Green Line B

GREEN LINE "B" Commonwealth Avenue Branch
AnsaldoBreda type 8 # 3840 waits at red on the Commonwealth Avenue at the Carlton Street .
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Type	Light rail
place	Greater Boston
Number of stations	25th
Terminals	Park Street Boston College
opening	October 23, 1932
operator	MBTA
Route system	Green Line
Daily Passengers	30,745 (weekdays)
Legend Green Line C , D and E from North Station , Government Center and Lechmere Park Street Loop A B Park Street Red Line Boylston formerly Pleasant Street Portal Arlington Copley Green Line E to Heath Street Hynes Convention Center Kenmore Green Line D to Riverside Green Line C to Cleveland Circle Blandford Street Boston University East Boston University Central Boston University West Saint Paul Street Pleasant Street Babcock Street formerly Green Line A to Watertown Packards Corner Fordham Road Harvard Avenue Griggs Street Allston Street Warren Street Summit Avenue Washington Street Mount Hood Road Sutherland Road Chiswick Road Chestnut Hill Avenue Operational route to Cleveland Circle South Street Greycliff Road B Boston College Boston College Yard

The Green Line "B" or Commonwealth Avenue Branch or Boston College Branch is a subway tram and a branch of the MBTA - Green Line in the area around Boston in the state of Massachusetts of the United States . On this route, Light Rail vehicles run on a partially intersection-free route in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue . After Blandford Street , the route will continue underground and merge with the Green Line C and Green Line D tracks . From the Kenmore stop, the route continues through the Boylston Street Subway and Tremont Street Subway to the turning point at Government Center .

history

This 1916 map shows the turning loop at Braves Field

In 1896, the first track sections were laid on Commonwealth Avenue from Chestnut Hill Avenue in a westerly direction to the Newton city ​​limits . During this time, the Commonwealth Avenue Street Railway also opened and extended the tracks to Norumbega Park . This section later became part of the Middlesex and Boston Street Railway . Trains, between the Lake Street were traveling and the Boston city center, used tracks on Beacon Street that from today Green Line C are busy. From Kenmore Square , the route continued east on Beacon Street, then turned south on Massachusetts Avenue and east again on Boylston Street to Park Square . In 1900, the rest of Commonwealth Avenue was also tracked, connecting Chestnut Hill Avenue east to the existing tracks at Packard's Corner . This section was later used by the Green Line A and enabled a train connection between Lake Street and Kenmore Square . In 1909 the line was electrified .

The Tremont Street Subway Tunnel opened on September 1, 1897, whereupon the route of the railway line on Commonwealth Avenue was re-established so that it got a turning point on Park Street , which it can access via the descent on Boylston Street at the Boston Public Garden reached. The Boylston Street Subway tunnel was opened on October 3, 1914 and allowed the underground route to be extended to Kenmore Square . On October 23, 1932, the descent on Blandford Street was put into operation together with the underground station Kenmore , whereby the Green Line got its current route.

Until the 1920s, a streetcar drove eastward on Commonwealth Avenue from Boston College to Chestnut Hill Avenue and from there on Beacon Street from Cleveland Circle to Washington Square and finally to Brookline Village . Today the bus route 65 of the MBTA runs on a similar route. After the switch to omnibuses , the tracks on Chestnut Hill Avenue were no longer in regular service, but are still used today when the trains on Green Line "B" have to travel to the Cleveland Circle depot on the Green Line C route .

From 1915 to January 14, 1962, there was a turning loop at Boston University Field , which was used on special occasions and during rush hour to turn trains as quickly as possible.

From 1942 to 1967 the current route of the Green Line "B" was run as Route 62 , until 1967 the different lines were assigned colors and letters and the route on Commonwealth Avenue became the Green Line "B" .

speed

The Green Line B is regularly criticized by the passengers for its slowness. It runs much slower than the Green Line C , which is mainly due to the larger number of stops and level crossings. The Green Line D is much faster than the "B" and "C" , whose route has the fewest stops and is completely free of intersections.

At the end of 2003, the MBTA announced that it would shut down five stops along the Green Line B in order to increase speed and at the same time reduce maintenance and repair costs. While many passengers welcomed these changes, the changes did not go far enough for other passengers, as the total time saved was just a few minutes, and Green Line B was still by far the slowest branch of the Green Line . The question has been raised as to why the MBTA is not closing some stops east of Packard's Corner , even though they are only a few hundred feet apart and would significantly reduce travel time for the majority of passengers.

At the beginning of 2004, the four stops at Greycliff Road , Mount Hood Road , Summit Avenue and Fordham Road were shut down as part of a pilot test, while the stop on Chiswick Road, originally intended as the fifth shutdown, remained in operation due to resident protests. After a survey of 1,142 passengers in 2005 showed that 73% of them were in favor of closing the four stops, the MBTA decided to shut them down permanently. Further plans to improve the Green Line B have not yet been announced.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cleveland Circle History. In: Brighton Allston Historical Society. Retrieved February 2, 2012 . 
2. ↑ Mac Daniel: T drops 4 Green Line stops after results of rider survey. In: Boston Globe . March 16, 2005, accessed February 3, 2012 . 

Web links

Commons : Green Line B branch  - collection of images

• Detailed information about the Green Line on the MBTA website