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ORANGE LINE
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Inbound train at North Station |
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| Overview | ||||||||||
| Type | Rapid transit | |||||||||
| Status | Operational | |||||||||
| Locale | Boston, Massachusetts | |||||||||
| Termini | Oak Grove Forest Hills |
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| Stations | 19 (1 planned) | |||||||||
| Daily ridership | 184,961 (FY2010)[1] | |||||||||
| Operation | ||||||||||
| Opened | 1901 | |||||||||
| Owner | MBTA | |||||||||
| Operator(s) | MBTA | |||||||||
| Rolling stock | 01200 series | |||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||
| Line length | 11 miles (18 km) | |||||||||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | |||||||||
| Electrification | Third Rail | |||||||||
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The Orange Line is one of the four subway lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. It extends from Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, Boston in the south to Oak Grove in Malden, Massachusetts in the north. It meets the Red Line at Downtown Crossing, the Blue Line at State, and the Green Line at Haymarket and North Station. It connects with Amtrak and Commuter Rail service at Back Bay and North Station, and just the commuter rail at Ruggles station in Roxbury and at Forest Hills. From 1901 to 1987 it provided the first elevated rapid transit in Boston; the last elevated section was torn down in 1987 when the southern portion of the line was moved to the Southwest Corridor.
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The current name, assigned in the 1960s, is derived from Orange Street, an old name for the section of Washington Street immediately south of downtown under which the Washington Street Tunnel, forming the center of the line, still runs.[2][3] Cars throughout the Boston rapid transit network were formerly painted orange or with orange stripes by MBTA predecessors, and restored streetcars on the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line wear their historical orange livery, but this is largely coincidental.
Several stations were renamed in 1967 and 1987 from the names of the nearest street intersections to those of local landmarks; for example, "Boylston-Essex" eventually was renamed "Chinatown".
The Main Line of the electric Boston Elevated Railway opened in segments in 1901. It proceeded from Everett along the Charlestown Elevated to the Canal Street Incline near North Station. It was carried underground by the Tremont Street Subway (now the Green Line) returning above ground at the Pleasant Street Incline (now closed, located just outbound of Boylston Station). A temporary link connected it to the Washington Street Elevated, which in 1901 ran from this point via Washington Street to Dudley Square (which is most of what is now Phase 1 of the Silver Line).
Also in 1901, the Atlantic Avenue Elevated opened, branching at Causeway Street to provide an alternate route through downtown Boston (along the shoreline, where today there is no rail transit) to the Washington Street Elevated.
In 1908, the Washington Street Tunnel opened, allowing Main Line service to travel from the Charlestown Elevated, underground via new portals at the Canal Street Incline, under downtown, and back up again to meet the Washington Street Elevated and Atlantic Avenue Elevated near Chinatown. Use of the Tremont Street Subway was returned to streetcars exclusively.
By 1909, the Washington Street Elevated had been extended to Forest Hills. Trains from Washington Street were routed through the new subway, either all the way to Everett, or back around in a loop via both the subway and the Atlantic Avenue Elevated.
Following a 1928 accident at a tight curve on Beach Street, the southern connection between South Station and Washington Street was closed, breaking the loop. By 1938, the entire Atlantic Avenue Elevated had been closed, leaving the subway as the only route through downtown - what is now the Orange Line between Haymarket and Chinatown stations.
Ownership of the railway was transferred from the private Boston Elevated Railway to the public Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in 1947, reconstituted as the modern Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in 1964.
The Boston Transportation Planning Review looked at the line in the 1970s, considering extensions to the beltway Route 128 with termini at Reading in the north and Dedham in the south. As a result of this review, the Charlestown Elevated - which served the Charlestown neighborhood north of downtown Boston and the suburb Everett - was demolished in 1975. The Haymarket North Extension rerouted the Orange Line through an underwater crossing of the Charles River. Service in Charlestown was replaced with service along Boston and Albany tracks under Interstate 93, ultimately to Wellington and Oak Grove in Malden, Massachusetts instead of Everett. The service to Everett was not replaced.
Construction of Interstate 95 into downtown Boston was cancelled in 1972 after local protest over the necessary demolition. However, land for the Southwest Corridor through Roxbury had already been cleared of buildings. Instead of a highway, the Orange Line subway would be re-routed into the corridor. In 1987, the Washington Street Elevated was torn down as part of this re-routing, the last of the original elevated portions to be demolished.
Between April 30 and May 3, 1987, the Washington Street Elevated south of the Chinatown station was closed to allow the Orange Line to be tied into the new Southwest Corridor. On May 4, 1987, the Orange Line was rerouted out of the southern end of the Washington Street Tunnel and onto the new Southwest Corridor. Instead of rising into elevated tracks, it instead veered west at the Massachusetts Turnpike and followed the Pike and the old Boston and Albany Railroad right-of-way to the existing MBTA Commuter Rail stop at Back Bay. It then continued along new tracks, partially covered and partially open but depressed, to Forest Hills. This right-of-way is also shared by Amtrak as part of the national Northeast Corridor.
While ending up more or less in the same place, the new routing bypassed Washington Street significantly to the west; local residents were promised replacement service. Originally, plans provided for light rail vehicle service on the streets, from Washington Street to Dudley Square, then diverting southeast-ward on Warren Street towards Dorchester. In 2002, Phase 1 of the Silver Line bus rapid transit was added to connect Washington Street to the downtown subways, attempting to address this. This was controversial, as many residents would prefer the return of rail transportation.
Haymarket and North Station received major renovations during the Big Dig in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century, as the Causeway Street Elevated portion of the Green Line was buried, its physical connection to the Orange Line was improved to make transfers easier, the Canal Street Incline was finally closed, and the Green Line was re-rerouted through a new portal closer to the river, near the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge.
| 1901-1908 | 1908-1938 | 1938-1975 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1975-1987 | 1987-present | Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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An infill station, Assembly Square, at Assembly Square in Somerville is presently expected to open in 2014. The new station, located on the bank of the Mystic River between Wellington and Sullivan Square stations, will serve a new development at Assembly Square.[4]
| Station | Time to Downtown Crossing (min)[5] |
Opened | Transfers and notes |
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| Oak Grove | 15 | March 20, 1977 | |
| Malden Center | 13 | December 27, 1975 | Commuter Rail: Haverhill/Reading Line |
| Wellington | 10 | September 6, 1975 | |
| Assembly Square | 9 | Expected to open in 2013 | |
| Sullivan Square | 7 | April 7, 1975 | Separate station from one on the Charlestown Elevated closed April 4, 1975 |
| Community College | 5 | April 7, 1975 | Serves Bunker Hill Community College |
| North Station | 3 | April 7, 1975 | Green Line and Commuter Rail north side lines |
| Haymarket | 2 | November 30, 1908 | Green Line Originally Friend-Union until January 25, 1967 |
| State | 1 | November 30, 1908 | Blue Line Originally Milk-State until January 24, 1967 |
| Downtown Crossing | 0 | November 30, 1908 | Red Line, Green Line and Silver Line Originally Winter-Summer until January 22, 1967, then Washington until May 3, 1987 |
| Chinatown | 2 | November 30, 1908 | Silver Line Originally Boylston-Essex until February 10, 1967, then Essex until May 3, 1987 |
| Tufts Medical Center | 3 | May 4, 1987 | Silver Line Originally New England Medical Center until April 2010 |
| Back Bay | 6 | May 4, 1987 | Amtrak station Commuter Rail: Providence/Stoughton Line, Framingham/Worcester Line, Franklin Line and Needham Line Also called Back Bay/South End |
| Massachusetts Avenue | 8 | May 4, 1987 | |
| Ruggles | 9 | May 4, 1987 | Commuter Rail: Providence/Stoughton Line, Franklin Line and Needham Line |
| Roxbury Crossing | 10 | May 4, 1987 | |
| Jackson Square | 12 | May 4, 1987 | |
| Stony Brook | 14 | May 4, 1987 | |
| Green Street | 16 | May 4, 1987 | Separate station from one on the former Washington Street Elevated closed April 30, 1987 |
| Forest Hills | 18 | May 4, 1987 | Commuter Rail: Needham Line Separate station from one on the former Washington Street Elevated closed April 30, 1987 Former terminus of Green Line E branch |
The Orange Line is standard gauge heavy rail, and uses third rail for power. The current fleet is the 01200 series, built 1980-1981 by Hawker Siddeley Canada Car and Foundry (now Bombardier Transportation) of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. They are 65 feet (20 m) long and 111 inches (2.8 m) wide, with three pairs of doors on each side. They are based on the PA3 model used by PATH in New Jersey. There are 120 cars, numbered 01200-01319. All in-service Orange Line trains run in six-car configurations.
| Year Built | Make | Model | Length ft ( mm) | Width in ( mm) | Gauge | Road Numbers |
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| 1980–1981 | Hawker Siddeley Canada | PA3 | 65 ft (19,812 mm) | 111 in (2,819 mm) | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | 1200–1319 |
It was announced in the Spring of 2009 that the planning process for new Orange and Red Line vehicles had begun. The simultaneous order calls for 146 Orange Line cars (to replace the whole fleet) and 74 Red Line cars (presumably to replace the 1500s and 1600s, of which there were 76, with 72 still in service). This order would be similar to the current Orange Line cars and the old Blue Line cars, ordered at the same time and largely identical except for size. The new cars would enter service between 2013 and 2017. The announcement also suggested that new Green Line cars will be planned at about the same time, although these cars would not be similar to the Orange and Red Line cars due to the differing natures of the lines.[6]
The Orange Line has two tracks (one in each direction) except for a third track between Wellington and the Charles River portal.[7] This track can be used to bypass construction on the other two, or for testing newly delivered cars for the Orange and Blue lines. The primary maintenance and storage facility is at Wellington Station.[7] Had the Orange Line been extended to Reading, the third track would have become an express track.
All stations on the Orange Line are handicapped accessible. Work on State to make it fully accessible from the Blue Line was completed in Spring 2011 and officially announced on May 26th, 2011.[8]
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