Tufts Medical Center station

Tufts Medical Center
Tufts Medical Center
	A northbound Orange Line train entering the station in 2024
General information
Location	750 Washington Street ; Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°20′55″N71°03′52″W / 42.3486°N 71.0645°W
Line(s)	South Cove Tunnel
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Connections	MBTA bus: 11, 43
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	May 4, 1987 (Orange Line); July 30, 2002 (Silver Line)
Previous names	New England Medical Center (1987–2010)
Passengers
FY2019	5,976 boardings (weekday average)
Services
	Chinatown Gate One-way operation
	Boylston One-way operation
Location
Location

Last updated August 31, 2024

Tufts Medical Center station is an underground Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA subway Orange Line, as well as two Silver Line bus rapid transit routes on the surface. It is named for the Tufts Medical Center and is built under a wing of the facility that crosses over Washington Street in downtown Boston between Kneeland Street in Chinatown and the Massachusetts Turnpike. The accessible station has two side platforms for the Orange Line.

Construction of the South Cove Tunnel and the station shell took place in 1968–1971 in preparation for a rerouting of the Orange Line into the Interstate 95 median. The highway project was cancelled; the right of way was reused as the Southwest Corridor. It opened in 1987, along with the New England Medical Center station. Silver Line service began in 2002. The station was renamed Tufts Medical Center in 2010.

Station layout

The station was constructed under a city block that had been previously cleared for the South Cove urban renewal effort. This gives it several important differences from Chinatown, Downtown Crossing, and State along Washington Street to the north, which were all threaded among existing underground structures. Because it was easier to dig deeply on the empty plot, Tufts Medical Center station has a subsurface fare mezzanine, rather than having faregates located immediately adjacent to the platforms. The platform areas are much wider and taller than the older stations, and the inbound and outbound platforms are directly opposite each other, rather than offset.

The station was not constructed directly under Washington Street; it is angled towards Tremont Street to the west, as the line then curves towards Back Bay. Unlike the older stations, there is a single headhouse on the west side of Washington Street rather than smaller entrances on both sides of the street. This entrance is located under an overhang of a Tufts Medical Center building. There is a secondary entrance without elevator access, located on Tremont Street at Oak Street. Adding elevators to the South Cove entrance was considered by the MBTA in 2017.^[3]

Tufts Medical Center serves both routes (SL4 and SL5) of the Washington Street section of the Silver Line, which operates between downtown and Nubian. Silver Line buses stop at the primary station entrance on Washington Street. The station is also served by MBTA bus routes 11 and 43.^[4]

Artwork

Artwork was added to the station as part of the Arts on the Line program. Four abstract works, titled Caravan, are displayed beside each of the two escalators to the train platforms, They consist of painted aluminum shapes designed by Richard Gubernick, who also has artwork displayed in LaSalle station in Buffalo, New York.^[5]^[6] At each station between Forest Hills and Tufts Medical Center, two granite columns near the outside entrance have been inscribed with text. Those at Tufts are "Mr. Yee is in the Garden" by Maria Gordett and "The Great World Transformed" by Gish Jen.^[5]

History

In 1914, the Boston Transit Commission considered constructing a station at Bennet Street where the Washington Street Tunnel rose to the surface to meet the Washington Street Elevated. The proposal was rejected due to the steep grade and the proximity to Boylston station.^[7]

In September 1968, the MBTA began construction of the shell of a station - then called South Cove - and the South Cove Tunnel during what were to be the early stages of the abandoned Interstate 695 project, in anticipation of the future relocation of the Washington Street Elevated.^[8]^[1] The relocated Orange Line was to run in the median of the extended I-95 in the Southwest Corridor, then replace service on the Needham Line to Needham. Due to a lack of available federal funds, the MBTA financed the $13.3 million project with local bond funds. The tunnel (which reached to Marginal Street) and the station shell were completed in 1972.^[8]^[9] However, I-695 was cancelled due to local opposition in 1971; the Elevated remained in service, and the South Cove Tunnel and station sat unused.

After the plans for I-95 to be extended into downtown fell through in 1973, the state began looking to use the Southwest Corridor for a combined Orange Line and commuter rail corridor. In 1975, the MBTA applied for $29 million in federal grants to extend the South Cove Tunnel to just past Arlington Street and to finish the interior of South Cove station.^[8] Construction began in earnest on the Southwest Corridor in 1979.^[1] In 1985, as part of a series of station name changes, the MBTA board voted to name the station New England Medical Center, with South Cove retained as a secondary name.^[10] The station opened on May 4, 1987, along with eight other stations from Back Bay to Forest Hills.^[1]

Silver Line service on Washington Street between Nubian and Downtown Crossing started on July 20, 2002, replacing the former route 49 bus. Additional service to South Station (now signed SL4) began on October 15, 2009.^[1] The station was renamed to Tufts Medical Center on March 19, 2010, after the New England Medical Center similarly changed its name.^[1]^[11] The entire Orange Line, including Tufts Medical Center station, was closed from August 19 to September 18, 2022, during maintenance work.^[12]

Related Research Articles

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.

The Silver Line is a system of bus routes in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts, operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It is operated as part of the MBTA bus system, but branded as bus rapid transit (BRT) as part of the MBTA subway system. Six routes are operated as part of two disconnected corridors. As of 2019, weekday ridership on the Silver Line was 39,000.

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.

Charles/MGH station is a rapid transit station on the MBTA Red Line, elevated above Charles Circle on the east end of the Longfellow Bridge in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The station is named for Charles Circle and the adjacent Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) campus. It has two side platforms, with a glass-walled headhouse structure inside Charles Circle. Charles/MGH station is fully accessible.

Downtown Crossing station is an underground Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit station located in the Downtown Crossing retail district in the downtown core of Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by the Orange Line and Red Line, and is one of four "hub stations" on the MBTA subway system. Downtown Crossing is also a major bus transfer location serving 13 MBTA bus routes, including one Silver Line route. It is the second busiest subway station in the MBTA network, with an average of 24,074 entries per weekday in FY2019.

State station is an underground Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit station located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the transfer point between the Orange Line and the Blue Line, and one of four "hub stations" on the MBTA subway system. The Orange Line has two side platforms on two levels, while the Blue Line has two side platforms on a single level. The station is fully accessible.

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.

Aquarium station is an underground rapid transit station on the MBTA Blue Line in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is located under State Street at Atlantic Avenue on the eastern edge of Boston's Financial District near Boston Harbor. The station is named for the nearby New England Aquarium. It is adjacent to Long Wharf, which is used by two MBTA Boat lines. The station has two side platforms serving the two tracks of the Blue Line; an arched ceiling runs the length of the platform level. With the platforms 50 feet (15 m) below street level, it is the second-deepest station on the MBTA system.

The Winter Street Concourse is a pedestrian tunnel connecting the upper levels of the Downtown Crossing and Park Street subway stations in Boston, Massachusetts. It facilitates movement between the Green and Orange rapid transit lines operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and consequently alleviates congestion on the Red Line.

Ruggles station is an intermodal transfer station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit, bus, and commuter rail services and is located at the intersection of Ruggles and Tremont streets, where the Roxbury, Fenway–Kenmore, and Mission Hill neighborhoods meet. It is surrounded by the campus of Northeastern University. Ruggles is a station stop for the Orange Line subway, as well as the Providence/Stoughton Line, Franklin/Foxboro Line, and Needham Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system. Thirteen MBTA bus routes stop at Ruggles.

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 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.

The Tremont Street subway in Boston's MBTA subway system is the oldest subway tunnel in North America and the third-oldest still in use worldwide to exclusively use electric traction, opening on September 1, 1897. It was originally built, under the supervision of Howard A. Carson as chief engineer, to get streetcar lines off the traffic-clogged streets, instead of as a true rapid transit line. It now forms the central part of the Green Line, connecting Boylston Street to Park Street and Government Center stations.

Chinatown station is a rapid transit station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Orange Line, located at the edge of the Chinatown neighborhood in the downtown core of Boston, Massachusetts. The station has two offset side platforms, which run under Washington Street from Hayward Place to Lagrange Street. The three entrances are located at the intersection of Washington Street with Essex and Boylston streets. Like all Orange Line stations, both the subway platforms and all bus connections are fully accessible.

Massachusetts Avenue station is a rapid transit station in the South End and Symphony neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Orange Line, and is located at 380 Massachusetts Avenue. The station opened in 1987 as part of the renovation and relocation of the southern Orange Line into the Southwest Corridor. The Orange line runs parallel to the Northeast Corridor, which carries Amtrak trains and several MBTA commuter rail lines.

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.

South Station is a transfer station on the MBTA rapid transit Red Line and bus rapid transit Silver Line, located at Summer Street and Atlantic Avenue in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is a part of the South Station complex, the second busiest transportation center in New England. Eight MBTA Commuter Rail and three Amtrak intercity rail services terminate at South Station; many of those passengers then transfer to the rapid transit lines to reach other destinations in the city. With 24,639 daily boardings in 2019, South Station is the busiest station on the MBTA rapid transit system.

Medford/Tufts station is a light rail station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line located off Boston Avenue near College Avenue in Medford, Massachusetts, adjacent to Tufts University. The accessible station has a single island platform serving the two tracks of the Medford Branch. It opened on December 12, 2022, as part of the Green Line Extension (GLX), which added two northern branches to the Green Line, and is the northern terminus of the E branch.

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.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
↑ "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 9.
↑ Brelsford, Laura (December 5, 2016). "MBTA System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives: December 2016 Update" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
↑ "2023–24 System Map". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 17, 2023.
1 2 "On the Orange Line" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
↑ Gubernick, Richard. "BIO".
↑ Boston Transit Commission (1914). "Appendix E: Report on Station at Bennet Street". Twentieth Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commission for the Year Ending June 30, 1914. City of Boston. pp. 67-70 – via Internet Archive.
1 2 3 Application of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for a Mass Transportation Capital Improvement Grant for a South Cove Tunnel under the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, As Amended and/or the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1973. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. February 20, 1975.
↑ "Notice of Public Hearing". Boston Globe. January 31, 1975. p. 28 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ Crocket, Douglas S. (July 27, 1985). "T board votes to change the names of some stations". Boston Globe. p. 26 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ Krasner, Jeffery (April 26, 2008). "MBTA prepares to do some serious name-dropping". Boston Globe. pp. A15, A16 – via Newspapers.com. (second page)
↑ "A Rider's Guide to Planning Ahead: Upcoming Orange & Green Line Service Suspensions" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. August 2022.

External links

MBTA - Tufts Medical Center
Google Maps Street View: Washington Street headhouse, Tremont Street headhouse

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[netransit-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.

[fy2019counts-2] "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 9.

[accessdec2016-3] Brelsford, Laura (December 5, 2016). "MBTA System-Wide Accessibility Initiatives: December 2016 Update" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Department of System-Wide Accessibility. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.

[busmap-4] "2023–24 System Map". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 17, 2023.

[orangeline-5] 1 2 "On the Orange Line" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

[6] Gubernick, Richard. "BIO".

[7] Boston Transit Commission (1914). "Appendix E: Report on Station at Bennet Street". Twentieth Annual Report of the Boston Transit Commission for the Year Ending June 30, 1914. City of Boston. pp. 67-70 – via Internet Archive.

[grantapp-8] 1 2 3 Application of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority for a Mass Transportation Capital Improvement Grant for a South Cove Tunnel under the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, As Amended and/or the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1973. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. February 20, 1975.

[9] "Notice of Public Hearing". Boston Globe. January 31, 1975. p. 28 – via Newspapers.com.

[10] Crocket, Douglas S. (July 27, 1985). "T board votes to change the names of some stations". Boston Globe. p. 26 – via Newspapers.com.

[11] Krasner, Jeffery (April 26, 2008). "MBTA prepares to do some serious name-dropping". Boston Globe. pp. A15, A16 – via Newspapers.com. (second page)

[12] "A Rider's Guide to Planning Ahead: Upcoming Orange & Green Line Service Suspensions" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. August 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]