Brookline Village station

Light rail station in Brookline, Massachusetts, US

Brookline Village station is a light rail station on the MBTA Green Line D branch, located in the Brookline Village neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, United States. It was originally a commuter rail station on the Boston and Albany Railroad's Highland branch; it closed with the rest of the line in 1958 and reopened on July 4, 1959 as a light rail station.

The first horsecar line to reach Brookline Village was a branch of the Tremont Street line, which opened on October 26, 1859 from Roxbury Crossing to slightly northwest of Brookline Village along Washington Street. A branch from Brookline Village to Cypress Street on Pill Hill opened around 1888. Both lines were electrified on August 4, 1894. The Washington Street branch was extended to on September 1; this allowed through service from Reservoir, and – after August 1896 – Two additional lines were added in July 1900: a branch on Harvard Street to (with through service to , and the Ipswich Street line on Brookline Avenue. The Ipswich Street line was extended to Chestnut Hill in late 1900, and the Boston and Worcester Street Railway (B&W) began running on the Chestnut Hill tracks in May 1903. Even before the completion of the lines in 1900, the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) noted the need for improved transfer facilities in Brookline Village. Residents and local politicians petitioned for improved facilities in 1904 and 1908. A transfer station in the middle of the square was finally built in 1912 during road widening. It had two side platforms, with shelters similar to those at Coolidge Corner. The Washington Street line was converted to bus in 1926. As construction of the Worcester Turnpike progressed eastward, the B&W was replaced by buses in June 1932, followed by the Chestnut Hill branch that November.

In June 1957, the Massachusetts Legislature approved the purchase of the Highland branch by the M. T. A. from the nearly bankrupt New York Central Railroad for conversion to a trolley line. Service ended on May 31, 1958. The line was quickly converted for trolley service, and the line including Brookline Village station reopened on July 4, 1959. The station has two side platforms serving the line's two tracks.

In the early 2000s, the MBTA modified key surface stops with raised platforms for accessibility as part of the Light Rail Accessibility Program. Portable lifts were installed at Brookline Village around 2000 as a temporary measure, though it was not modified with raised platforms in 2002 03 as other stations were. During the Brookline Village/Longwood Avenue Station Renovation Project, the MBTA reconstructed and Brookline Village stations for accessibility. The two stations received raised platforms to interface with low floor LRVs, wooden ramps to access older high floor LRVs, and other upgrades. Work on both stations began on July 23, 2007, and construction was completed in the second quarter of 2009.