Boston South Station is an entryway to the city for Amtrak passengers, commuter rail riders, and airline passengers from Logan Airport via the Silver Line. Unfortunately, the station is an uninviting, warehouse looking building.
Look at other train stations around the Northeast. New York City’s Grand Central Terminal, Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, Washington DC’s Union Station, and even look outside of the region at Chicago’s Union Station. These are all gorgeous station buildings, while Boston is stuck with this crap:
Note: it used to be even darker than the above photo during the peak of construction, with no natural light at all from ahead, as it was all boarded up.
The City of Boston, along with the MBTA, is currently working on much-needed renovations for this station, and I was able to see some of the project upon arrival the other day.
First, we have the new South Station Tower, a mixed-use skyscraper with offices and condos. The building stands at 678 feet, or 206 meters. Boston has a cap on skyscraper height, so you typically won’t see tall buildings like you’d do in say, New York City.
I’ll admit, I was a bit disappointed at first when I saw this building. I was just expecting something grander when I heard “new skyscraper.”
Underneath the new skyscraper is the same old station. Inside this building is the dark waiting area I showed a couple of photos above.
My understanding is that the interior of the station building will largely be left untouched from this renovation; it has more to do with the transportation, platform areas of the station.
Once you step outside the terminal building towards the Amtrak and MBTA commuter rail platforms though, it’s like a completely different world. The area is well-lit with high ceilings and includes warm, lighter colors on the walls. There’s plenty of natural light as well.
There’s a good amount of space to handle the high amount of traffic during rush hours of passengers waiting for their trains.
I like the large platform numbers above. It’s definitely more of a utilitarian design, but I’m okay with it. It’s simple and easy to navigate, which helps make it feel clean.
For comparison, above is what the same area by the platforms used to look like. The previous warehouse feel to this place is no more.
The left side (when facing the platforms) of this area was still blocked off. It looks like this will expand further.
I also found a screen with departure information, which looked very temporary. Makes me think that the station will get a bigger, more permanent screen somewhere else eventually.
I like these arches as well, which really helps with giving an open feel to the area.
Note that fare gates are coming to this area of the station soon. I’m not sure where they’ll place them, and I’m curious to know if it’ll be right by the platforms, or further out by the station building, or somewhere else.
These photos above are new entrances to the bus terminal, which drop you right in the new concourse area. This actually makes me think that the new fare gates will be located right as you enter each platform, unless they also add fare gates upstairs in the bus terminal, which I can’t imagine them doing (if this were the case, passengers who aren’t connecting from the bus to Amtrak/commuter rail have to go out to the street).
I don’t think the Amtrak boarding process will change much wherever the new fare gates are, but it’ll be interesting to see how it handles crowds during commuter rail rush hour.
All in all, I’m liking how this part of South Station is turning out. It’s no New York Grand Central or Chicago Union Station, but the simple, high ceiling, and utilitarian design give a more open feeling that this station has been lacking. Renovations are still a work in progress, but it’s looking good. I’ll have to come back when the fare gates and the new entrances to the bus terminal open, which is expected “summer of 2025.”
The inside of the station is still quite dirty and depressing though, and as of now, there are no plans for renovations to take place there. My advice is that if you need to use the bathroom at this station, head upstairs to the bus terminal.
All photos taken by the author.
