Red Line (MBTA)

Cambridge Tunnel

The Red Line was the last of the four original Boston subway lines (the others being the Green, Orange, and Blue Lines, opened in 1897, 1901, and 1904, respectively) to come into being.

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.^[3]:41

The section from Harvard (and new maintenance facilities at Eliot Yard) to Park Street was opened by the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) 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 (now Charles/MGH) was added above the traffic circle in 1932.

Dorchester Tunnel and Extension

Columbia station (later JFK/UMass) on the Dorchester Extension under construction in 1927

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 (now the Ashmont Branch), 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.^[4]

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 Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line opened on August 26, 1929, using the rest of the Shawmut Branch right-of-way, including Cedar Grove station, and part of the old Dorchester and Milton Branch.

Charles was renamed Charles/MGH in December 1973, and Kendall was renamed Kendall/MIT on August 7, 1978.^[5]

MBTA era and branding

The Red Line was named after its then terminus at Harvard University, whose school color is crimson.

Following the completion of the Dorchester Extension, the line became known as the Cambridge-Dorchester Tunnel. 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. On August 26, 1965, the four rapid transit lines were assigned colored names related to their history and geography. On August 26, 1965, the four rapid transit lines received color designations as part of a systemwide rebranding by the newly formed MBTA. The Cambridge-Dorchester Tunnel became the Red Line because crimson is the official color of Harvard University, then the northern terminus of the line.^[6][7][8]

In 1968, letters were assigned to the south branches, "A" for Quincy (planned to extend to South Braintree) and "C" for Ashmont. "B" was probably reserved for a planned branch from Braintree to Brockton. As new rollsigns were made, this lettering was phased out. In 1994, new electronic signs included a different labeling, "A" for Ashmont, "B" for Braintree and "C" for Alewife.^[9]

South Shore Line

On July 28, 1965, the MBTA signed an agreement with the New Haven Railroad to purchase 11 miles (18 km) 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.^[6][10] 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.^[11] 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 (now JFK/UMass). It ran along the west side of the Old Colony rail right-of-way (which has since been reduced to one track), 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.^[5]

Braintree Extension

Quincy Adams (pictured) and Braintree stations include massive parking garages to accommodate suburban commuters.

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.^[5] The extension was part of the massive 1965 extension plan, although it was delayed due to questions over station siting in Braintree.^[12] 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.^[13]

Northwest Extension

Subway exit hatches at the northern end of the line, where a future extension to Lexington may someday be added

To allow for the construction of the Northwest Extension, which started in 1978, the Red Line was extended temporarily to Harvard–Brattle over former yard and storage tracks on March 24, 1979. This allowed for bus transfers to be provided. The Harvard Bus Tunnel was closed temporarily at the time. On January 31, 1981, the original Harvard station was permanently closed, as its demolition was required. To replace it, a temporary station at Harvard–Holyoke was built across the tracks. The two temporary stations were closed on September 2, 1983 in preparation for the opening of the new Harvard station. On September 6, 1983, the new station at Harvard opened, with trains changing direction at Davis Square without carrying passengers.^[5] Eliot Yard was demolished: Harvard's Kennedy School of Government now sits inside its retaining walls.

The line was extended to Davis with a station at Porter on December 8, 1984. The line was extended to its current terminus at Alewife on March 30, 1985. At the time, all off-peak trains terminated there, but due the incomplete construction of a yard at Alewife, only Ashmont trains ran to Alewife during rush hours. Davis was the terminal for rush hour Braintree trains. These trains were finally extended to Alewife during rush hours on December 26, 1985, with the completion of the yard at Alewife.^[5] During the expansion, the MBTA pioneered an investment in the "Arts on the Line" public art program.

This extension had been scaled back from an original plan to extend the line from Harvard Square to Route 128 in Lexington via the former B&M/MBTA Lexington Branch railroad right-of-way. That plan had been supported by the Town of Lexington, but was scuttled by fierce anti-urban sentiment in parts of Arlington. The right-of-way on which the extension would have been built was developed into the Minuteman Bikeway.

Recent history

Old and new construction at Central Square station

Platforms on older stations were lengthened mostly in the 1980s to allow six-car trains, which first ran January 21, 1988.^[5] (The Northwest Extension and the South Shore Line were built with 6-car platforms). JFK/UMass (then called Columbia) was the first to be modified, in 1970, followed by Ashmont and Shawmut in 1981. Between 1984 and 1987, the remaining stations on the original Cambridge-Dorchester Line were rebuilt or modified.^[5] In stations like Central and Downtown Crossing, the renovation is apparent where the new architecture is different from the old.

A second Red Line platform opened at JFK/UMass on December 14, 1988, allowing Braintree Branch trains to stop at the station.^[5] Since then, the configuration of the line has remained essentially static. In January 2012, the state's Central Transportation Planning staff released a conceptual plan for widening the Southeast Expressway, which would involve completely rearranging JFK/UMass station. The Red Line would be reduced to two tracks sharing a single platform, similar to the arrangements at Andrew, and the junction between the Ashmont and Braintree branches would be streamlined and moved to just south of the station. This would allow for a second commuter rail track through the station, allowing more trains to stop and eliminating a major bottleneck for the Old Colony Lines and the Greenbush Line.^[14]

A $255 million project, which started in Spring 2013, will replace structural elements of the Longfellow Bridge, which carries the line across the Charles River between the Charles/MGH and Kendall/MIT stations. The project will require at least 25 weekend shutdowns, including temporary relocation of the tracks (substitute bus shuttle service will be provided). All outbound roadway traffic will be detoured from the bridge for the three years of construction. The estimated completion date has been pushed back to late 2018.^[15] The rebuilt bridge will have widened sidewalks and bike lanes.^[16][17]

On December 10, 2015, a Red Line train in revenue service traveled from Braintree to North Quincy without an operator in the cab before it was stopped by cutting power to the third rail. The MBTA initially said that the train appeared to have been tampered with and the incident was not an accident, but later determined operator error to have been the cause.^[18]

On February 21, 2018 at 9:20am a Red Line train motor failed on approach to Andrew station causing the train to derail and damage 300 feet of track. The incident also broke at least three windows on the train and sent a large quantity of smoke into the train and Andrew station. A 3 station portion of the Red Line was replaced with buses for 7.5 hours following the incident, resulting in major disruption to the transit network.^[19]

Winter issues and resiliency work

Buses forming a "bus bridge" between JFK/UMass and North Quincy in August 2015 during winter resiliency work

During the unusually brutal winter of 2014–15, the entire MBTA system was shut down on several occasions by heavy snowfalls. The aboveground sections of the Orange and Red lines were particularly vulnerable due to their exposed third rail, which iced over during storms. When a single train stopped due to power loss, other trains soon stopped as well; without continually running trains pushing snow off the rails, the lines were quickly covered in snow. (Because the Blue Line was built with overhead lines on its surface section due to its proximity to corrosive salt air, it was not subject to icing issues.)

During 2015, the MBTA implemented its $83.7 million Winter Resiliency Program, much of which focused on preventing similar issues with the Orange and Red lines. The section of the Braintree Branch between JFK/UMass and Wollaston had old infrastructure and is largely built on an embankment, rendering it more vulnerable. New third rail with heaters and a different metal composition to reduce wear was installed along with snow fences and switch heaters.^[20][21] The work required bustitution of the line from JFK/UMass to North Quincy on many weeknights.^[22] The program did not include work south of Wollaston.^[20]

In July 2016, the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a $18.5 million contract to complete work along the remainder of the southern branches. The work includes all remaining third rail replacement, track work between Fields Corner and Savin Hill, signal system work between North Quincy and Braintree, and track replacement at Quincy Center, Quincy Adams, and Braintree. The work will be completed in the second half of 2016.^[23]

1912 Cambridge Subway and 1928 Dorchester cars

1912 cars at the original Harvard station

Former BERy-era heavy-rail subway cars at Eliot Yards, 1967. These cars are of similar design to the 1912 cars.

The Cambridge Subway began service in 1912 with 40 all-steel motor cars built by the Standard Steel Car Company, and 20 cars from the Laconia Car Company. They had a novel design as a result of studies about Boston‘s existing lines, with a then-extraordinary length of 69 feet (21 m) over buffers, and a large standee capacity, while weighing only 85,900 pounds (39,000 kg). They had an all-new door arrangement: three single sliding doors per side evenly distributed along the car‘s length so that the maximum distance to a door was around 9 feet (2.7 m). Upon their debut, the new subway cars were the largest in the world.^[28]:127 A similar configuration was later adopted by the BMT's Standard cars in New York and the Broad Street Subway cars in Philadelphia.

About 20 feet (6.1 m) of the Boston car was separated by a bulkhead for a smoking compartment. In contrast to the elevated lines, passenger flowthrough was not intended, and every door was used as both entrance and exit.^[29] Thirty-five cars of similar design were added in 1919 from the Pressed Steel Car Company, followed by 60 more in 1928 from the Bradley Car Company for the Dorchester Extension.^[6]

1963 Pullman cars

1400 series work cars (at right) at Cabot Yard

The 1912–1928 Cambridge-Dorchester fleet remained in service until 1963, when it was replaced all at once by 92 married-pair cars from Pullman-Standard numbered 01400–01491. These carbon-steel cars were originally delivered in a blue, white and gold paint scheme (the state colors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which funded their purchase),^[30] and retained that color scheme into the early 1980s when most were finally repainted into Red Line colors for the opening of the Alewife Extension. The 01400s (or 1400s) were the last pre-MBTA transit cars and also the last ones built without air conditioning. All were retired from passenger service by 1994 due to mechanical and electrical equipment not being able to operate with six-car trains. With delivery of the 1800-series, four cars (01470/01471 and 01480/01481) remain as Red Line work equipment, and 01450 and 01455 are preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.^[6]

Aluminum-bodied cars

A train of 1600 series cars on the Longfellow Bridge

Three series of older aluminum-bodied cars were built: the 1500 and 1600 series by Pullman-Standard 1969–1970 (known as the "No. 1" fleet), and 1700–57 by UTDC in 1988 ("No. 2" fleet). These cars seat 62 to 64 each and approximately 132 cars are in active service as of 2015, including some of the oldest cars still in regular revenue service on the MBTA system. All cars are painted white with red trim, with manually operated exterior roll signs. Before their overhauls, the 1500 and 1600 series had a brushed aluminum livery with a thin red stripe and were usually called "Silverbird" cars from their natural metal finish.

All these cars use traditional DC traction motors with electromechanical controls manufactured by Westinghouse and can interoperate. The 1500 and 1700 series cars could operate as singletons, but in practice are always operated as mated pairs. The 1600 series could only operate as married pairs. Originally, the 1500s were double-ended and had two cabs, but were converted to single ended during their midlife overhaul.^[31] Headlights are still present on the non-cab ends on the 1500s. The 1700s also have headlights on their non-cab end, but they were built with only one cab.

Stainless steel-bodied cars

A train of 1800 series cars

The 1800-85 series of stainless steel–bodied cars was built in 1993–94 by Bombardier from components manufactured in Canada and assembled in Barre, Vermont. (This is known as the "No. 3" fleet.) These cars seat 50, and 86 cars are in active service. An automated stop announcement system provides station announcements synchronized with visual announcements in red LED signs ceiling-mounted in each car. These cars are stainless steel with red trim, and use yellow LCD exterior signs. These cars originally had red cloth seats (in contrast to the black leather seats of other cars), but in the early 21st century the cloth seats were replaced with black leather seats. More recently the black leather seats were replaced with vandalism-proof reinforced carpet type seats containing multi-colored patterns, as with the other Red Line stock.

They have modern AC traction motors with solid state controls manufactured by General Electric, can operate only as mated pairs and can partially interoperate with older cars in emergencies or non-revenue equipment moves, but not in revenue service.

Big Red high-capacity cars

Interior of a "Big Red" car

In December 2008, the MBTA began running a pair of modified 1800 series cars without seats, in order to increase train capacity. The MBTA became the first transit operator in the United States with heavy rail operations to run cars modified for this purpose. These cars, set 1802-1803, have been designated as "Big Red" cars, denoted by large stickers adjacent to the doors. New automated service announcements at stations alert passengers to the arrival of these high-capacity trains.^[32] So far, the MBTA has only one pair of modified cars, in a consist that runs only once during the morning rush hour, toward Alewife and once during the evening rush hour toward Braintree, departing Alewife at the top of the evening rush.

Replacement cars

Two-thirds-length mockup on display in August 2018

In October 2013, MassDOT announced plans for a $1.3 billion subway car order for the Orange and Red Lines, which would provide 74 new cars to replace the 1500/1600-series cars, with an option to increase the number to 132 to replace the 1700-series cars.^[33]

On October 22, 2014, the MassDOT Board awarded a $567 million contract to build 132 replacement railcars for the Red Line, as well as additional cars for the Orange Line to a China based manufacturer CNR (which became part of CRRC the following year). CRRC will build the new cars at a new manufacturing plant in Springfield, Massachusetts at the site of the former New England Westinghouse Company, with initial deliveries of Red Line cars expected in 2019 (Orange Line deliveries will begin a year earlier) and all cars in service by 2023. In conjunction with the new rolling stock, the remainder of the $1.3 billion allocated for the project will pay for testing, signal improvements and expanded maintenance facilities, as well as other related expenses.^[34] The new cars will hold 15 additional passengers, will have four wheelchair parking areas per car, and will be equipped with on-board video surveillance. The cars will have wider doors to allow faster boarding at busy stations, and can allow wheelchair access even if one of a pair of door panels fails to open.^[35]

In December 2016, the MBTA opted to purchase additional identical cars from CRRC, allowing replacement rather than costly refurbishment of the 01800 series cars. The order is for 120 cars costing $277 million, with an option for 14 additional cars. Combined, the 2014 and 2016 orders will provide a single common fleet for the entire Red Line by 2023, with enough cars to eventually run 3-minute headways at peak.^[36]