Falmouth (Massachusetts) railway station

Infobox Station
name= Falmouth railway station


image_size=
image_caption=
address= Depot Avenue
Falmouth, Massachusetts
coordinates=
line= Old Colony Railroad
platform=Yes
parking=Yes
bicycle=Yes
passengers=0
pass_year=
pass_percent=
opened=1850s
rebuilt=1989
ADA=
code=
owned=
zone=
services=bus station, rail trail

The original Falmouth railway station was located on Depot Avenue in Falmouth, Massachusetts. It was demolished in the 1960s.

Failed passenger service

Freight service to Falmouth ceased in 1989, when the Cape Cod and Hyannis Railroad truncated rail service back to North Falmouth. That same year, a new station was built when commuter service was proposed by the commonwealth of Massachusetts in order to ease traffic congestion in the seasonally popular town. At the time, the remainder of the rail line between Falmouth and Woods Hole had been converted to the Shining Sea Bikeway, so Falmouth remained the proposed terminus. [ [http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=BGN099-012/ trails.com] ]

Falmouth rail service remained a hotly debated topic for nearly two decades, as the housing boom of the 1990s and 2000s took hold. With a brand new station in Falmouth (that, interestingly, never saw a single passenger) waiting in the wings, resumption of passenger and freight service seemed to be on the horizon. However, though pro-rail advocates protested, citing high gasoline prices, the pro-rail trail advocates had the ear of local government officials. [http://www.town.falmouth.ma.us/depart.php?depkey=bike/ town.falmouth.ma.us] ] In June 2008, the railway between Falmouth and North Falmouth (a distance of eight miles) was officially abandoned, and the tracks were removed shortly thereafter. [ [http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=126&t=51685/ Falmouth to lose track] ]

Bus terminal and rail trail

The current Falmouth train station still stands. The station platform currently serves as a bus depot for Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority passengers. The station will eventually host cyclists in the summer of 2009.

See also

* List of Stations of the Old Colony Railroad on Cape Cod

References