Blue Line (MBTA)
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Boston_blue_line_station_airport.jpg
The Blue Line is one of the four subway lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It extends from Wonderland Station in Revere in the north to Bowdoin Street near Beacon Hill in Boston in the south. It meets the Green Line at Government Center and the Orange Line at State Street. It also provides mass-transit service to Logan International Airport. The line is designated "Blue" because for much of its length it uses the old Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad right-of-way along the seacoast in Revere and East Boston, and the tunnel to East Boston runs under water.
Blue Line cars are unique among rapid transit vehicles in Boston in that they use both third rail and overhead pantograph current pickup. The line switches between the two at the Logan Airport station where it transitions between running in a tunnel and running above ground. These cars are also shorter than otherwise similar ones running on the Orange Line, as the Blue Line (known as the East Boston Tunnel before the MBTA was formed) was initially designed to carry streetcars. The subway portion of the line was retrofitted with raised station platforms and rapid transit cars in the 1920s, with the surface portion between East Boston and Revere (known pre-MBTA as the Revere Extension) added in the 1950s.
There is currently (2005) a proposal to extend the Blue Line northward to Lynn, Massachusetts; the land to extend the line was purchased during initial construction, but due to budgetary constraints, Wonderland was designated the northern terminus. There is also a plan to extend the line's southern end west to Charles/MGH, where it would connect with the Red Line. This was one of the mitigation measures the Commonwealth of Massachusetts agreed to as part of the Big Dig.
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Station listing
| Station | Time to Government Center | Opened | Transfers and notes |
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| Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png Wonderland | 21 minutes | January 19, 1954 | former BRB&L station (as Bath House) |
| Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png Revere Beach | 19 minutes | January 19, 1954 | former BRB&L station (as Crescent Beach) |
| Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png Beachmont | 17 minutes | January 19, 1954 | former BRB&L station |
| Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png Suffolk Downs | 15 minutes | April 21, 1952 | former BRB&L station (as Belle Isle) |
| Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png Orient Heights | 13 minutes | January 5, 1952 | former BRB&L station |
| Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png Wood Island | 11 minutes | January 5, 1952 | Formerly Day Square, renamed Wood Island Park October 21, 1954, renamed Wood Island 1967 |
| Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png Airport | 9 minutes | June 3, 2004 | Old station opened January 5, 1952 and closed June 2, 2004 |
| Maverick | 7 minutes | April 18, 1924 | Streetcar portal opened April 5, 1916 |
| Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png Aquarium | 4 minutes | April 5, 1916 | Formerly Atlantic, renamed February 13, 1967 Had a transfer to the Atlantic Avenue Elevated |
| State Missing image Accessible.png Image:Accessible.png (outbound platform only) | 2 minutes | December 30, 1904 | Orange Line Formerly Devonshire, renamed January 25, 1967 |
| Government Center | 0 minutes | March 18, 1916 | Green Line Formerly Scollay Square Under, renamed October 28, 1963 Court Street opened December 30, 1904 and closed March 17, 1916 |
| Bowdoin | 2 minutes | March 18, 1916 | Closed evenings and weekends |
Accessibility
The Blue Line is accessible except for the most important stations: those downtown. Currently, the outbound Blue Line platform at State Street is wheelchair accessible to the street. Inbound wheelchair users can take the Blue Line to Government Center and cross the platform there to an outbound Blue Line train and take it to the accessible State Street platform. The MBTA has plans to make the remaining Blue Line stations accessible as part of a larger effort to permit 6 car trains on the line. See MBTA accessibility.
Rolling Stock
The Blue Line's current fleet is the 0600 series, built 1978-1980 by Hawker Siddeley Canada Car and Foundry (now Bombardier Transportation) of Fort William, Ontario, Canada. They are 48.5 feet (14.8 meters) long and 111 inches (2.8 meters) wide, with two pairs of doors on each side. They are based on the PA3 model used by PATH in New Jersey. There are 70 Hawker cars, numbered 0600-0669.
As of 2005 the Blue Line will be adding new Siemens Transportation Systems #5 HR cars with stainless steel bodies. A total of 94 units (47 pairs) are to be delivered by 2007. The cars are of a similar design to those built for the Tren Urbano system in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Boston's units are 8.5 feet (2.6 meters) wide and 48.5 feet (14.8 meters) long.
Additionally, 20 cars from the older series are being renovated. These may be kept in reserve for the Blue Line, although the possibility of refitting them for Orange Line service has also been considered.
External links
- Blue Line car specifications (http://references.transportation.siemens.com/refdb/showReference.do?r=1004&div=5&l=en) from Siemens
References
- Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district (http://members.aol.com/eddanamta/busfiles/contents.pdf) (PDF)