The Newtonville MBTA station will undergo long-awaited renovations in the spring, but people who rely on the rail are still waiting to hear how the work will affect their commutes.

The MBTA announced in November 2024 that it would spend $50 million to renovate the Newtonville commuter rail station. The timeline called for the design to be finalized by late 2025, with construction to begin early in 2026.

The project website was updated last week to say that early construction work will start in spring 2026, after the Newton Beacon began inquiring into the progress. The most recent event listed on the site is from April 2024.

The transit authority hasn’t figured out whether it can keep the station open during construction, according to an MBTA spokesperson. The project schedule is still in development, so it’s not clear how long construction will take.

Meanwhile, the MBTA has scheduled a public meeting about the project at Newton City Hall on Dec. 11 at 6 p.m.

Some commuters have questions in the meantime.

“How long is the construction going to take, and does that mean that the station is going to be closed?” asked Jeff Pagliano, 50. “Or is it going to be something [like] we’re going to have to go to West Newton in order to access it?”

Pagliano commutes from the Newtonville station to the Back Bay station twice a week to attend a graduate program at Emerson College. Pagliano—“a big believer in public transportation”—said he relies heavily on the commuter rail to get to Boston. 

“If the train wasn’t here, I simply wouldn’t be able to do it,” he said.

Erin Green, 17, is at the station almost every weekday to get to Boston Day and Evening Academy in Roxbury. The station definitely needs an update, she said, but it’s “confusing” to not have dates for the construction.

“Right now, this is my only way to school,” she said. “If they are doing renovation, they should tell us when they’re doing it, so we can know how we’re getting back and forth.” 

Upgrades to the Newtonville station have been decades in the making, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller said in an interview, and the renovation will be a “game-changer for the city of Newton.” 

Fuller said it’s too early to know the exact construction management plan, but the MTBA is “very serious” about providing buses when train service is impacted.

“We’ll stay on top of that the next few years and make sure that people can continue to use the service, even if the station requires it to be shut down during the construction,” Fuller said. 

The station has two tracks and one low-level, single-side platform, which can be accessed only by a steep set of stairs. The renovation will make the station fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“As somebody who lives in Newtonville, I’ve always been just shocked by the stairs that you have to take to get down to the platform,” said Jonathan Yeo, chief operating officer of the city of Newton. “Even for the most fit, enabled person, there is a challenge, and it is something that is years and years overdue.”

The renovation will add two accessible, high-level platforms and elevators to reach the station, among other features including benches, canopies, bicycle racks and dedicated pick-up and drop-off areas. 

“All three of the stations in Newton are inaccessible and have infrequent service because they only have single platforms,” Fuller said. A second platform will allow for “regular, two-way transit, so that people can get in and out of Newton in either direction, all day, every day.” 

Better service is what commuters most want to see from the renovations.

Moira Orr-Mullane, 27, lives near the station and commutes from Newtonville to South Station two to three times a week to her job in human resources at a software company.

“If the commuter rail ran more frequently, that would be amazing,” Orr-Mullane said. “If you miss one, you have to wait, like, an hour. You have to plan it out really well.”

On weekdays, outbound and inbound trains stop at the Newtonville station 14 times a day—half as frequently as South Station, which sees 28 trains a day. The same is true of Newton’s other commuter rail stations, Auburndale and West Newton.

More popular stations like South Station and Back Bay are bound to have more service, but Newtonville sees two-thirds the service of stations in other Boston suburbs. By comparison, the train runs inbound from Natick Center and from Wellesley’s three stations 21 times a day, as of the 2025 fall and winter schedule. 

Alexis Armstrong, 27, said for the last few months, the train has consistently been at least 10 to 15 minutes late when she commutes to South Station to get to her job at a nonprofit. 

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, the scheduled 8:48 a.m. inbound train arrived in Newtonville about 15 minutes late. 

Armstrong said she’s in favor of service improvements but worries disruptions to service that might result from construction would impact her already-difficult commute.

“This is my only way to get to work,” said Armstrong, who lives in Watertown. “It’s already difficult, the schedules with the commuter line, and so any impact to the schedules would definitely impact my daily commute.”

Olivier Bouissou, 44, moved to Newton Highlands from Paris a year ago. Compared to the Paris Metro, he said Boston’s transit is “very bad.” He said he welcomes renovations to improve the service and comfort of the Newtonville station. 

“The station is freezing cold in the winter, and the trains are often late,” he said. “The more they can do, the better.”

Bouissou commutes from Newtonville Station to South Station four days a week to his job in the Seaport District. His alternative would be to take the Green Line from Newton Centre, adding a half hour to his commute. He said it’s important to know what the train’s service will be during construction. 

“If we could have that information by the end of the year or a couple of months before they start the real construction, that will be very helpful,” he said. 

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This story is part of a partnership between the Newton Beacon and the Boston University Department of Journalism.