Park Street (MBTA station)

Park Street is a rapid transit and light rail station of the MBTA subway system in Downtown Boston. One of the four subway hub stations, Park Street is a transfer point between the Green and Red Lines. Park Street is the fourth-busiest station in the MBTA network, with an average of 19,836 entries each weekday in 2010.^[1] Throughout the Green and Red Lines, trains labeled "inbound" are headed towards this station, Downtown Crossing, or Government Center, while those labeled "outbound" are headed away.

Location

Park Street is located in the southwestern section of Downtown Boston, specifically at the intersection of Tremont and Park Streets, under which the Green and Red Lines run, respectively. Nearby are a number of important sites, including Boston Common, the Massachusetts State House, Emerson College, Suffolk University, the Freedom Trail, Newbury Street, and the Boston Paulist Center.

History

The Green Line platforms on the upper level of Park Street Station were originally constructed in 1897, making it one of the two oldest subway stations in the United States, along with Boylston station. The Red Line platforms beneath, sometimes called "Park Street Under," were constructed in 1912.

Station layout

Park Street is a bi-level station, with the Green Line running on the upper level and the Red Line on the lower level. It is the only MBTA subway station with six tracks: tracks 1 to 4 are used by Green Line trains, while tracks 5 and 6 are served by the Red Line. The upper level has two island platforms, while the lower level employs a Spanish solution-type setup with one island platform and two side platforms.

Accessibility

Park Street station is partially wheelchair accessible, after a renovation completed in 2004. The Red Line on the lower level has both island and side platforms, a setup that theoretically allows implementation of the "Spanish solution" system of managing heavy passenger traffic flows. However, narrow stairways serving the center island platform impair full implementation of this system, since many impatient riders prefer to sprint up the wider side platform stairway to catch a Green Line transfer. Only the island platform of the Red Line level has elevator access. As of 2011, construction is proceeding to provide elevator access to the upper Green Line platforms.

Bus connections

• 43 Ruggles Station
• 55 Jersey and Queensberry via Copley Sq. and Ipswich Street

Gallery

Further reading

• Cheape, Charles W. (1980). Moving the masses : urban public transport in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, 1880-1912. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674588274. http://books.google.com/books?id=NkDeRf2FKTkC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Cheney, Frank; Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell (2000). When Boston rode the El. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. ISBN 978-0738504629. http://books.google.com/books?id=FXsLiV1aNRUC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Cudahy, Brian J. (1972). Change at Park Street Under; the story of Boston's subways. Brattleboro, Vt.: S. Greene Press. ISBN 978-0828901734. 
• McKendry, Joe (2006). Beneath the streets of Boston: Building America's first subway. Boston: David R. Godine. ISBN 978-1567922844. 

References

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Park_Street_(MBTA_station) Park Street (MBTA station)] at Wikimedia Commons

• MBTA Red & Green Lines -- Park Street Station
• nycsubway.org - Historical photo of Park Street in 1980
• nycsubway.org - Another historical photo of Park Street in 1980
• Park Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• West Street entrance from Google Maps Street View