Boston & Maine Railroad. The derelict freight depot, located just south of the station, was demolished in 2005 or 2006.