Boylston (MBTA station) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the Orange Line
Orange Line (MBTA)
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...

station formerly called Boylston, see Chinatown
Chinatown (MBTA station)
Chinatown is an MBTA subway station on the Orange Line, located at the intersection of Washington and Boylston Streets, roughly at the northwestern corner of Boston, Massachusetts' Chinatown neighborhood....

.

Boylston is a station on the Green Line

Green Line (MBTA)

The Green Line is a streetcar system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in the Boston, Massachusetts area of the United States. It is the oldest line of Boston's subway, which is known locally as the 'T'. The Green Line runs underground downtown and on the surface in outlying...

light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

service of the MBTA

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the...

rapid transport network, and is located on the southeast corner of Boston Common

Boston Common

Boston Common is a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons". Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States. The Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street,...

at the intersection of Boylston

Boylston Street

Boylston Street is the name of a major east-west thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Another Boylston Street runs through Boston's western suburbs....

and Tremont Street

Tremont Street

Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts.-Etymology:The name is a variation of one of the original appellations of the city, "Trimountaine," a reference to a hill that formerly had three peaks. Beacon Hill, with its single peak, is all that remains of the Trimountain...

Location

Boylston station is located at the intersection of Boylston Street and Tremont Street in southern Downtown Boston, slightly to the east of the Back Bay

Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts

Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts famous for its rows of Victorian brownstone homes, which are considered one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States, as well as numerous architecturally significant individual...

neighborhood. Boylston's central location places it near many important Boston landmarks and points-of-interest. The southeastern corner of Boston Common

Boston Common

and the northeastern corner of Emerson College

Emerson College

Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...

are located at the intersection of Boylston Street and Tremont Street.

History

Boylston and Park Street

Park Street (MBTA station)

Park Street is a rapid transit and light rail station of the MBTA subway system in Downtown Boston. One of the four subway hub stations, Park Street is a transfer point between the Green and Red Lines. Park Street is the fourth-busiest station in the MBTA network, with an average of 19,836 entries...

were the first two stations built in the Tremont Street Subway

Tremont Street Subway

The Tremont Street Subway is a tunnel in Boston's subway system, and is the oldest subway tunnel in North America, opening on September 1, 1897. It was originally built as a tunnel to get streetcar lines off the streets, rather than a rapid transit line...

. The subway was built between 1895 and 1897, and first broke ground on the site of the current Boylston station. When the station opened in 1897, it became not just the first rapid transport station in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, but in the entire United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Of the two original stations, Boylston retains more of its original appearance, having undergone only minimal changes in over a century of continuous operation.

Historic Boston PCC trolleys are sometimes kept on display in the station, though it is doubtful that they are in fully operable condition. The trolleys are parked on a set of outer tracks leading to a tunnel continuing southward under Tremont Street and heading to the old Pleasant Street Incline

Pleasant Street Incline

The Pleasant Street Incline or Pleasant Street Portal was the southern access point for the Tremont Street Subway in Boston, Massachusetts, which later became part of the Green Line .-History:...

. Boylston station once connected via this tunnel to the Incline and a portal located in what is now Eliot Norton Park, immediately east of the Bay Village neighborhood of Boston. From the portal, several trolley lines diverged, including service through to South Boston via Broadway

Broadway (MBTA station)

Broadway is a station on the Red Line subway at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Broadway in South Boston, Massachusetts. It was opened on December 15, 1917. The station has a single island platform to serve the two tracks.-Bus connections:...

station. The trolley service was discontinued in 1962, the route was converted to buses, and the portal was later covered by construction of the park.

Some of the proposals for completing Phase III of the Silver Line

Silver Line (MBTA)

The Silver Line is the only bus rapid transit line currently operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . It operates in two sections; the first runs from Dudley Square in Roxbury to downtown Boston, Massachusetts and South Station, mostly via Washington Street, with buses...

involved reopening portions of the tunnel for direct connections to the Boylston Green Line station. As of 2010, all proposals for Phase III tunnel construction have been postponed indefinitely, due to lack of funding, and heavy community opposition.

Accidents and incidents

On 6 June 1906, there was an explosion at Boylston station. The origin of the explosion was deemed to be the short-circuiting of the overhead lines in the station which began to burn and catch fire. Because of the electrical nature of the fire, spraying water to stop the flames failed and fire-fighters who attempted to do so were met with electric shocks. Only three people were injured and the fire extinguished itself.

On 15 November 2008, two Green Line trains collided at the northbound platform of Boylston station. Although the cars themselves were not visibly damaged, a few passengers complained about neck and back pains and were sent to the hospital. A few hours later, the Green Line re-opened between Arlington

Arlington (MBTA station)

Arlington is a station on the Green Line light rail service of the MBTA transit system. The station is located at the southwest corner of the Boston Public Garden, at the corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets...

and Government Center

Government Center (MBTA station)

Government Center is an MBTA subway station and a transfer point between the Green Line and the Blue Line. It is located at the intersection of Tremont, Court and Cambridge Streets in the Government Center area of Boston.-History:...

stations and temporary buses stopped running.

Station layout

Currently, Boylston has four tracks with two island platforms. The two outer tracks however, are not in revenue service and are used for storage and other miscellaneous purposes. Two former streetcars — one of the Boston Elevated Railway

Boston Elevated Railway

The Boston Elevated Railway was a precursor first to the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Massachusetts, now the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, operating rapid transit, streetcars and buses in the Boston, Massachusetts area. It was formerly known as the West End Street Railway.The...

and one of the old M.T.A. — are sometimes displayed on the outer track of the inbound platform.

There is no free crossover between the platforms, thus passengers must pay attention to signs at street level denoting the entrances to the inbound and outbound platforms.

The Green Line takes a sharp right-angle turn just south of Boylston station, as it turns from Tremont Street onto Boylston Street. The tight radius of curvature

Minimum railway curve radius

The minimum railway curve radius, the shortest design radius, has an important bearing on constructions costs and operating costs and, in combination with superelevation in the case of train tracks, determines the maximum safe speed of a curve. Superelevation is not a factor on tramway tracks...

of the track can cause loud squealing noises from the train wheels, which are audible at street level near the station entrance at the corner.

Although nominally a station on a branch of the Silver Line

Silver Line (MBTA)

, the Boylston stop consists of a single one-way Bus Rapid Transit

Bus rapid transit

Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...

stop at street level. As of 2010, construction of a proposed underground Silver Line station at this location has been postponed indefinitely.

During the summer of 2006, the MBTA began installing brighter lighting at Boylston station, changing the old dim appearance of the underground space.

Boston's Chinatown

Chinatown, Boston

The only historically Chinese area in New England, Chinatown, Boston is a neighborhood located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Centered on Beach Street, the neighborhood borders Boston Common, Downtown Crossing, the South End, and the Southeast Expressway/Massachusetts Turnpike.Part of it...

is directly east of the station, and the Chinatown

Chinatown (MBTA station)

Chinatown is an MBTA subway station on the Orange Line, located at the intersection of Washington and Boylston Streets, roughly at the northwestern corner of Boston, Massachusetts' Chinatown neighborhood....

station on the Orange Line, only a block east on Washington Street, took its name from the neighborhood in 1987; it had previously been named Boylston as well.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Location

History

Accidents and incidents

Station layout

Further reading

External links