Orient Heights (MBTA station)
Encyclopedia
Orient Heights is a station on the MBTA
Blue Line
in East Boston, MA
. It is located on the above-ground section of the line that uses overhead lines
instead of third rail
.
Its two platforms sit on either side of two central tracks and are connected by a mezzanine walkway to facilitate changing directions without paying an extra fare.
Orient Heights is the only Blue Line station in East Boston that has not yet been rebuilt for better accessibility and to allow use of 6-car trains. (The only others on the line are Government Center and Bowdoin in Boston proper). Due to this distinction, it is the only station in the MBTA that still has a pre-1975 system map showing the Charlestown and Washington Street Elevateds on the Orange Line. On 5 October 2011, the MBTA announced a $51 million ground-up rebuild of the station. The reconstruction of the crumbling station, which will require closing the station for nearly 7 months, is expected to be paid for mostly by the Federal Transit Administration.
Orient Heights Yard, the main Blue Line yard, is (as the name suggests) close by. Because of the proximity, Blue Line employees report to work at Orient Heights.
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...
Blue Line
Blue Line (MBTA)
The Blue Line is one of four subway lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority serving Downtown, East Boston and the North Shore. It runs from northeast to southwest, extending from Wonderland station in Revere, Massachusetts to Bowdoin station near Beacon Hill in Boston...
in East Boston, MA
East Boston, Massachusetts
East Boston is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, with approximately 40,000 residents. The community was created by connecting several islands using landfill and was annexed by Boston in 1836. East Boston is separated from the rest of the city by Boston Harbor and bordered by Winthrop,...
. It is located on the above-ground section of the line that uses overhead lines
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
instead of third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
.
Its two platforms sit on either side of two central tracks and are connected by a mezzanine walkway to facilitate changing directions without paying an extra fare.
Orient Heights is the only Blue Line station in East Boston that has not yet been rebuilt for better accessibility and to allow use of 6-car trains. (The only others on the line are Government Center and Bowdoin in Boston proper). Due to this distinction, it is the only station in the MBTA that still has a pre-1975 system map showing the Charlestown and Washington Street Elevateds on the Orange Line. On 5 October 2011, the MBTA announced a $51 million ground-up rebuild of the station. The reconstruction of the crumbling station, which will require closing the station for nearly 7 months, is expected to be paid for mostly by the Federal Transit Administration.
Orient Heights Yard, the main Blue Line yard, is (as the name suggests) close by. Because of the proximity, Blue Line employees report to work at Orient Heights.
Bus connections
- 120 Orient Heights Station - Maverick Station via Bennington Street
- 712 Orient Heights Station - Point Shirley or Winthrop Beach via Winthrop Highlands
- 713 Orient Heights Station - Point Shirley or Winthrop Beach via Winthrop Center