page_title: Brockton station (MBTA)
section_title: Grade crossing elimination
hierarchical_section_title: Brockton station (MBTA) / History / Grade crossing elimination
caption_attribution_description: Brockton station is located partially on this viaduct over Massachusetts State Route 27
context_page_description: Brockton is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Brockton, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Middleborough/Lakeville Line and is a stop on the CapeFLYER seasonal line. The station consists of a single full-length high-level platform which is fully handicapped accessible. It is located adjacent to the BAT Centre, the primary hub for Brockton Area Transit Authority local bus service.
  The first station in the town opened in 1846 on the Fall River Railroad. The railroad helped Brockton grow into a major manufacturing center. In the 1890s, Brockton was the site of the state's first major grade crossing elimination program, which included the construction of a massive stone viaduct and a pair of station buildings designed by Bradford Gilbert. Passenger service ended in 1959, and the station was demolished during an urban renewal program in the 1960s. After two decades of planning, the modern station was opened for commuter rail service by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in 1997.
context_section_description: On June 21, 1890, the Massachusetts General Court passed An Act to Promote the Abolition of Grade Crossings, which allowed town officials or a railroad company to petition the state superior court to create an independent commission to determine whether a grade crossing could and should be eliminated. The costs of such eliminations were to be paid 65% by the railroad, not more than 10% by the town, and the remainder by the state.
  The small local cost provided towns incentive to petition for crossing eliminations to prevent public thoroughfares from being blocked by trains. Numerous municipalities soon agitated for crossing eliminations, with Brockton's April 1891 petition the first of the lot. Shortly before then, the Old Colony Railroad announced plans to replace the aging and undersized Brockton station with a more appropriate structure. The station design was well-received, but its at-grade design – which would have precluded crossing eliminations – was seen as a threat to the economic future of the city. Brockton then had no fire station east of the railroad, adding fire safety concerns to the more widespread issue of pedestrian safety. Frequent delays for fire engines responding to calls caused higher insurance rates and lower land values in the eastern part of the city.
  The 1890 law had only authorized municipalities to eliminate crossings with public roads; however, many crossings in Brockton were private roads that the city did not have the right to modify. On June 15, 1892, the General Court authorized Brockton to include private roads in its grade separation project. 
  As the petition to consider elimination of all grade crossings in the city was under way, city engineer F. Herbert Snow prepared a preliminary plan. The proposal called for tracks to be raised and streets lowered through the city center, and the tracks lowered and streets raised in the Campello village to the south. Brockton station and Montello station to the north would be completely replaced and relocated, while Campello station would be replaced on its existing site. The railroad was initially opposed to the expense of the plan; however, city engineers made a convincing case that grade separation would only be more expensive in the future, and the two parties reached an agreement in June 1893. The New Haven Railroad leased the Old Colony Railroad in 1893 and continued with the project. The Massachusetts Board of Railroad Commissioners approved the grade separation project on April 21, 1894, allowing construction to proceed.
  Snow oversaw the design and construction of the project until its completion. The final quadruple-tracked stone viaduct was 0.7 miles (1.1 km) long, with stone arch bridges spanning five downtown streets; seven new bridges over the railroad were built near Montello and Campello. A total of 9,000 feet (2,700 m) of track was raised up to 15 feet (4.6 m); an additional 5,100 feet (1,600 m) was lowered up to 12 feet (3.7 m). A pair of massive stone passenger stations were constructed north of Centre Street in Brockton, with a smaller station pairs at Campello and Montello – each with a pedestrian tunnel connecting the two buildings. The stations were designed by Bradford Gilbert, who had previously designed a number of other Old Colony stations including those still standing at Bridgewater, Canton Junction, and North Abington. The pair of Brockton stations was built of Milford pink granite with brown trim and slate roofs in the Richardsonian Romanesque style then common for railroad stations in the area. A platform next to each building served the outer tracks, while the inner pair of tracks was fenced off to allow express trains to safely pass at speed. The western two tracks and stations were constructed first, allowing service to continue without interruption on existing tracks until that half of the modified tracks were completed. A massive new freight yard was constructed just north of downtown Brockton; smaller yards were built at Montello and Campello to handle local freight.
  The grade separation and station construction
caption: The bridge over Court Street, one of five massive stone arch bridges built during the grade crossing elimination project
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX L3v1.2", "Image DateTime": "2006:12:09 15:08:43", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "284", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4596", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5719", "EXIF ExposureTime": "10/2543", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:12:09 15:08:43", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:12:09 15:08:43", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "768", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1026", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}