Mansfield (MBTA station)

Mansfield is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Providence/Stoughton Line, located in downtown Mansfield, Massachusetts. With 1,707 weekday inbound riders in a 2013 count, Mansfield is the fifth-busiest station on the system.With mini-high platforms on both tracks, Mansfield is fully handicapped accessible. Large parking lots are available west of the tracks, with limited parking including accessible spots next to the station building east of the tracks.HistoryThe Boston and Providence Railroad opened through Mansfield in 1835, with a flat-roofed depot built near the modern station site. The Taunton Branch Railroad opened the next year; through cars operated to New Bedford soon after the New Bedford and Taunton Railroad opened in 1840, though the service was not suitable for commuters until 1885. The Mansfield and Framingham Railroad opened in 1870 as part of the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg Railroad; it was merged into the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad in 1876 which itself became part of the Old Colony Railroad system in 1883 as the Old Colony's entrance to northern Massachusetts.