North Station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() A northbound Orange Line train entering North Station in August 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
General information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | 126 Causeway Street Boston, Massachusetts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 42°21′55″N71°03′36″W / 42.36523°N 71.06012°W | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Platforms | 2 side platforms, 1 island platform | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tracks | 2 (Orange Line), 2 (Green Line) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Connections | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Construction | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Structure type | Underground | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bicycle facilities | 20 spaces; Bluebikes dock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Accessible | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | April 7, 1975 (Orange Line subway) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rebuilt | June 28, 2004 (Green Line subway) [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Passengers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FY2019 | 16,273 daily boardings [2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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North Station is an underground MBTA subway station in Boston, Massachusetts. Served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line and Orange Line, it is connected to the North Station surface terminal used by MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak. The station is fully accessible.
A surface streetcar terminal at Causeway Street, adjacent to North Union Station, was built in 1898 to serve the Tremont Street subway (predecessor to the modern Green Line). An elevated station for the Main Line (predecessor to the modern Orange Line) was added in 1901 as part of the Charlestown Elevated. A second elevated station was built in 1912 as part of the Causeway Street elevated, which acted as an extension of the Tremont Street subway. The Orange Line was moved underground in 1975 for the Haymarket North Extension project. The Green Line was added in 2004, forming a "superstation".
North Station is located under Haverhill Street and adjacent buildings in the block between Causeway Street and Valenti Way. The station has two below-ground levels, with fare control and a side platform for northbound Green Line trains on the upper level. The lower level has an island platform used by southbound Green Line and Orange Line trains (allowing a cross-platform transfer), plus a separate side platform for northbound Orange Line trains. A passageway connects the upper level to the surface North Station terminal.
During planning of the Tremont Street subway in the 1890s, various configurations were considered for the north end of the tunnel. All designs included an incline to the surface, plus a surface or underground terminal with a loop, crossovers, or even a turntable to reverse streetcars. [3] : 27 The Boston Transit Commission constructed a four-track incline; the inner tracks would lead to the surface, and the outer tracks would serve an underground loop station. This would allow streetcars from Charlestown and Cambridge to use the inner tracks to terminate at the Scollay Square and Adams Square loops, while streetcars that entered the subway from the south would loop at North Station. [3] : 27
However, the Boston Elevated Railway intended to attach the subway to its under-construction Charlestown Elevated line. The underground station plan was abandoned, and all four tracks used the Canal Street incline, with a surface terminal at Causeway Street. [4] The Main Line Elevated opened in 1901 with an elevated station at North Union Station. Elevated trains ran south through the Tremont Street subway, north on the Charlestown Elevated, and east along the waterfront on the Atlantic Avenue Elevated. The elevated moved into its own tunnel in 1908. [1] Just south of North Station was the Canal Street incline through which the Tremont Street subway (now part of the Green Line) went from surface to subway, and later the Washington Street Tunnel connected to the Charlestown Elevated (both later part of the Orange Line).
The Causeway Street Elevated opened in 1912, with an elevated streetcar station over Causeway Street. The project included a single-track platform for Atlantic Avenue Elevated shuttle trains. [5] The Atlantic Avenue elevated was reduced to a North Station-South Station shuttle by 1928 after an accident at Beach Street, and closed entirely in 1938. It was demolished in 1942, but the shuttle platform remained intact.
On June 11, 1959, a bomb exploded in a locker in the Main Line Elevated station, killing one M.T.A. worker. Operations were suspended the rest of the day, and the track was up and running the next day, contrary to public expectations. Further bomb threats were phoned in, but no other bombs were found. [6] Just a month before, a leaking gas line had caused an explosion outside North Station that injured 50 people. [7]
In April 1975, the Orange Line was moved underground as part of the Haymarket North Extension project. [1] The rest of the Charlestown Elevated was demolished in 1975; the abandoned elevated station at North Station was kept intact until 1976 for possible reuse, but later demolished as well. [8] [9] The Canal Street loop was closed on June 18, 1977; it reopened on December 15 as a three-track stub-end terminal for the new LRVs. [10] The west entrance to the elevated Green Line station was closed on January 3, 1981, during budget cuts. [11]
In February 1993, the state reached a deal with a developer for the replacement of the aging Boston Garden. As part of the agreement, the MBTA was granted easements for a Green Line tunnel under the arena to replace the Causeway Street Elevated and for a combined underground "superstation" for the Green and Orange lines. [12] On March 28, 1997, the Green Line C branch surface terminal at Canal Street was permanently closed for construction of the new tunnel under North Station. [1] The Orange Line station was made accessible with the addition of elevators in 2001. [13] The elevated Green Line station (which had an elevator only to the Lechmere-bound platform) was outfitted with portable lifts and mini-high platforms around that time for temporary accessibility while the new underground station was constructed. [13] [14] [15]
On June 25, 2004, Green Line service was removed from the Causeway Street Elevated. Green Line trains began using the underground "superstation" shared with the Orange Line on June 28. [1] Southbound Green Line and Orange Line trains share an island platform, while northbound Green Line trains stop at the mezzanine level. North Station was the terminal of the Green Line until November 12, 2005, when the new tunnel opened and service to Lechmere resumed. [1] The station cost $262 million to construct. [16] A pedestrian tunnel under Causeway Street, with a new headhouse adjacent to North Station, opened in early 2005. [17] An artwork titled Currents, by Gary Duehr, was placed on the wall behind the southbound Green Line track. The aluminum mural is a strip of 120 sepia-toned photos which appear as an animation from passing trains. [18] [19] The work, which depicts Wollaston Beach in Quincy, was originally placed on the Silver Line level at South Station. [20]
The MBTA subway headhouse on the north side of Causeway Street was permanently closed on January 2, 2016; the underground connection which replaced it opened on January 6, 2019. [21] [22] On June 24, 2019, the MBTA Board awarded a $29.7 million, 16-month contract for full cleaning, wayfinding signage replacement, and other improvements at North Station, Haymarket, State, and Downtown Crossing stations. [23] The replacement of 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of flooring at North Station with terrazzo was completed in April 2021. [24] All work was completed in June 2021. [25] [26] The MBTA plans to add elevators connecting both Orange Line platforms to the south end of the fare mezzanine, providing redundant access to the platforms. [27] A $10.5 million design contract for Arlington, North Station, and Sullivan Square was awarded in April 2020. [27] [28] Design work for North Station was completed in late 2023. [29]
On May 24, 2020, service to Science Park and Lechmere was temporarily replaced by buses to North Station for construction of the Green Line Extension project, leaving North Station as the northern terminus of Green Line service. [1] The D branch was extended to North Station on October 24, 2021, and the C branch cut back to Government Center, as part of changes in preparation for the opening of the extension. [30] E branch service north of North Station to Lechmere resumed on March 21, 2022, accompanied by an extension to Union Square. [31] The station was closed in August and September 2022 during overlapping closures of the Orange Line (August 19 to September 18) and the northern portion of the Green Line (August 22 to September 18). [32] [33] After the closure, the D branch was extended to Union Square; the E branch mostly ran to Union Square or Lechmere until December 12, 2022, when it was extended to Medford/Tufts on a second branch. [1]
The Green Line is a semi-metro system run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in the Boston, Massachusetts, metropolitan area. It is the oldest MBTA subway line, and with tunnel sections dating from 1897, the oldest subway in North America. It runs underground through downtown Boston, and on the surface into inner suburbs via six branches on radial boulevards and grade-separated alignments. With an average daily weekday ridership of 137,700 in 2019, it is the third-most heavily used light rail system in the country. The line was assigned the green color in 1967 during a systemwide rebranding because several branches pass through sections of the Emerald Necklace of Boston.
The Orange Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) as part of the MBTA subway system. The line runs south on the surface from Oak Grove station in Malden, Massachusetts through Malden and Medford, paralleling the Haverhill Line, then crosses the Mystic River on a bridge into Somerville, then into Charlestown. It passes under the Charles River and runs through Downtown Boston in the Washington Street Tunnel. The line returns to the surface in the South End, then follows the Southwest Corridor southwest in a cut through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain to Forest Hills station.
Park Street station is an MBTA subway station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at the intersection of Park Street and Tremont Street at the eastern edge of Boston Common in Downtown Boston. One of the two oldest stations on the "T", and part of the oldest subway line in the United States, Park Street is the transfer point between the Green and Red lines, as one of the quartet of "hub stations" on the MBTA subway system. Park Street is the fifth-busiest station in the MBTA network, with an average of 16,571 entries each weekday in FY2019.
North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Amtrak Downeaster intercity service. The concourse is located under the TD Garden arena, with the platforms extending north towards drawbridges over the Charles River. The eponymous subway station, served by the Green Line and Orange Line, is connected to the concourse with an underground passageway.
Haymarket station is an underground Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit station located at Haymarket Square in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a transfer station between the Green Line and Orange Line of the MBTA subway system, as well as a terminal for MBTA bus routes serving northern and northeastern suburbs. The two lines run parallel to each other through the station, with two side platforms for the Orange Line and a single island platform for the Green Line. The station is fully accessible.
Science Park station is an elevated light rail station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The station is located at the Boston end of the Charles River Dam Bridge at Leverett Circle. It is at the southeast end of the Lechmere Viaduct, which carries the Green Line over the Charles River. The station is named for the nearby Boston Museum of Science. With 873 daily boardings by a FY 2019 count, Science Park is the least-used fare-controlled station on the Green Line, and the second-lowest on the MBTA subway system after Suffolk Downs.
Lechmere station is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line light rail station in Lechmere Square in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is located on the east side of Monsignor O'Brien Highway near First Street, adjacent to the NorthPoint development. The accessible elevated station has a single island platform, with headhouses at both ends. It opened on March 21, 2022, as part of the Green Line Extension (GLX). Lechmere station is served by Green Line D branch and E branch service.
Nubian station is a ground-level Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) bus station located in Nubian Square in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is a transfer point between MBTA bus routes, including two Silver Line bus rapid transit lines and 14 local routes. Like all MBTA bus stops, Nubian is fully accessible.
The E branch is a light rail line in Boston, Cambridge, Medford, and Somerville, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. The line runs in mixed traffic on South Huntington Avenue and Huntington Avenue between Heath Street and Brigham Circle, in the median of Huntington Avenue to Northeastern University, then into the Huntington Avenue subway. The line merges into the Boylston Street subway just west of Copley, running to North Station via the Tremont Street subway. It then follows the Lechmere Viaduct to Lechmere, then the Medford Branch to Medford/Tufts. As of February 2023, service operates on eight-minute headways at weekday peak hours and eight to nine-minute headways at other times, using 13 to 17 trains.
The C branch, also called the Beacon Street Line or Cleveland Circle Line, is one of four branches of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's Green Line light rail system in the Boston, Massachusetts metropolitan area. The line begins at Cleveland Circle in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston and runs on the surface through Brookline along the median of Beacon Street. Reentering Boston, the line goes underground through the St. Mary's Street incline and joins the B and D branches at Kenmore. Trains run through the Boylston Street subway to Copley where the E branch joins, then continue through the Tremont Street subway to downtown Boston. The C branch has terminated at Government Center station since October 2021.
The B branch, also called the Commonwealth Avenue branch or Boston College branch, is a branch of the MBTA Green Line light rail system which operates on Commonwealth Avenue west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts. One of four branches of the Green Line, the B branch runs from Boston College station down the median of Commonwealth Avenue to Blandford Street. There, it enters Blandford Street portal into Kenmore station, where it merges with the C and D branches. The combined services run into the Boylston Street subway and Tremont Street subway to downtown Boston. B branch service has terminated at Government Center since October 2021. Unlike the other branches, the B branch runs solely through the city limits of Boston. The Green Line Rivalry between Boston College and Boston University is named in reference to the B branch, which runs to both universities.
The Green Line D branch is a light rail line in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, and Somerville, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. The line runs on a grade separated surface right-of-way for 9 miles (14 km) from Riverside station to Fenway station. The line merges into the C branch tunnel west of Kenmore, then follows the Boylston Street subway and Tremont Street subway to North Station. It is the longest and busiest of the four Green Line branches. As of June 2024, service operates on 6 to 8-minute headways at weekday peak hours and 7 to 13-minute headways at other times, using 13 to 19 trains.
As with many large cities, a large number of Boston-area streetcar lines once existed, and many continued operating into the 1950s. However, only a few now remain, namely the four branches of the Green Line and the Ashmont–Mattapan High-Speed Line, with only one running regular service on an undivided street.
The Canal Street incline was a ramp connecting two transit tunnels in Boston with surface and elevated lines. It was located in the Bulfinch Triangle between North Station and Haymarket Square in two blocks bounded by Canal Street to the west, Causeway Street to the north, Haverhill Street to the east, and Market Street to the south. The incline was the north end of the Tremont Street subway and the Washington Street Tunnel. Built in 1898, it remained in use until 2004 when the last connecting line was moved underground.
Community College station is a rapid transit station on the MBTA Orange Line in Boston, Massachusetts. It is located in the Charlestown neighborhood off Austin Street near New Rutherford Avenue (MA-99), under the double-decked elevated structure carrying Interstate 93 to the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. The station is named for the adjacent Bunker Hill Community College. The station opened in April 1975, replacing the City Square and Thompson Square stations of the Charlestown Elevated. It was made accessible around 2005.
The Washington Street Elevated was an elevated segment of Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway system, comprising the southern stretch of the Orange Line. It ran from Chinatown through the South End and Roxbury, ending in Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, Boston.
Broadway station is a subway station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA's Red Line. It is located at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Broadway in South Boston. It was opened on December 15, 1917, as part of the Dorchester Extension from Downtown Crossing to Andrew. The station has a single island platform to serve the two tracks.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates rapid transit, light rail, and bus rapid transit services in the Boston metropolitan area, collectively referred to as the rapid transit, subway, the T system, or simply the T.
The Causeway Street elevated was an elevated section of the MBTA Green Line light rail system in Boston, located in the area near North Station. It was in operation from 1912 until 2004, when it was replaced with a new tunnel and underground station on a slightly different alignment.
The Lechmere Viaduct is a concrete arch bridge connecting the West End neighborhood of Boston to East Cambridge, Massachusetts. Opened in 1912, the viaduct carries the MBTA's Green Line over the Charles River. It is adjacent to the Charles River Dam Bridge, but structurally separate.