busway. East of the busways is a surface parking lot. History Railroad stations The Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M) opened its new mainline just west of Sullivan Square on July 1, 1845. The parallel Grand Junction Railroad and Depot Company opened in 1849; passenger service on that line began on April 10, 1854 as the Eastern Railroad's entrance to Boston. Both railroads opened stations at Sullivan Square, both variously known as Somerville and East Somerville, with the beginning of passenger service or soon after. (While the stations were in Charlestown, they primarily served nearby Somerville. By 1875, the B&M station was located on the north side of Cambridge Street, with the Eastern station on the south side. The B&M acquired the Eastern in 1885 and initially continued to use both stations. The wide grade crossing of Cambridge Street was a perennial safety issue, with 677 trains crossing the street each day. When electric streetcars were added on the street in 1895, they had to detour via neighborhood streets to use the Main Street (Broadway) bridge. In October 1895, the Massachusetts Superior Court issued orders to eliminate remaining grade crossings in Charlestown. Initial plans in 1896 called for Cambridge Street and Perkins Street to be cut at the tracks, with Brighton Street extended to Main Street, but this was unpopular with residents. Construction began in mid-1900 on a more popular solution: Cambridge Street was raised onto a bridge over the tracks, Perkins Street was cut, with a footbridge in its place. As part of the project, the B&M constructed a new East Somerville station to replace the older stations. The station building was located over the tracks on the north side of Cambridge Street; two island platforms were reached by stairs from the station building and from the Perkins Street footbridge. The station opened for suburban traffic by June 1901, while the Cambridge Street bridge was completed that July. The station building was closed in 1927 as short-distance passenger traffic declined, and was soon demolished. In February 1932, with just a few trains a day stopping, the railroad successfully petitioned the Public Utilities Commission to abandon the station entirely. However, the station remained in use, served by a small number of trains on both the Eastern Division and Western Division. On April 18, 1958, the Boston and Maine Railroad received permission from the Public Utilities Commission to drastically curtail its suburban