Ruggles station

RUGGLES RUGGLES
Orange Line and commuter rail trains at Ruggles
Location Ruggles Street at Tremont Streets
Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°20′10″N 71°05′22″W / 42.3362°N 71.0895°W / 42.3362; -71.0895Coordinates: 42°20′10″N 71°05′22″W / 42.3362°N 71.0895°W / 42.3362; -71.0895
Owned by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Line(s) Northeast Corridor
Orange Line
Platforms 1 island platform (Orange Line)
1 island platform (Northeast Corridor)
Tracks 2 (Orange Line)
3 (Northeast Corridor)
Connections MBTA Bus: 8, 15, 19, 22, 23, 28, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, CT2, CT3
Construction
Bicycle facilities 12 spaces
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone 1A (Commuter Rail)
History
Opened May 4, 1987 (Orange Line)[1]
October 5, 1987 (Commuter Rail)[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2012) 1,690 daily boardings[2] (Commuter Rail)
Passengers (2013) 12,433 daily boardings[3] (Orange Line)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station
Franklin Line
Needham Line
Providence/​Stoughton Line
toward Forest Hills
Orange Line
toward Oak Grove

Ruggles is an intermodal transfer station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves 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. The station occupies the site that was previously the South End Grounds, home of the former Boston Braves from 1871 to 1914. 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 Line, and Needham Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system. Thirteen bus routes stop at Ruggles, including four of the fifteen key MBTA bus routes.

Ruggles station opened on May 4, 1987 and was built as part of an Orange Line realignment project which relocated the former Washington Street Elevated Orange Line service into the Southwest Corridor. Commuter rail service to the station began on October 5, 1987.[1] Ruggles is located at milepost 226.5, 1.1 miles from Back Bay and 2.2 miles from South Station.[4]

Station layout

A total of five tracks run through the station: two for the Orange Line and three for commuter rail. Of the three commuter rail tracks (also used by Amtrak, which does not stop), only tracks 1 and 3 serve the station; track 2 (the far inbound track) bypasses it.[4] The main bus boarding area is located next to track 2.

G Street Level Exit/Entrance
M Mezzanine To entrances/exits
P
Platforms		 Southbound ← Orange Line toward Forest Hills (Roxbury Crossing)
Island platform, doors will open on the left
Northbound → Orange Line toward Oak Grove (Massachusetts Avenue) →
Commuter rail ← Needham Line, Providence/Stoughton Line, and Franklin Line →
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Commuter rail ← Needham Line, Providence/Stoughton Line, and Franklin Line →
Commuter rail Amtrak ← Passing track →

Future plans

Urban Ring

Ruggles was a proposed stop on the Urban Ring Project.[5] The Urban Ring was to be a circumferential Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Line designed to connect the current radial MBTA rail lines, to reduce overcrowding in the downtown stations, but it was canceled around 2006. Under draft plans released in 2008, the Urban Ring would have approached Ruggles from the west on a reserved surface right-of-way on the north side of Ruggles Street. Buses would have used the existing bus loop; the existing side access from Tremont Street would have connected to dedicated bus lanes on Melnea Cass Boulevard.[6]

Second commuter rail platform

The deteriorated and closed northern half of the existing commuter rail platform, and the planned location of the second commuter rail platform, in 2015

A number of smaller projects in the corridor have been approved; among them is adding a second commuter rail platform to serve Track 2 at Ruggles, thus allowing all commuter rail trains to stop there. Currently, about 30% of trains do not stop, as reaching the platform would require crossing over to Track 1 or Track 3. The MBTA began consideration of a second platform in 1993, just six years after Ruggles opened.[7] A preliminary study in 2008 recommended a full-length 800-foot platform located entirely east of the busway bridge.[8]

The MBTA began holding public meetings in 2012, with the new platform now to be located next to the existing platform. It will be split in two sections connected by a short pedestrian tunnel under the busway bridge; the gap will be short enough to allow all doors on a train to still open onto the platform.[9] In September 2014, the MBTA received a $20 million TIGER grant for the project, which is estimated to cost $30 million in total. Besides the new platform, work will include lighting and security upgrades, elevator improvements, and rehabilitation of the deteriorated northern half of the existing platform, which is blocked off from use.[10]

By March 2016, the project was at 90% design and expected to reach 100% design by mid-2016, when it would be advertised for bidding. Construction was set to begin in late 2016 and last through 2018.[9] In December 2016, the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a $1.6 million expansion of the project scope to include reconstruction of the lower busway, elevator replacements, additional station entrances, and other accessibility improvements.[11] Bidding took place in May and June 2017; on June 26, the Board approved a $19.667 million construction contract (lower than the $22 million projected cost).[12]

A groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which is expected to cost $38.5 million in total, was held on August 22, 2017.[13][14] Construction was estimated to last from 2017 to 2019.[11] A revised timeline was published in November 2017 that had construction lasting from November 2017 to Fall 2020, two years later than originally anticipated.

Bus connections

Buses in the lower busway in 2016

Ruggles also serves as a major transfer point and terminal for MBTA Bus services. Most routes enter a deboarding platform from Ruggles Street and proceed to a below-grade boarding area which exits back onto Ruggles; some routes enter and/or exit on a side connection to Columbus Avenue and Tremont Street.

  • 8 Harbor Point/UMass – Kenmore Station via B.U. Medical Center & Dudley Station
  • 15 Kane Sq. or Fields Corner Station – Ruggles Station via Uphams Corner
  • 19 Fields Corner Station – Kenmore or Ruggles Station via Grove Hall & Dudley Station
  • 22 Ashmont Station – Ruggles Station via Talbot Ave. & Jackson Square
  • 23 Ashmont Station – Ruggles Station via Washington St.
  • 28 Mattapan Station – Ruggles Station via Dudley Station
  • 42 Forest Hills Station – Dudley or Ruggles Station via Washington St.
  • 43 Ruggles Station – Park & Tremont Sts. via Tremont St.
  • 44 Jackson Square – Ruggles Station via Seaver St. and Humboldt Ave.
  • 45 Franklin Park Zoo – Ruggles Sta. via Blue Hill Ave.
  • 47 Central Sq., Cambridge – Broadway Station via B.U. Medical Center, Dudley Station and the Longwood Medical Area
  • CT2 Sullivan Station – Ruggles Station via Kendall/M.I.T.
  • CT3 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Andrew Station via B.U. Medical Center

References

  1. 1 2 3 Belcher, Jonathan (October 24, 2017). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA District 1964-2017" (PDF). NETransit.
  2. ↑ Humphrey, Thomas J. (21 December 2012). "MBTA Commuter Rail Passenger Count Results" (PDF). Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
  4. 1 2 Held, Patrick R. (2010). "Massachusetts Bay Colony Railroad Track Charts" (PDF). Johns Hopkins Association for Computing Machinery. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Urban Ring Phase 2 FACT SHEET" (PDF). January 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
  6. ↑ "The Urban Ring Phase 2: Revised Draft Environmental Impact Report/Statement" (PDF). Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation. November 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 14, 2017.
  7. ↑ "MBTA Ruggles Station Commuter Rail Platform Project: Legislative Briefing September 20, 2012" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  8. ↑ Jacobs Engineering (11 September 2008). "Ruggles Station Platform Study" (PDF). MASCO Inc. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Ruggles Station Platform Project". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "TIGER 2014 Awards" (PDF). U.S. Department of Transportation. September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  11. 1 2 "FMCB votes to expand design of Ruggles Station Transportation Project" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 19, 2016.
  12. ↑ "MBTA Construction Contract No. S31CN02: Ruggles Station Commuter Rail Platform Project" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 26, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Baker-Polito Administration, Federal and Local Officials Celebrate Ruggles Station Project Groundbreaking". MassDOT Blog (Press release). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. August 22, 2017.
  14. ↑ Heyward, Jasmine (August 22, 2017). "Work officially gets underway on Ruggles Station improvement project". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
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