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| The uniqueness of Boston's subway (Was: Re: Photos Mattapan Line) (551083) | |||
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The uniqueness of Boston's subway (Was: Re: Photos Mattapan Line) |
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Posted by railbus63 on Thu Jan 10 10:11:01 2008, in response to Re: Photos Mattapan Line, posted by orange blossom special on Wed Jan 9 18:39:47 2008. The uniqueness of Boston's transit system, in a nutshell, can be explained as follows:The Green Line is the remnants of the city's streetcar network that tied into America's first subway, the Tremont Street Subway opened in 1897. The lines that survived did so because they mostly operate on private reservations and/or rights-of-way outside of the subway. The Riverside line was built on the right-of-way of the New York Central's Highland branch in the late 1950's. The Orange Line is the remnants of the city's first true rapid transit operation, the Main Line Elevated. None of the original Main Line El route exists today (the original route temporarily operated through the Tremont Subway when opened in 1901 - the current Washington Street Tunnel did not open until 1908). Clearances along portions of the elevated route dictated the use of smaller cars, but 55-foot cars began service in 1957 and the current 65-foot 01200-01319 series cars entered service in the early 1980's. The Blue Line operates through the East Boston Tunnel, which was originally a streetcar subway similar to the Green Line. This was converted to rapid transit operation in 1924, but tight clearances has always required the use of 48-foot cars and this continues today. The subway operation was extended to Revere in the 1950's and the MTA decided to use a catenary power system due to concerns about third-rail icing in winter (the line operates close to the shore). There has been talk about converting the line to full third-rail operation, but the route has been almost completely rebuilt in the past 15 years so it is unlikely to happen now. The Blue Line is currently the only OPTO operation on the MBTA system. The Red Line was originally the Cambridge-Dorchester Subway, the last of the city's rapid transit routes to be built. This route benefited from experience in Boston and elsewhere with earlier subway routes, and tunnel clearances were generous enough to allow the use of 69-foot cars with wider bodies from day one. The route was extended to Andrew station in South Boston by 1918, and later to Ashmont station in Dorchester along a former New Haven Railroad branch by the late 1920's. Later extensions were opened to Quincy and Braintree (the South Shore Extension, also built along an old New Haven right-of-way) and to Cambridge and Somerville (the Northwest Extension) by the mid 1980's. The Mattapan-Ashmont route was originally opened in 1928 and has been known as the High-Speed Line. It was built along the same New Haven branch line as the Ashmont extension. Extension of full Red Line service has been talked about over the years, but significant construction would be required to strengthen bridges along the route and build new power facilities. Rapid transit service would also likely entail the closure of most stations along the route and this would not go over well in the community. The PCC cars survived because of the power issue (LRV's and Type 7's would draw more power than the line is capable of handling today), the lack of a modern light-rail shop at Mattapan, and concerns about the condition of the old viaduct at Ashmont. Regarding the commuter rail map - some of the lines are quite long. Outlying points include Fitchburg (49 miles), Worcester (44 miles) and Providence (41 miles). |
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