A Bigger Badder Better North Station

The Celtics didn’t make the NBA playoffs. The Bruins didn’t make the NHL playoffs. So what’s happening at the TD BankNorth Garden? Not much. The action underneath the Garden is today’s news. Dan Grabauskas announced today that the commuter train platforms for Amtrak and the Commuter Rail will see a more than 100% increase in size by November. If completed this would be an amazing feat for the MBTA, which has been working on the Charles/MGH Red Line station for almost a year, and theoretically they’re working to restore the Arborway service on the Green Line, which was temporarily suspended 20 years ago (admittedly, this is a contentious issue we can’t really parallel – but we did anyway), and then there is the Silver Line…

Why the fast pace of the enlargement of the waiting area at North Station? South Station envy? Commitment to customer satisfaction? Perhaps. Realistically it’s because someone else will foot the bill for the project. The Delaware North Companies-Boston will pay for the improvements to North Station. After the Big Dig pushed the rapid transit lines fully underground at North Station and the commuter rail platform isn’t looking as flashy. The ownership group of the Garden is paying for the project because of their concern for their customers. When commuters converge with concert goers and sports fans North Station gets pretty jammed up. The project, set to be completed in November, will increase the platform by 20,000 sq. ft. by removing the end of the current tracks and pushing the existing landing back. The new area will feature 27 foot ceilings, quite a bit more roomy than the current 10 foot ceilings. Perhaps we’ll get a Sarah Sze installation to take up some of that overhead space.

Photo is “Station Photo” as linked from the MBTA website. Seems current, no?