Construction workers worked on accessibility upgrades at Natick Center Station (Photo by Jennifer Lambert)
It’s been five years since construction began on major accessibility updates at Natick Center Station, and commuters are still waiting for it to be done.
The MBTA is spending $40 million rebuilding the station with two new elevators, two accessible ramps and six stairways. The project was supposed to be completed in three years, but it has dragged on for five. The MBTA now says it should be done this year.
Riders, such as Jeff Richards, say they’ve been left in the dark.
“It’s just been painfully slow, and then when you ask, you get nothing,” said Richards, a longtime resident of Natick who has commuted daily on the train to Kendall Square for almost a decade.
Richards said he noticed during his daily commute that South Station’s renovations, which are nearing completion, have made significant progress.
“In that time, they built a skyscraper above South Station,” Richards said.
Once a loyal rider of the Natick Center stop, Richards now drives to West Natick because of the ongoing construction and limited train schedules.
“It was a 12-minute walk [to Natick Center], and I loved it,” Richards said.
Natick Center Station (Photo by Jennifer Lambert)
Jory Lucas, a Natick resident who takes the train into Boston about five nights a week, said that during construction it’s sometimes difficult to find what platform the train is coming in on.
“I’ve actually missed the train because of the wrong tracks,” he said. “You just constantly have to look at the MBTA app. You have to constantly keep an eye on it because it’s changing just nonstop. Now everybody stands on the bridge in Natick because they don’t know what side it’s coming on. Then when they see it, they all run to one side.”
Until this week, the MBTA had shared few public updates. After the Natick Report inquired about the lack of updates, the project’s webpage was updated Wednesday with a clearer timeline and more detailed information.
Here’s what you need to know about the delays in construction at Natick Center Station and what’s coming next:
The MBTA says the station will be completed this year.
Construction began in February 2020 and was estimated to conclude in 2023. More than five years later, the MBTA has updated its timeline to indicate that the train tracks will be shifted to their final location in early summer 2025, the new accessible platforms will come into service in late summer, and the project will be completed in early fall.
“The MBTA is proud to be upgrading stations across the system, including Natick Center Station, especially in an effort to improve accessibility. We are anticipating Natick Center Station to be open by the end of the year and we appreciate the community’s patience as we work to get to that point,” the agency wrote in a statement via email.
Lucas, who works as a builder at JMAC Development Corp., said he believes the project could be done by the end of 2025.
“I don’t just have the commuter perspective,” he said. “I also watch these guys work. These guys have stepped it up in the last three months, they’ve been non-stop … The way they’re going now, I could see it being done [by the end of the year].”
Delays were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and construction restrictions, according to the MBTA.
Within weeks of the project’s start date, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted labor availability and supply chains, resulting in setbacks that persisted long after the initial shutdown. The MBTA also designed the work to minimize interruptions to service on the Worcester Line, requiring crews to work around active train operations.
Instead of using weekend shutdowns, tasks were done overnight, which helped cut busing costs but extended the construction schedule. Keeping the station open to riders throughout the project also limited productivity.
Progress was also slowed by more specific issues, including a 2021 storm in Texas that knocked out the factory producing fiber-reinforced polymer–a modern material replacing concrete and rebar–for the station’s platforms.
Riders say the delays have upended their commutes, and they feel left out of the loop.
For Jeff Richards and others who have expressed frustration on social media, the biggest frustration is a lack of communication from the MBTA. He said the “bare minimum” would be transparency.
(Photo by Jennifer Lambert)
“It’s keeping their page up to date and being transparent about why they can’t maintain the schedule,” Richards said. “And I think with any references to COVID and supply chains, there has to be something that’s concrete. Who’s overseeing this? Why isn’t the T there every day? How many people are on the project? How much money has been spent on this? Those are the questions.”
The lack of communication, he said, weakens trust in a system he wants to believe in.
“I want the system to be awesome because I would rather be dragged by someone’s car on a hot day on the [Mass.] Pike than drive,” Richards said.
The project has been years in the making, long before construction began.
In a Facebook comment, Josh Ostroff, director of capital strategy for the MBTA, noted that accessibility planning for Natick Center Station began more than a decade ago. In 2012, the Natick Select Board approved $80,000 for a feasibility study and conceptual design at the station. That led to approval in 2016 and eventual construction approval. At the time, Natick Center was the busiest commuter rail station in the system that was still fully inaccessible.
The project will include major accessibility upgrades.
When completed, the station will include high-level platforms, elevators, ramps, canopies, bicycle parking, new signage and emergency lighting. It will also include a rebuilt pedestrian bridge.
Richards says he does not believe the project will be completed when the MBTA says it’s going to be.
“There’s so much that has to be done, and I just don’t see it being done by the end of this year,” he said. “I think it’s going to be more 2026 before that station’s open.”
This story is part of a partnership between the Natick Report and the Boston University Department of Journalism.