BOSTON – The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has opened two new stations on the B Branch of its Green Light Rail Line, marking completion of its $29 million B Branch Station Consolidation Project. Riders on the agency’s Green Line can now board trains via new accessible platforms compatible with low-floor vehicles and improved stations. The project was completed ahead of schedule by several weeks, with crews working 24/7 for seven weeks. In addition to the station, work crews were able to upgrade two intersections and renew 5,000 feet of track.
The newly opened stations combined the old St. Paul Street and BU West Stations into one station — Amory Street Station — and the old Babcock Street and Pleasant Street Stations into one station — also called Babcock Street Station. With the completion of the project, four inaccessible stops have been consolidated into two accessible stations for riders of all abilities.
During construction, MBTA implemented strategies to minimize noise disruptions to the nearby Boston University neighborhood. A 24/7 noise hotline was also available to report noise issues. MBTA provided alternative service during nights and weekends from February to November 2021 and paused construction for major campus events and all Boston University Commencements.
The new stations include longer, low-level platforms in both directions. These new platforms are 225 feet long, which enables them to fit a two-car train of the newly designed Type 10 “supercars” currently on procurement. MBTA expects to award a Notice to Proceed for construction of the new Type 10 cars next year with the first pilot car anticipated to be in Boston by 2026. The new stations also feature 150-foot-long canopies at each new platform, accessible walkways, new communications and security systems, safety barriers to protect riders on platforms from traffic, lighting, signage, new benches, and additional station elements.
The B Branch, also called the Commonwealth Avenue Branch or Boston College Branch, operates on Commonwealth Avenue west of downtown Boston and is one of four branches of the Green Line.
The Boston Green Line started as part of the streetcar system, except Riverside which was a B&A steam railroad line. This is why it is of lighter construction than the other colors. The A Line (Watertown) was mostly street running and never fit in with the rest of the Green Line.
The Blue Line was the 3 foot gauge Boston Revere Beach & Lynn RR (electric) on the surface, and reaches Boston via an old streetcar tunnel. This is rapid transit but the cars must be streetcar sized. EBT in Orbisonia PA bought some BRB&L cars.
The Orange Line started as an elevated line (Boston Elevated Railway) and gradually moved underground and relocated/extended. Its cars are about the size of NY’s IRT lines or Philadelphia’s Market-Frankford Line.
The Red Line started as the Cambridge-Dorchester Subway with large cars the size of Brooklyn’s BMT or NY’s IND Lines, or Philadelphia’s Broad Street Line or PATCO Line. It has been extended.
Mr. Mulligan, why do you say the Watertown Line “never fit in…”? Besides operating on the same Comm Ave median as the B-Train (yeah I know this is MBTA, not New York City Subway) did not the Watertown trains also operate in the subway to Park Street and/or Gov’t. Center?
The four miles of street-running, in mixed traffic, made the A branch slow and unreliable. And as there was a shortage of PCC cars that ran on the rest of the Green Line, the T needed them elsewhere. There was also an awkward against-traffic crossing of the Mass Pike. It was “temporarily” bus-substituted in 1969, and the line never re-opened for passenger service. Not unlike the outer end of the E-Arborway line, which also had a big chunk of street-running. The E line still gets caught up in street-running traffic on Huntington Ave. to this day, on it’s way to the current Heath Street terminal.
I’ve read that the death of the A was triggered/accelerated by the Mass Turnpike Boston Extension opening in 1965. Express buses from Watertown to downtown Boston via the turnpike were much faster than the A line could ever be. And it was also faster for riders along the A line to reverse to Watertown and catch the express bus than ride the A for its entire length. Once the A line was closed, buses could effectively handle the local riders on the former A line. Trolley maintenance was still conducted in the Watertown shops into the early 90s. I was surprised one night in the early 90s to see a Boeing waiting to enter the B line at the A/B junction.
EASY! A used to be Watertown SQ via Brighton Ave. But ripped up.
B-Boston College
C-Cleveland Cr.
D Riverside (Guess it just came next)
E Arborway, before the cut back. Used to operate to Forest Hills
trivia — why do Green Line routes start with the letter “B” not the letter “A”
This station consolidation seems to be a worthwhile effort to speed up service without making the stops so far apart so as to turn off riders. But I want to know, if the MBTA is seriously interested in speeding up service system-wide on the Green Line, when are they going to invest in the deployment of a traffic preemption system. It’s not like that’s an unproven technology. Green Line trains waiting at traffic lights just like the motorists alongside them on Comm Ave is, from my experience, the biggest by far cause of the slow running.
b/c one can’t simply paste trolley car pre-emption onto traffic signal / intersection design engineering out of the 1920’s, there’s a bit more too it than that ….. it’s not like Boston is Phoenix
Thanks for that insight, Charles. Never thought of that. Wow!
Hope they continue the upgrades. Used to live off Beacon St. The C Cleveland Circle stations could use some work. I used to live at Washington Sq. That station was renewed.
The entirety of the Green Line could use some work. I mean, a whole lot of work. The D-Riverside line built on the cheap after the Korean War needs a serious upgrade, like I mean, start-over. The difference between the four lines (excluding Silver) is profound. The Red Line at the top, the Blue and Orange Lines in the middle, the Green Line way down at the bottom.
Readers who haven’t been in Boston might be unpleasantly surprised at the Green Line passing itself off as rail transit. And conversely pleasantly surprised at how good the Red Line is. (Is it the one-time Quincy resident in me gloating? Yeah, it is.)
MBTA is a lesson in how expensive transit is. The Quincy – Braintree Red Line extension was superb when it was built – almost 50 years ago. The amount of rehabilitating and rebuilding since then is staggering.