Historically, there was no station on the site where the modern station now exists.. The nearest stations were Hebronville, 2 miles to the east, and Pawtucket/Central Falls an equal distance to the west. Hebronville closed long before the MBTA era, while Pawtucket/Central Falls closed on February 20, 1981 when Rhode Island stopped funding commuter rail service to Providence. In August 1987, the MBTA approved plans to build a new station at South Attleboro to relieve crowding at Attleboro station. Commuter service returned to Providence on February 1, 1988, but the Pawtucket/Central Falls station remained closed. The planned South Attleboro station site at Route 1A was located less than a mile east of the point where the line entered Rhode Island - thus allowing the MBTA to reach the Pawtucket/Central Falls market without a second stop in Rhode Island, which Rhode Island did not wish to pay for - and offered room for a parking lot whereas the downtown Pawtucket location did not. The $3 million station was completed in September 1988; however, the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board refused to letthe station open. The station did not meet state requirements for accessibility; the footbridge had only stairs and no ramps, and no high-level platforms had been built. The MAAB insisted on full-length high-level platforms, while the MBTA wished to build cheaper -long "mini-high" platforms. The MBTA's appeal of the MAAB ruling had system-wide impliciations, particularly for the then-inaccessible Green Line. A judge ruled in favor of the MBTA, which constructed mini-high platforms and ramps to the footbridge. In March 1990, the MBTA and MAAB reached an agreement under which existing mini-high platforms would be extended to long, and would be installed at all commuter rail stations by 1997. South Attleboro station ultimately opened on June 20, 1990. The station was the weekend terminus of the line until June 29, 2006, when Rhode Island began funding weekend service to Providence. In the 2010 Northeast CorridorMaster Plan, Amtrak indicated long-term plans to add two outer station sidings and high-level platforms to South Attleboro, allowing Amtrak trains to pass stopped MBTA trains. More immediately, portions of the station are in poor condition, with a 2012 report indicating that two sets of stairs were closed due to rust damage. Although the station has mini-high platforms for level boarding, certain ADA-required elements such as tactile platform edges are missing. MBTA plans for a $4.9 million renovation, which would not have fixed the footbridge, were criticized by local officials. In November 2019, $4 million for design of a more extensive renovation was approved by the MBTA Fiscal Management Board. The project will include a new footbridge with elevators, an improved bus stop, and changes to the parking lot. Design work began in April 2020 and is expected to last 18 months. Some repairs may be made in the interim.
Bus connections
Until recently, South Attleboro had no bus connections. By federal law, bus systems like RIPTA that receive federal funds usually cannot cross state lines; thus, despite demand, RIPTA could not run directly to the station. In 2009, the agency considered building a $300,000 bus turnaround for the 77 route just over the Rhode Island border. In 2013, RIPTA began a two-year-long systemwide reorganization that includes combining, rerouting, and simplifying numerous bus routes; one specific objective of the project was to secure federal permission to run directly to South Attleboro. As part of this, two routes now terminate directly at the station:
: Eddy/Hope/Benefit
: Rumford
Although South Attleboro is within the GATRAservice area, it has no close connections with GATRA routes. The nearest GATRA service is local bus routes 11 and 24, which run to downtown Pawtucket on Washington Street, a mile to the west.
