Haymarket North Extension
The Haymarket North Extension is a section of the
Route
The Haymarket North Extension begins just north of
Sullivan Square, Wellington, and Malden Center are major bus terminals for the northern suburbs, serving MBTA bus routes from as far as Woburn, Reading, and Saugus.
Station listing
Station | Opening date[1] | Notes |
---|---|---|
Oak Grove | March 20, 1977 | |
Malden Center | December 27, 1975 | Transfer to Haverhill Line |
Wellington | September 6, 1975 | |
Assembly | September 2, 2014 | Infill station (not part of original extension) |
Sullivan Square | April 7, 1975 | Different location from elevated station it replaced |
Community College | April 7, 1975 | |
North Station | April 7, 1975 | Replaced elevated station; rebuilt in 2005 as an underground "superstation" with transfers to the Green Line |
Architecture
Like the stations of the South Shore Line (the Braintree branch of the Red Line), built in the same period, the original Haymarket North Extension stations were constructed in a Brutalist style, with angular concrete forms. Community College and Sullivan Square, enclosed under the I-93 viaduct, are primarily rectilinear forms; the later stations incorporate angled forms for staircases and elevators as well.[citation needed]
History
Planning
Unlike the
In 1970, the MBTA made plans to develop a dual-mode diesel-electric railcar that could use the existing commuter rail tracks north of Oak Grove to allow through service between Boston and Reading. These BIPED (bi-powered equipment development) cars were intended to also be usable on other routes, including on the Fitchburg Line past Alewife and on South Shore routes past Braintree.[4] The plan was soon quashed by the state Department of Public Utilities, which objected to the safety risks of an electrical issue igniting diesel fuel in the downtown tunnels.[5]
Construction
The tunnel under the Charles River was constructed as an
The Edward Dana Bridge (named for the former BERy and MTA general manager) over the Mystic River cost $9.1 million alone. It is essentially two parallel bridges, one with three rapid transit tracks and the other with a single commuter rail/freight track. The platforms were built to handle trains of six 65-foot (20 m)-long cars, rather than the existing trains of four 50-foot (15 m) cars; after modifications to other stations, six-car trains began operation in 1987.[7][1]
The Charlestown Elevated closed on April 4, 1975, and the new segment from Haymarket to Sullivan opened on April 7.[1] This segment was a direct replacement for the El: North Station and Sullivan replaced nearby elevated stations, while Community College roughly replaced the former City Square and Thompson Square stations. The next section, from Sullivan over the new Edward Dana Bridge to Wellington, opened on September 6, 1975.[1] The Wellington Shops for railcar maintenance, which replaced the Sullivan Square Shops and later the Forest Hills Shops, were opened with this extension. An additional segment to the elevated Malden Center, which includes a platform for the Haverhill Line, opened on December 27, 1975.[1] The sixth and terminal station, Oak Grove, opened on March 20, 1977.[1]
The speed and cost of the project proved controversial. Opening the first segment to Sullivan Square took 8+1⁄2 years – twice as long as expected – and the $180 million cost was over double original estimates. In March 1975, governor Michael Dukakis commented "My kids could build that thing out to Melrose. I don't comprehend it."[7] MBTA officials blamed three factors for the delays and rising costs. The B&M refused to allow full construction access until the MBTA spend $18 million to purchase the Western Route from Somerville to Wilmington – a transaction not completed until September 1973 – and numerous B&M mainline and yard tracks had to be relocated.[7][1] The underpinning of buildings for the tunnel construction, and difficulties with the engineering firm that designed the project, were also blamed.[7]
Reading plans and third track
The extension was originally planned to continue further north to Reading and replace commuter rail service entirely between Boston and Reading. Under that plan, without commuter tracks between Boston and Reading, all Haverhill trains would have continued to use the Lowell Line and Wildcat Branch. That routing was used for all Haverhill service between 1959 and its termination in 1976.[8] (When Haverhill service returned in 1979, it was routed via Reading; only a handful of rush hour trains, plus Amtrak's Downeaster service, still use the Wildcat Branch.)[1][8]
A third express track was built as part of the extension; it would have been extended north to provide express service to Reading. The 2.25 miles (3.62 km) actually built run from just south of Community College to just north of Wellington.
The third track is occasionally used for other purposes like testing new equipment and rerouting trains during extreme weather conditions.[9] In 2007, it was used to test new Blue Line cars.[12] During the Assembly station project, outbound trains were shifted to the third track and inbound trains to the normal outbound track to allow construction work on the station.[13]
Assembly station
In the early 2000s, Somerville began planning the
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). Boston Street Railway Association.
- ISBN 0870237802.
- ^ A Chronicle of the Boston Transit System. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 1981. pp. 3–6 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Plotkin, A.S. (July 19, 1970). "MBTA shopping for versatile rail car". Boston Globe. p. 55 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Carr, Robert B. (August 19, 1970). "DPU bars MBTA use of BIPED". Boston Globe. p. 25 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Chapter 2: Area North of Causeway Street". Appendices Volume 1: Supportive Engineering Report (Book 1 of 2). Third Harbor Tunnel, I-90/Central Artery, I-93, Boston: Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and Supplemental Final Section 4(f) Evaluation. United States Federal Highway Administration. 1985. pp. 2–10 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f Plotkin, A.S. (March 23, 1975). "It took too long, cost too much, but new Orange Line almost done". Boston Globe. pp. C-1, C-4 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ ISBN 9780685412947.
- ^ a b c Donovan, William J.; Pave, Martin (April 21, 1982). "GAO raps T on expenditures". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Plotkin, A.S. (4 September 1972). "MBTA says no Malden express". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Haymarket-North Transit Extension". Rollsign. Vol. 9, no. 8/9. Boston Street Railway Association. August–September 1972.
- ^ Long, Tom (July 26, 2007). "It's true, new Blue Line cars are in the works". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Crucial Progress Continues on Assembly Station Project". Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. January 30, 2013.
External links
Media related to Haymarket North Extension at Wikimedia Commons