Red Line (MBTA)
The Red Line is a rapid transit line operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority as part of the MBTA subway system. The line runs south and east underground from Alewife station in North Cambridge through Somerville and Cambridge, surfacing to cross the Longfellow Bridge then returning to tunnels under Downtown Boston. It continues underground through South Boston, splitting into two branches on the surface at JFK/UMass station. The Ashmont branch runs southwest through Dorchester to Ashmont station, where the connecting light rail Mattapan Line continues to Mattapan station. The Braintree branch runs southeast through Quincy and Braintree to Braintree station.
The Red Line operates during normal MBTA service hours with six-car trains. The 218-car active fleet consists of three orders of cars built in 1969–70, 1987–89, and 1993–94. A 252-car order from CRRC is being built from 2019 to 2027. The Red Line is fully grade-separated; trains are driven by operators with automatic train control for safety. Cabot Yard in South Boston is used for heavy maintenance and storage; yards at Alewife, Ashmont, and Braintree are also used for storage. All 22 Red Line stations are fully accessible. Averaging 119,000 weekday passengers in 2023, the Red Line has the highest ridership of the MBTA subway lines.
The Boston Elevated Railway opened its Cambridge tunnel between and in 1912. It was extended south as the Dorchester Tunnel to Washington in 1915, in 1916, in 1917, and in 1918. The Dorchester extension added three stops to in 1927 and two more stops to Ashmont in 1928. Charles was added as an infill station in 1932. The newly formed MBTA assigned colors to its subway lines in 1965, with the Cambridge–Dorchester line becoming the Red Line. The MBTA added the three-station South Shore Line to in 1971; it was extended to Braintree in 1980, with added as an infill in 1983. The Red Line Northwest Extension, originally planned to run to Arlington Heights or Route 128, opened to in 1984 and Alewife in 1985.
History
Cambridge Tunnel
What is now the Red Line was the last of the four original Boston subway lines to open. The Tremont Street subway opened in 1897, the Main Line Elevated opened in 1901, and the East Boston Tunnel opened in 1904.Construction of the Cambridge Tunnel, connecting Harvard Square to Boston, was delayed by a dispute over the number of intermediate stations to be built along the new line. Cambridge residents, led by Mayor Wardwell, wanted at least five stations built along the line, while suburbanites interested in faster through travel argued for only a single intermediate station, at Central Square. The contending groups finally compromised on two intermediate stations, at Central and Kendall Squares, allowing construction to start in 1909.
The section from Harvard to Park Street was opened by the Boston Elevated Railway on March 23, 1912. At Harvard, a prepayment station provided easy transfer to streetcars routed through what is now the Harvard bus tunnel. From Harvard, the Cambridge tunnel traveled beneath Massachusetts Avenue to Central Square station. It then continued under Mass. Ave until Main Street, which it followed to reach Kendall station. The underground line then rose onto the Longfellow Bridge, using a central right-of-way which had been reserved during the bridge's 1900–1906 construction. On the Boston side, the line briefly became an elevated railway, as vehicle lanes descended beneath it to Charles Circle; the tracks then immediately entered a tunnel beneath Beacon Hill, leading to new lower-level platforms at Park Street Under. Charles Station was added above the traffic circle in 1932.
Dorchester Tunnel and extension
Work soon began on extension to the south. The Dorchester Tunnel to Washington Street and South Station Under opened on April 4, 1915 and December 3, 1916, with transfers to the Washington Street Tunnel and Atlantic Avenue Elevated, respectively. Further extensions opened to Broadway on December 15, 1917 and Andrew on June 29, 1918, both prepayment stations for streetcar transfer. The Broadway station included an upper level with its own tunnel for streetcars, which was soon abandoned in 1919 due to most lines being truncated to Andrew. The upper level at Broadway was later incorporated into the mezzanine.Next came the Dorchester extension, following a rail right-of-way created in 1870 by the Shawmut Branch Railroad. In 1872, the right-of-way was acquired by the Old Colony Railroad to connect their main line at Harrison Square with the Dorchester and Milton Branch Railroad, running from the Old Colony at Neponset, west to what is now Mattapan station. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad succeeded the Old Colony in operating the branch, but passenger service ceased on September 4, 1926, in anticipation of the construction of the BERy's Dorchester extension.
The BERy opened the first phase of the Dorchester extension, to Fields Corner station, on November 5, 1927, south from Andrew, then southeast to the surface and along the west side of the Old Colony mainline in a depressed right-of-way. Columbia and Savin Hill stations were built on the surface at the sites of former Old Colony stations. The remainder of the extension opened to Ashmont and Codman Yard on September 1, 1928, and included Shawmut station, where there had been a surface Old Colony station, but where the new rapid transit station was placed underground. The first phase of the Mattapan Line opened on August 26, 1929, using the rest of the Shawmut Branch right-of-way, including Cedar Grove station, and part of the Dorchester and Milton Branch.
On January 13, 1961, the MTA began operating "modified express service" on the line during the morning rush hour, following the introduction of similar service on the Forest Hills–Everett line the month before. Every other train bypassed Shawmut, Savin Hill, Columbia, and Charles stations. This was discontinued in September 1961 to reduce wait times at the skipped stations, most of which were outdoors.
Charles was renamed Charles/MGH in December 1973, and Kendall was renamed Kendall/MIT on August 7, 1978. In January 1981, the MBTA proposed to close the Ashmont branch on Sundays – and the Mattapan Line at all times – beginning that March due to severe budget issues. The closure was cancelled, though the lines were closed from June 20, 1981, to January 16, 1982, for track replacement and tunnel repairs.
MBTA era and branding
The line was sometimes referred to as the Cambridge–Dorchester line and the Cambridge–Dorchester subway. It was marked on maps as "Route 1". After taking over operations in August 1964, the MBTA began rebranding many elements of Boston's public transportation network. Colors were assigned to the rail lines on August 26, 1965 as part of a wider modernization developed by Cambridge Seven Associates, with the Cambridge–Dorchester line becoming the Red Line. Peter Chermayeff claims to have assigned red to the line because of Harvard's association with crimson.South Shore line
On July 28, 1965, the MBTA signed an agreement with the New Haven Railroad to purchase of the former Old Colony mainline from Fort Point Channel to South Braintree in order to construct a new rapid transit line along the corridor. The line was expected to be completed within two years. The agreement also provided for the MBTA to subsidize commuter service on the railroad's remaining commuter rail lines for $1.2 million annually. Original plans called for the South Shore line to be largely independent of the existing Red Line, with either a northern terminus at the surface level at South Station or a tunnel leading to a stub-end terminal between Post Office Square and State Street. However, it was later decided to have the line be a new southern branch of the Red Line.The first section of the South Shore line, under construction since 1966, opened on September 1, 1971, branching from the original Red Line at a flying junction north of Columbia. It ran along the west side of the Old Colony rail right-of-way, crossing to the east side north of Savin Hill. The northernmost station was North Quincy, with others at Wollaston and Quincy Center. Service began alternating between Ashmont and Quincy. Ashmont service operated with 1400-series cars, while the Quincy branch only had 1500- and 1600-series cars because they had cab signaling.
In December 1969, the MBTA purchased Penn Central's Dover Street Yards for $7 million. The site was used for the South Bay Maintenance Center, which included Red Line shops and an adjacent bus garage. A $7.8 million construction contract was awarded in 1972, with groundbreaking on September 16. The facility was dedicated on June 24, 1974; on December 28, Bartlett Street garage in Roxbury was closed.
Three southbound trains collided inside the Beacon Hill tunnel on August 1, 1975, injuring 132 passengers.
Braintree extension
Beyond Quincy Center, the Braintree extension runs southward to Braintree, opened on March 22, 1980, via an intermediate stop at Quincy Adams which opened on September 10, 1983 due to delays. The extension was part of the massive 1965 extension plan, although it was delayed due to questions over station siting in Braintree. The Boston Transportation Planning Review, published in 1969, proposed North Braintree and South Braintree stations following the Quincy Center station.Several outlying sections of the MBTA subway system, including Quincy Adams and Braintree, originally charged a double fare to account for the additional costs of running service far from downtown. Passengers paid two fares to enter at the stations, and an exit fare when leaving the station. Double fares on the Braintree extension, the last on the system, were discontinued in 2007 as part of a wider fare restructuring.