page_title: Wachusett station
section_title: Layover yard controversy
hierarchical_section_title: Wachusett station / History / Funding and design / Layover yard controversy
caption_attribution_description: English: Wachusett Layover under construction in November 2015
context_page_description: 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 west from Fitchburg on the Pan Am Southern main line, lengthening the Fitchburg Line to 54 miles. 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 from North Station, Wachusett is the outermost MBTA station in Massachusetts; only Wickford Junction in Rhode Island is farther from Boston.
context_section_description: Although the station itself was not the subject of significant controversy, the proposed layover facility 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the west met with community opposition in Westminster over noise pollution effects. The layover, with six 1,000-foot (300 m) tracks, replaced a similar, smaller yard in East Fitchburg. Work on the layover began in late 2012; on December 28, 2012, the town issued a stop work order over allegations that the MBTA had not obtained the proper permits. In March 2013, the town filed a complaint to the Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation, alleging that delays in the project were a result of the MBTA misleading town officials rather than ordinary construction delays, and asking the DOT to stop work on the project pending an investigation. By early 2014, the MBTA proceeded with construction of the layover yard.
caption: Wachusett Layover under construction in November 2015
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SX150 IS", "Image XResolution": "1", "Image YResolution": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Not Absolute", "Image Software": "Hugin 2013.0.0.0d404a7088e6 built by Matthew Petroff", "Image DateTime": "2015:11:26 17:59:25", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "306", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "728", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2590", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:11:26 11:53:22", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:11:26 11:53:22", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "6883", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "6883", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2048", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "592", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "78688c3e96328897777c21bfb74538fd", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": ""}