Service past Manchester was discontinued on January 28, 1965, along with the outer sections of the Fitchburg Line and Central Mass Branch.

(All lines running north and west of Newburyport were abandoned by 1984, leaving no route to move equipment to the rest of the northside.)

A shuttle train was run from Rockport to Beverly until January 7, 1985, when it was replaced by bus service.

Power available at the layover was insufficient to run locomotives, so they are forced to idle their diesel motors for long periods, causing noise pollution for surrounding properties.

[7] Pooles Lane, a minor local road, cuts through the facility at an unprotected crossing, which limits the length of trains that can be stored, interferes with operations, and creates frequently unsafe conditions.

[9] All would have closed the Pooles Lane crossing and created a new street entrance and larger parking lot in the existing layover yard space.

The Piggery Crossing layover alternatives minimized land-taking at the station area, but were more expensive and impacted a designated town historic space.

[9][10] In 2008, the MBTA began planning to implement Alternative A1, which would have created a modernized 4-track layover facility at the station with an engine shed to minimize noise from locomotives.

[14] However, design completion was delayed to January 2014 due to the need to place a substation inside, rather than guarded by a fence, and then to October 2014 by other matters.

[15][16] Although the project did not include an engine shed, new platform, or parking lot improvements, it was specifically designed not to preclude them and the MBTA can add those elements later if funding becomes available.

Along with the electrical upgrade, it included paving of the parking lot and access road, installation of a tactile strip on the platform edge, and CATA signage.

[17][18] On April 29, 2020, service between West Gloucester and Rockport was indefinitely replaced by buses due to a failure of the old bridge.