| Red Line (mbta) |
Article Index for Red Line |
Website Links For Red Line |
Information AboutRed Line (mbta) |
|
The Red Line is the newest of the MBTA Rapid Transit lines in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Its northwestern terminal is at Alewife near Fresh Pond Parkway and Route 2 in West Cambridge , from which it passes through downtown, with transfers to the Green Line at Park Street and the Orange Line at Downtown Crossing . South of downtown it splits into two branches; one branch runs to Braintree and the other to Ashmont , with the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line continuing to Mattapan . HISTORY The oldest Right-of-way on the Red Line is south of South Boston, where the Ashmont Branch was built on the path of the former Shawmut Branch Railroad. That railroad was incorporated in 1870 , taken over by the Old Colony Railroad , and opened in 1872 as an alternate route between the Old Colony's main line at Harrison Square and the Dorchester And Milton Branch Railroad , which branched from the Old Colony at Neponset and ran west to Mattapan . The Red Line was the last of the four lines to begin construction, with the Cambridge Tunnel opening from Eliot Yard and Harvard to Park Street on the Tremont Street Subway on March 23 , 1912 . At Harvard, a Prepayment Station was provided for easy transfer to streetcar routes operating in a separate tunnel (now the Harvard Bus Tunnel ). The tunnel ran from Harvard under Massachusetts Avenue and Main Street to the Longfellow Bridge , where it ran along the middle of the bridge (opened in 1906 ). On the Boston side of the bridge, the line became Elevated , rising to go over Charles Circle and into a tunnel through Beacon Hill to Park Street. Extensions (built as the '''Dorchester Tunnel''') to Washington Street and South Station opened on April 4 , 1915 and December 3 , 1916 , with transfers to the Washington Street Tunnel and Atlantic Avenue Elevated respectively. Further extensions opened to Broadway on December 15 , 1917 and Andrew on June 29 , 1918 , both Prepayment Stations for streetcar transfer. The Broadway station included an upper level with its own tunnel for streetcars, which was abandoned in 1919 due to most lines being truncated to Andrew. The upper level has since been incorporated into the Mezzanine . Old Colony and later on November 5 , 1927 . This extension ran south from Andrew and turned southeast to surface and run along the west side of the Old Colony Railroad mainline in a depressed right-of-way. Surface stations were built at Columbia and Savin Hill , at the site of Old Colony stations. No station was built at the former junction of the Old Colony main line with the Shawmut Branch, where the Old Colony's Harrison Square station had been operated, because it was very close to Fields Corner. The rest of the extension opened to Ashmont and Codman Yard on September 1 , 1928 , and included a station - Shawmut - where there had been no Old Colony station. The first phase of the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line opened on August 26 , 1929 , using the rest of the Shawmut Branch right-of-way, including the Cedar Grove station, and part of the old Dorchester And Milton Branch . The color red was assigned on August 26 , 1965 to what had been called the Cambridge-Dorchester Tunnel and marked on maps as route . The color was chosen because the line ended at Harvard University , whose school color is Crimson , a shade of red. The first section of the South Shore Line opened on September 1 , 1971 . This line branched from the original line at a Flying Junction north of Columbia and ran along the west side of the Old Colony right-of-way (since reduced to one track), crossing to the east side north of Savin Hill. Its northernmost station was North Quincy , with two others at Wollaston and Quincy Center . The rest of the line, the '''Braintree Extension''' to Braintree , opened March 22 , 1980 , and the intermediate station at Quincy Adams opened on September 10 , 1983 . The first part of the Northwest Extension, the relocation of Harvard station, was finished on September 6 , 1983 . During construction, several temporary stations were built at Harvard Square. The old Eliot Yard was demolished; Harvard's Kennedy School Of Government now sits inside the retaining walls built for the railyard. Subsequent extensions to Davis on December 8 , 1984 and Alewife on March 30 , 1985 brought the Red Line to its current extent. A platform on the South Shore Line opened at JFK/UMass (formerly Columbia) on December 14 , 1988 . Platforms on older stations were lengthened in the late 1980s to allow six-car trains, which first ran January 21 , 1988 . During the expansion, the MBTA invested in an ''Arts on the line'' Public Art program. In 1968 , letters were assigned to the south branches - "A" for Quincy (planned to extend to South Braintree) and "C" for Ashmont. "B" was probably reserved for a planned branch from Braintree to Brockton . As new Rollsign s were made, this lettering was phased out. In 1994 , new electronic signs included a different labeling - "A" for Ashmont, "B" for Braintree and "C" for Alewife. {Link without Title} ACCESSIBILITY Most, but not all, Red Line stations are Wheelchair Accessible . See also MBTA Accessibility . ROLLING STOCK Red Line trains consist of mated pairs of Electrical Multiple Unit cars powered from a 600 VDC Third Rail . Two basic types of cars are in use today: -bodied Red Line cars at Harvard .]]
:All three groups of these older cars (units 1500 through 1757) use traditional DC Traction Motor s with Electromechanical controls manufactured by Westinghouse and can inter-operate among the three series. The 1500 and 1700 series cars could operate as singletons, but in practice, are always operated as mated pairs. The 1600 series could only operate as mated pairs. .'']]
:Known as the 1800 series, they were built in 1993 - 1994 . These newer cars (units 1800 through 1885) use modern AC traction motors with Solid State controls manufactured by General Electric , can only operate as mated pairs, and can not interoperate with the older three series of cars. Rolling stock is stored and maintained at the Cabot Yard , near the Broadway station in South Boston . The connection to this yard is at the junction where the two branches split. CULTURE AND TRIVIA
STATION LISTING Main line in a Red Line car. This selection was only used in late 1984 and early 1985 , while the Red Line was being expanded towards Alewife ; during that time, Davis was the end of the line. However, this photo was taken in 2005 , and was thus incorrect.]] Ashmont Branch Diverging from JFK/UMass: Braintree Branch Diverging from JFK/UMass: EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES |
|
|