Boston trolleybus

SILVER LINE
A vehicle on the SL1 line leaves the Silver Line Way tunnel
Route graphic of the Silver Line network
Power system :	600 volts  =
Opening:	December 17, 2004
Type:	trolleybus
Place:	Boston , Massachusetts
Operator:	MBTA
Legend Electrified route The route is driven in diesel mode South Station Loop SL1 SL2 SL3 South Station Red Line Fort Point Channel Courthouse World Trade Center Silver Line Way Congress Street & World Trade Center Northern Avenue & Harbor Street Northern Avenue & Tide Street 23 Drydock Avenue 27 Drydock Avenue Drydock Avenue & Black Falcon Avenue 88 Black Falcon Avenue Drydock Avenue & Design Center Place SL2 Boston Harbor (Ted Williams Tunnel) Logan International Airport ... Terminal A SL 1 Terminal B West Terminal B East Terminal C Terminal E Blue Line from Bowdoin Airport Blue Line to Wonderland Eastern Avenue Box District from North Station Chelsea / Bellingham Square Chelsea SL3 to Revere

The Boston trolleybus is the trolleybus operator of the city of Boston , United States . There, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which is responsible for urban bus traffic , operates three lines, some of them electric. The name Silver Line was chosen to distinguish it from the older underground lines Orange Line , Red Line and Blue Line as well as the tram network Green Line . The current trolleybus operation has existed since December 17, 2004.

In the city center, in the area of ​​the waterfront, both drive a common trunk route over three kilometers long before they split up at the Silver Line Way stop - where the overhead line also ends. About two kilometers of this main route run underground, three of a total of four electrically operated stops are also underground.

First operation from 1933 to 1963

From September 17, 1933 to March 31, 1963, Boston had a much more extensive trolleybus network. On April 11, 1936, the Boston network was expanded beyond the city limits into the neighboring city of Cambridge, and further routes - also within Cambridge - followed. In addition, there were two sub-networks in Dorchester (December 25, 1948 to April 6, 1962) and in Arborway (September 29, 1951 to October 1, 1958) that were not connected to the main network.

While the Boston routes were shut down again between 1958 and 1963, the Cambridge trolleybus remained as an independent network to this day. It is also operated by the MBTA.

Lines

The Silver Line is a line network defined as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), in which, in addition to the three trolleybus lines, the bus lines SL4 and SL5 are also integrated. A third duo bus line with the designation SL3, it served like the line SL2 the port of Boston , however, was given up on March 31, 2009 in favor of a more frequent increase on the line SL2. In April 2018, the SL3 was reintroduced on a new route. It opens up the city of Chelsea on its own bus route .

The trolleybus routes are:

• SL1 South Station - Logan International Airport
• SL2 South Station Design Center
• SL3 South Station – Chelsea

Planning

In the medium term, it is planned to extend the trolleybus tunnel route by 2.4 kilometers in a westerly direction. This extension will lead to China Town Station on the Orange Line and beyond that to Boylston Station on the Green Line. The existing tunnel infrastructure is already designed for future urban railway operations; in the long term, the Green Line will take over this task.

vehicles

The consistently low-floor vehicle fleet of the Boston trolleybus consists of 32 articulated duo buses of the type AN460LF with the road numbers 1101 to 1132. They were manufactured by Neoplan USA between 2004 and 2006 , with Škoda supplying the electrical equipment . The eight vehicles 1125 to 1132 are owned by the airport operator Massachusetts Port Authority , or Massport for short .

In the opening phase, some AN440LF-ETB solo cars were also on loan from the Cambridge trolleybus to Boston; the last ones returned to their main network in May 2006. They also wore the special gray-blue Silver Line paint scheme, but could only serve the electrified section South Station – Silver Line Way. There was a connection to buses.

The Silver Line cars are located in the Southampton Street Garage .

Picture gallery

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  Car 1120 in the underground terminus South Station has just passed the turning loop and is ready to leave in the direction of Silver Line Way

• 

  A solo car on loan from the Cambridge trolleybus at the Courthouse stop

• 

  The World Trade Center stop has natural light

• 

  A car driving out of town at the Silver Line Way stop, the pantographs have already been removed for the onward journey in diesel mode

• 

  An SL1 car in diesel mode outside the city center

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  Interior of a Boston duo bus

• 

  Outdated Silver Line route map from 2005

Web links

Commons : Trolleybuses in Boston  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Official website of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority operating company
• Information about the Boston trolleybus at www.trolleymotion.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Silver Line SL2 runs more frequently, report on www.trolleymotion.com from May 25, 2009
2. ↑ Project page of the MBTA on the SL3
3. ↑ Trolley bus overhead wiring in tunnels, Boston, USA  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.