MBTA fiscal control board OKs contract for new commuter-rail station

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) fiscal and management control board last week approved a contract with McCourt Construction Co. to build a new commuter-rail station in Boston's Mattapan neighborhood.

The Blue Hill Avenue Station will be the ninth station for the MBTA's Fairmount commuter-rail line. Riders will be able to travel from the station to downtown Boston in 20 minutes with no transfers, agency officials said in a press release.

The new station will be 6.5 miles from South Station and a quarter mile from Mattapan Square. The station design includes one center-island platform between Blue Hill Avenue and Cummins Highway, as well as two covered pedestrian ramps.

Expected to open in 2019, the station will feature canopies, closed circuit television, security cameras, new lighting, train approach warning systems and historical graphic panels.

Seven firms submitted bids for the project; McCourt's was the lowest at $16.79 million.

The MBTA last introduced a commuter-rail station in September 2016, when it opened the Wachusett Station on the Fitchburg Line.