Ashmont – Mattapan High Speed ​​Line

Ashmont – Mattapan High Speed ​​Line
PCC car exiting the Ashmont terminus, 2005
Basic information
Country	United States
city	Boston and Milton , Massachusetts
opening	August 26, 1929
operator	MBTA
Infrastructure
Route length	2.6  mi (4.2  km )
Gauge	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system	Overhead line
Stops	8th
Depots	1
business
Lines	1
vehicles	PCC car
statistics
Reference year	2010
Passengers	4,586 per day
Geographically accurate route

The Ashmont – Mattapan High Speed ​​Line or M-Line is a streetcar in the state of Massachusetts in the United States that runs from Boston to Milton . It is seen as part of the MBTA Red Line , although, unlike this subway, it uses light rail vehicles and passengers have to change trains at Ashmont station. There is only one operating track between the tram and the Red Line at the level of the Codman Yard underground station.

The route opened on August 26, 1929 and is the only one of the MBTA that runs through a cemetery . The designation “High Speed ​​Line” has long since ceased to apply, as it neither has a completely crossing-free route nor vehicles with high speed by today's standards.

history

Elevated end loop Ashmont over the subway tracks, 1929

The route follows the original from the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad built railway line , which opened in December 1847, and in 1872 part of the Old Colony Railroad and in 1893 the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was.

In 1927, steam locomotives ceased operations and the line was closed for two years in order to convert it for tram operation. At that time there was a long discussion about whether it might not be better to continue the metro from Ashmont to Mattapan , so that changing to the tram can be avoided. However, the additional costs for expanding the metro were deemed too high.

The longest-lasting closure of the line lasted from June 24, 2006 to December 22, 2007, when the stations in Ashmont and Mattapan were rebuilt. The end loop of Ashmont including the platform was raised again. The operation was carried out during this time by rail replacement services.

Today, all stations except Valley Road, which cannot be upgraded for structural reasons, have been upgraded and modernized to be handicapped accessible. The line is owned by MBTA and has only two level crossings over its entire length of 2.6  mi (4.2  km ) , so that trains can travel largely unhindered.

M-LINE Ashmont - Mattapan
MBTA underground, light rail and tram lines
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Red Line from Alewife U Ashmont (Red Line) Ashmont Loop U Ashmont (M-Line) Gallivan Boulevard Codman Yard Cedar Grove butler Neponset River Milton Central Avenue Central Avenue Valley Road Capen Street Capen Street Capen Street Neponset River Mattapan Yard U Mattapan Mattapan loop

Rolling material

The rail vehicles used on the route consist of old, but newly built PCC cars that previously ran on the Green Line . The one-way railcars draw their traction current (600 V =) via pantographs from the overhead line . A vehicle of this type can also be seen in a side tunnel of the Green Line station on Boylston Street .

Further developments

In 2009, the MBTA carried out a pilot test on the track with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in order to test a technology comparable to collision avoidance in cars , which is intended to avoid dangerous events . In this case, the radar used by the train driver ever faster beeps to warn of obstacles. Similar to Positive Train Control , the system can automatically bring the train to a standstill if the driver does not take any measures to avoid a collision. If successful, the system should be used on the Green Line , where there had recently been a few collisions.

outlook

Due to cost reasons, the line is threatened with discontinuation. MBTA and the T-Finanz-Kontroll complain about the high operating costs with only approx. 5000 passengers transported per day. Maintaining the railcars built in 1945/45 using the Pullman standard is becoming increasingly difficult, and spare parts have to be made by hand in some cases.

List of stops

The tram stops at a total of eight stations. At the Ashmont terminus there is a possibility to change to the Red Line underground .

Surname	Location	Opening date	Passengers 1	Number Platforms	Connection connection (s)	Coordinates	Remarks
Map with all coordinates of the stations of the Ashmont – Mattapan High Speed ​​Line: OSM | WikiMap
Ashmont	Boston	2011 (new building)	3,494 2	3	Red Line , MBTA bus	42 ° 17 '3 "N, 71 ° 3' 48" W.	Northern terminus
Cedar Grove	Dorchester / Boston	2007 (new building)	174	2	no	42 ° 16 '47 "N, 71 ° 3' 37" W.
butler	Dorchester / Boston	2007 (new building)	183	2	no	42 ° 16 ′ 20 "N, 71 ° 3 ′ 45" W.
Milton	Boston / Milton	2007 (new building)	768	2	MBTA bus	42 ° 16 ′ 12 ″ N, 71 ° 4 ′ 3 ″ W.
Central Avenue	Boston / Milton	2007 (new building)	767	2	MBTA bus	42 ° 16 ′ 12 ″ N, 71 ° 4 ′ 24 ″ W.
Valley Road	Milton	2007 (new building)	180	2	MBTA bus	42 ° 16 ′ 4 ″ N, 71 ° 4 ′ 59 ″ W.
Capen Street	Milton	2007 (new building)	166	2	MBTA bus	42 ° 16 ′ 3 ″ N, 71 ° 5 ′ 15 ″ W.
Mattapan	Mattapan (Boston)	2007 (new building)	3,489	2	MBTA bus	42 ° 16 '3 "N, 71 ° 5' 35" W.	Southern terminus
1 Daily average on weekdays, as of 2009 2 without Red Line 00

gallery

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  Most of the route is free of intersections

• 

  Mattapan station before its renovation

• 

  Last stop Mattapan after the renovation

• 

  A PCC car in Ashmont, still painted in the Green Line colors, 1999

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  View of the elevated end loop Ashmont, to the left the operating track to the subway goes off

• 

  Former depot in Mattapan

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mattapan Trolley Re-opens. In: MBTA. December 20, 2007, accessed February 7, 2012 . 
2. ^ MBTA testing trolley collision-avoidance system. In: The Associated Press. July 2, 2009, archived from the original on July 5, 2009 ; accessed on February 7, 2012 (English). 
3. ↑ Jens Perbandt: PCC before the end? In: Tram magazine . No. 3 , 2017, p. 24 f .
4. ^ Ridership and Service Statistics. ( PDF ; 6.2 MB) Thirteenth Edition 2010. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority , 2010, accessed on May 17, 2013 . 

Web links

Commons : Ashmont – Mattapan High Speed ​​Line  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files