Ayer station

Ayer
Platforms at Ayer, looking westward, in July 2021
General information
Location	70 Main Street (Routes 2A/111) Ayer, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°33′32.63″N 71°35′22.82″W / 42.5590639°N 71.5896722°W / 42.5590639; -71.5896722
Line(s)	Fitchburg Route CSX Worcester Main Line Greenville Branch
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	3
Construction
Parking	180 spaces
Other information
Fare zone	8
History
Opened	December 1845
Closed	January 18–June 28, 1965 March 1, 1975–January 13, 1980[1]
Rebuilt	1848, 1895-96, c. 1970, 1980
Passengers
2018	276 (weekday average boardings)[2]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station Shirley toward Wachusett Fitchburg Line Littleton/Route 495 toward North Station
Former services Preceding station Boston and Maine Railroad Following station Shirley toward Fitchburg Boston – Fitchburg Littleton toward Boston Fitchburg toward Troy Boston – Troy Harvard toward Worcester Worcester – Nashua Groton toward Nashua Worcester – Lowell Willows toward Lowell
Location

Ayer station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station located off Main Street (Route 2A/111) in the Ayer Main Street Historic District of Ayer, Massachusetts. It serves the Fitchburg Line. There are three tracks through the station, two of which are served by a pair of low-level side platforms, which are not accessible. There is a shelter on the inbound platform.

Ayer has been a major railroad interchange since the Fitchburg Railroad opened through South Groton in 1845, followed by the Stony Brook Railroad, Worcester and Nashua Railroad, and Peterborough and Shirley Railroad in 1848. The original depot was replaced with a union station with a large trainshed in 1848. Land speculation and industrial development spurred by the railroad access expanded the tiny farm village into the independent town of Ayer.

A new station was constructed in 1896. By 1900, the town was served by five lines all controlled by the Boston and Maine Railroad, with service to Boston, Worcester, and Lowell plus New York, New Hampshire, and Maine. Passenger service ended on all of the lines except the Fitchburg mainline between 1931 and 1961. After a brief disruption in early 1965, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority began subsidizing commuter rail service to Ayer as part of what would become the Fitchburg Line. The station and part of the line was closed in 1975, but reopened in 1980. CSX Transportation also runs freight trains through the town to various destinations.

Planning began in 2003 for a parking structure to serve park-and-ride commuters at the station. After delays caused by disagreements with a property owner, the property to ensure a public access route to the station was acquired by the town in June 2016, allowing the parking expansion to proceed. The garage opened in 2019, with improvements to the station entrance constructed in 2020–21.