Chinatown station (MBTA)

Chinatown is a rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Orange Line, and is located at the intersection of Washington Street with Essex and Boylston Streets in downtown Boston. The station is located on the edge of the Chinatown neighborhood, within the Washington Street Theatre District.

Chinatown
A train at the inbound (northbound) platform in 2011
Location640 Washington Street and 1 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates42.3522°N 71.0627°W / 42.3522; -71.0627
Owned byMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Line(s)Washington Street Tunnel
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
Connections MBTA Bus: 11, 191
Construction
Disabled accessYes
History
OpenedNovember 30, 1908 (Orange Line)
July 20, 2002 (Silver Line)
Previous namesBoylston Street / Essex (1908–1967)
Essex (1967–1987)[1]
Traffic
Passengers (2013)6,498 (weekday average boardings)[2]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Tufts Medical Center
toward Forest Hills
 Orange Line Downtown Crossing
toward Oak Grove
Tufts Medical Center
One-way operation
 Silver Line South Station
Terminus
Silver Line Downtown Crossing
Terminus

The two platforms are offset horizontally and vertically, and are not connected, so there is no free transfer between inbound and outbound trains. The station entrances are integrated into buildings on either side of Washington Street. Like all Orange Line stations, both the subway platforms and all bus connections are fully accessible.[2]

History
Now-disused headhouses on Hayward Place

The station originally opened on November 30, 1908 along with the rest of the Washington Street Tunnel. At this time, the Boston Elevated Railway's Main Line (which later became the Orange Line) was moved from the Tremont Street Subway into this new subway.

As with the other stations of the Washington Street Tunnel, the platforms were largely separated and given different names - Boylston for the southbound platform, and Essex for the northbound side.[3] A long sub-passage connecting the inbound and outbound platforms exists, but was sealed off before the station was opened in 1908.[4] The station originally had two additional headhouses: a separate inbound entrance and exit at Hayward Place, and a combined outbound entrance/exit on Lagrange Street. They were closed around the 1970s, though they are still extant and designated as emergency exits. On February 11, 1967, as part of a larger renaming of Orange Line stations, the entire station became Essex.[1]

A $3.3 million modernization of the station was approved on April 2, 1986, with a groundbreaking held on May 30.[5] The project added an elevator only to the northbound platform.[6] On May 4, 1987, the station was renamed Chinatown concurrent with the opening of the Southwest Corridor.[1] An elevator was added to the southbound platform in 2002 at a cost of $5 million, making the station fully accessible.[7][8][9]

Silver Line service on Washington Street between Dudley and Downtown Crossing started on July 20, 2002. Additional service to South Station (route SL4) began on October 15, 2009.[1] In May 2020, the MBTA awarded a design contract for accessibility renovations at Chinatown and State. The work at Chinatown includes reopening the Hayward Place and Lagrange Street entrances with added elevators, replacement of the existing elevators, and lobby renovations.[10]

References
  1. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit.
  2. "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
  3. Colby, Sean (2008). "Can't Get In From Here: The MBTA's hidden entrances". Forgotten Boston. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011.
  4. "Plates 8 and 9". Annual report of the Boston Transit Commission, Volume 11. Boston Transit Commission. 1905. pp. 50–53.
  5. Sanborn, George M. (1992). A Chronicle of the Boston Transit System. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority – via Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  6. MBTA : ACCESS; The Guide to Accessible Services and Facilities. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 1992. p. 12 – via Internet Archive.
  7. Tran Systems and Planners Collaborative (August 24, 2007). "Evaluation of MBTA Paratransit and Accessible Fixed Route Transit Services: Final Report" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
  8. "Executive Summary" (PDF). Program of Mass Transportation. Boston Regional Metropolitan Planning Organization. January 2004. p. ES-8. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 20, 2012.
  9. "Accessibility Projects at the MBTA" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. March 2005.
  10. "Architectural and Engineering Services for Station and Accessibility Improvements" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. May 21, 2020.

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