Orange Line (MBTA)

ORANGE LINE Oak Grove - Forest Hills
An Orange Line train at North Station
MBTA underground, light rail and tram lines
Route length:	18 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Stations:	19th
Opening:	1901
Type:	Underground or light rail
Place:	Boston , Massachusetts
Operator:	MBTA
Passengers (daily) :	184,961 (2010)
Legend from Wilmington U Oak Grove Malden Center Wellington Wellington Yard Mystic River Assembly Square by Revere Interstate 93 Sullivan Square to North Station Community College Charles River Green Line from Lechmere North Station Sweeper North Station Haymarket Green Line to Boston College , Cleveland Circle, Riverside and Heath Street State Blue Line Downtown Crossing Red Line Chinatown Tufts Medical Center from South Station Back Bay to Worcester Massachusetts Avenue Ruggles Roxbury Crossing Jackson Square Stony Brook Green Street formerly Green Line E from Lechmere E U Forest Hills Forest Hills Loop to Providence

The Orange Line is one of four subway lines owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in the state of Massachusetts in the United States . The route begins at Forest Hills station in the Jamaica Plain district of Boston and ends at Oak Grove station in Malden . At the station Downtown Crossing is an interchange with Red Line to stop at State can for Blue Line to be changed and at the stations Haymarket and North Station is the Green Line are available. There is a connection to Amtrak and commuter trains of the MBTA Commuter Rail at the Back Bay and North Station stations , only commuter trains can be reached at the Ruggles stations in Roxbury or Forest Hills . From 1901 to 1987, the Orange Line was the first elevated light rail in Boston. The last section of the route was demolished in 1987 when the southern portion of the route was relocated to the Southwest Corridor .

history

Designations

The current name Orange Line was assigned to the line in the 1960s and is derived from Orange Street , which in turn is an old name for Washington Street in downtown Boston, under which the line still runs through the Washington Street Tunnel today . In the past, all light rail vehicles in the Boston network were painted completely or partially orange, which is still visible today on the restored vehicles of the Ashmont – Mattapan High Speed ​​Line . But this is not related.

Many stations were renamed in 1967 and 1987, in that the name of the stop no longer represents the closest street intersection, but rather nearby sights or structural city features. For example, the Boylston-Essex station was renamed Chinatown .

Track construction

The Charlestown Elevated runs on the old Charlestown Bridge

The main line of the electrified Boston Elevated Railway opened in several stages in 1901. It ran from Everett along Charlestown Elevated to the ramp near North Station . Through the Tremont Street Subway , the route continued underground on what is now the Green Line and returned to the surface on Pleasant Street near what is now Boylston Station . In the meantime there was a connection to Washington Street Elevated , which ran from this point on Washington Street to Dudley Square in 1901 . This section is now served by the Silver Line .

Also in 1901, Atlantic Avenue Elevated was opened, which branched off on Causeway Street to offer an alternative route through Boston city center and along the coastline to Washington Street Elevated .

In 1908, the Washington Street Tunnel was opened, connecting Charlestown Elevated to the Washington Street Elevated and Atlantic Avenue Elevated lines near Chinatown . The use of the Tremont Street Subway was again reserved exclusively for trams .

Around 1909 Washington Street Elevated was extended to Forest Hills Station . Trains from Washington Street were directed through the new tunnel.

Atlantic Elevated closes

As a result of an accident in a tight bend on Beach Street in 1928 , the southern connection between South Station and Washington Street was closed and the circle broken. By 1938, the entire Atlantic Avenue Elevated was closed, making the tunnel the only remaining route through the city center. Today this is the section of the Orange Line between Haymarket and Chinatown .

Ownership of the tracks was transferred in 1947 from the privately owned Boston Elevated Railway to the publicly owned Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which was re-established in 1964 as today's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority .

New routes

The old Boston Elevated Railway route and adjacent connections

As part of the Boston Transportation Planning Review carried out in the 1970s , extensions of the Orange Line to the Massachusetts Route 128 ring road with terminus in Reading and Dedham were proposed. As a result of the proceedings, the Charlestown Elevated , which served the Charlestown borough and the Everett suburb , was demolished in 1975. The Haymarket North Extension added the Orange Line to a new route under the Charles River . Charlestown was served by the Boston and Albany Railroad , which went as far as Malden . The connection to Everett was not replaced.

Washington Street Elevated closes

After local protests against the required demolition work, construction on Interstate 95 to downtown Boston was canceled in 1972. In fact, larger areas had already been leveled for the Southwest Corridor leading through Roxbury , so that instead of the planned highway, the Orange Line was directed into this corridor. In 1987, the last remaining section of the former Washington Street Elevated was demolished as part of this new route.

Since May 4, 1987, the Orange Line has been using the new route through the Southwest Corridor and runs on the old route of the Boston and Albany Railroad to Back Bay station . From there she follows new rails to Forest Hills . This section is also used by Amtrak as part of the national Northeast Corridor .

Although the line ends more or less at the same destination, the route now runs significantly further west of Washington Street . The residents were therefore promised to provide an appropriate replacement. Original plans included the introduction of a new streetcar line from Washington Street to Dudley Square and from there to Dorchester . In 2002, however, the Silver Line's Bus Rapid Transit system was expanded instead to connect Washington Street to the city center subways. However, this was controversial as many local residents wanted rail transport to return.

Renovations during the Big Dig

As part of the Big Dig , the Haymarket and North Station were extensively renovated in the 1990s and 2000s. The physical connection of the Green Line to the Orange Line has been improved so that the transfer between the lines has been simplified, the ramp on Canal Street has been permanently closed and the Green Line is routed through a new portal which is located near the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge is located very close to the river.

The new Assembly Square station

At the Mystic River currently the new district created Assembly Row , "where the living is good, the working is easy, and the shopping is totally amazing". In this context, the Orange Line will be expanded to include Assembly Square , which is due to open in 2014 as an additional stop between Wellington and Sullivan Square stations .

vehicles

Orange Line train at North Station

The Orange Line trains run on standard gauge tracks and are supplied with energy by busbars . The cars of the currently used 01200 series were built in the period 1980 to 1981 by Hawker Siddeley (now Bombardier Transportation ) in Thunder Bay , Canada . They are 65  ft (19.8  m ) long, 111  in (2.8  m ) wide and have three double doors on each side. They are based on the PA3 model used by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson in New Jersey . There are a total of 120 cars with the numbers 01200 to 01319. All Orange Line trains run with a configuration of 6 cars.

Construction year	Manufacturer	model	length	width	Gauge	numbering
1980-1981	Hawker Siddeley	PA3	65  ft (19.8  m )	111  in (2.8  m )	1435 mm ( standard gauge )	1200-1319
2018–	CRRC Corporation Limited				1435 mm ( standard gauge )

In 2014, the Chinese train manufacturer CNR (now CRRC Corporation Limited ) won a tender to supply 152 new vehicles. The first prototypes are to be delivered for testing in spring 2018. The first series vehicles were delivered in December 2018. The vehicles were built in the CRRC factory in Springfield . In addition, CRRC will also deliver new vehicles to replace part of the Red Line fleet .

Track management

The Orange Line has two tracks, so that one can be used for each direction of travel. There is a third track between Wellington station and the Charles River portal , which is used as an alternative route during construction work on the tracks and for testing newly arrived vehicles for the Orange Line and Blue Line .

Accessibility

All Orange Line stations are barrier-free . Work on Station State to make it accessible from the Blue Line was ended in spring 2011.

List of stops

The Orange Line stops at the following stations:

Surname	Location	Opening date	Passengers 1	Number Platforms	Connection connection (s)	Coordinates	Remarks
Map with all coordinates of the Orange Line stations: OSM | WikiMap
Oak Grove	Malden	March 20, 1977	5,994	2	MBTA Commuter Rail , MBTA Bus	42 ° 26 ′ 13 ″ N, 71 ° 4 ′ 15 ″ W.	final destination
Malden Center		December 27, 1975	11,258	2	Commuter Rail, MBTA Bus	42 ° 25 '36 "N, 71 ° 4' 28" W.
Wellington	Medford	6th September 1975	7,464	2	MBTA bus	42 ° 24 ′ 7 "N, 71 ° 4 ′ 38" W.
Assembly Square	Somerville	2014	5,000 2	1	MBTA bus	42 ° 23 '32 "N, 71 ° 4' 38" W.	Since 1987 the first newly built underground station in the MBTA network
Sullivan Square	Charlestown	June 10, 1901 New building April 7, 1975	9.004	1	MBTA bus	42 ° 23 ′ 3 ″ N, 71 ° 4 ′ 37 ″ W.	Built in 1901 as a stop on Charlestown Elevated, which was demolished in 1975
Community College		April 7th 1975	3,695	2	no	42 ° 22 ′ 25 ″ N, 71 ° 4 ′ 13 ″ W.
Boston North Station	Boston center	Connection of the Orange Line on April 7, 1975	16,702	8th	Commuter Rail, Amtrak , Green Line C , Green Line E , MBTA Bus	42 ° 21 '57 "N, 71 ° 3' 40" W.
Haymarket		Connection of the Orange Line on November 30, 1908	11,223	3	Green Line C, Green Line E, MBTA Bus	42 ° 21 '48 "N, 71 ° 3' 30" W.
State		Connection of the Orange Line on November 30, 1908	12,553	4th	Blue Line , MBTA bus	42 ° 21 '31 "N, 71 ° 3' 28" W.	The only remaining subway station in the East Boston Tunnel
Downtown Crossing	Downtown Crossing	Connection of the Orange Line on November 30, 1908	22,880	2	Green Line (all branches) , Red Line , Silver Line , MBTA Bus	42 ° 21 '20 "N, 71 ° 3' 38" W.
Chinatown	Chinatown	Connection of the Orange Line on November 30, 1908	5,822	2	Silver Line, MBTA bus	42 ° 21 '8 "N, 71 ° 3' 46" W.
Tufts Medical Center		Connection of the Orange Line on May 4, 1987	5,684	2	Silver Line, MBTA bus	42 ° 20 '55 "N, 71 ° 3' 52" W.
Back Bay	Back Bay	Connection of the Orange Line on May 4, 1987	16,769	4th	Amtrak, Commuter Rail, MBTA Bus	42 ° 20 ′ 50 "N, 71 ° 4 ′ 32" W.	Replaced the station of the same name on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad
Massachusetts Avenue	Boston center	May 4th 1987	5,248	1	MBTA bus	42 ° 20 ′ 30 ″ N, 71 ° 5 ′ 0 ″ W.
Ruggles	Roxbury	May 4th 1987	8,378	2	Commuter Rail, MBTA Bus	42 ° 20 '10 "N, 71 ° 5' 22" W.
Roxbury Crossing		May 4th 1987	3,693	1	MBTA bus	42 ° 19 '53 "N, 71 ° 5' 44" W.
Jackson Square	Jamaica Plain	May 4th 1987	4,968	1	MBTA bus	42 ° 19 ′ 22 ″ N, 71 ° 6 ′ 0 ″ W.
Stony Brook		May 4th 1987	3.163	1	no	42 ° 19 ′ 2 ″ N, 71 ° 6 ′ 15 ″ W.
Green Street		May 4th 1987	3,229	1	no	42 ° 18 ′ 37 "N, 71 ° 6 ′ 28" W.
Forest Hills		New building on May 4th 1987	13,568	2	Commuter Rail, MBTA Bus	42 ° 17 ′ 56 "N, 71 ° 6 ′ 54" W.	final destination
1 Daily average on weekdays, as of 2009 2 Forecast for 2030 00

Web links

Commons : MBTA Orange Line  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• MBTA - The Orange Line on the MBTA website
• The Orange Line at nycsubway.org - Incl. photos
• Jamaica Plain Historical Society - Memories of the Orange Line

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ridership and Service Statistics, Twelfth Edition (PDF; 6.2 MB) MBTA . 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
2. ^ Thomas Hyde Page: A new and correct plan of the town of Boston. In: Boston Public Library . 1775, Retrieved February 15, 2012 . 
3. ↑ Gavin W. Kleespies, Katie MacDonald: Transportation History. (No longer available online.) Harvard Square Business Association, archived from the original on May 4, 2012 ; accessed on February 15, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Assembly Row. Federal Realty, accessed February 16, 2012 . 
5. ^ CRRC Delivers Two Locally Made Railcars to Boston Officials. Retrieved March 3, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Gov. Patrick Announces MBTA's Recommended Company To Build New Subway Cars In Mass. MBTA, October 21, 2014, accessed October 27, 2014 . 
7. ↑ MBTA Orange Line. Retrieved February 16, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Patrick-Murray Administration Highlights MBTA Blue Line Modernization at State Street Station. In: MBTA . May 26, 2011, accessed February 16, 2012 . 
9. ^ Ridership and Service Statistics. ( PDF ; 6.2 MB) Thirteenth Edition 2010. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority , 2010, accessed January 8, 2013 .