theOrangeLine
Images from around the Orange Line
The Orange Line has changed more since it was first built than any other transit line in Boston. If you were to compare today’s Orange Line with yesterdays, there are few similarities.
The old Orange Line was known as the Main Line or "El" because most of it was on elevated track. It ran from Everett, though Charlestown, over the Charlestown bridge, turned toward North Station, and then dove into the ground next to the Green Line. If you go by the Charlestown bridge you can see there is a center part where the train used to go and if you look at the pavement you can see where the supports once were. The underground portions of the Orange Line are just as curious as the elevated tracks. The platforms of each station are built not directly across from one another, like in Central and Kendall, but diagonal. That is to say if you were to look down the track from the platform you are standing on you would see the other platform. The strangest of all these platforms is at State. The outbound and inbound platforms are almost a block apart and on top of each other. There is a long walkway in-between.
In the early 1970’s it was decided to extend the Orange Line. But instead of extending the elevated track, it was decided that it would be better to tear down the track and build a new line along the Commuter Rail track to Reading. The El from North Station to Everett was torn down and the northern part of the Orange Line as it is today was built from Haymarket to Oak Grove in Malden. The idea was to have it go all the way to Route 128 in Reading but NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) came out against the extension and the northern towns decided to go with Commuter Rail.
Meanwhile in the early 1970’s, the Southwest Expressway helped usher in the death of the southern part of the El. The Southwest Expressway was an extension of I-95 up into Boston from Canton along the Commuter Rail line. Where about Ruggles station is today would have been a large interchange where I-95 would have met up with another unbuilt highway, the Inner Belt. These highway projects would have displaced many people and left huge elevated highways through the centers or Roxbury and Cambridge. After long public battles, Governor Francis Sargent declared a moratorium of all highways to be built inside Route 128. This left a huge, long strip of cleared land going unused….what a great place to relocate the Orange Line! In reality, the Southwest Expressway was to be built with a lane for the relocated Orange Line from the beginning. After the highway was scrapped plans came out for a new and better Orange Line. The idea was to have the Orange Line extended south and west from Forest Hills to Reading and Needham, respectfully. However, to the south was a delicate wetland and to the west were NIMBY’s. Needham decided to go with Commuter Rail so not to have "that riff-raff" in their town. Work began on the Southwest Corridor in the late 1970’s and was completed in 1987. The very day it opened, the El closed for good along Washington St. in Roxbury.
The problem with the Southwest Corridor today is that it travels very close to the E branch of the Green Line. Go to the Mass Ave stop on the Orange Line and walk half a block and you will be at the Symphony stop on the E branch. Also, the old El ran straight through a very densely populated area, the South End. That aside, the Orange Line shows that the MBTA really doesn’t care allot about minorities. The Orange Line travels through the sections of Boston that are most heavily populated with minorities. The Orange Line is very dirty and has the longest time distance between two trains than any other line. The cars are dark and cramped and have a nasty faux wood wallpaper in them.
Dedham
My ideas for the Orange Line are to clean up the stations and add more cars, new cars, so there is less wait time. As for extensions, the MBTA has no immediate plans to extend the Orange Line but I think that a short extension west through West Roxbury to Dedham would be best. This area is served by Commuter Rail that runs to Needham. This extension would serve the most number of people. It would follow the current Commuter Rail track from Forest Hills to West Roxbury where it would then south to Dedham Square and finally east to Readville.
West Roxbury/Dedham extension map 200kb
Also, a new development in Assembly Square in Somerville is to get a new Orange Line stop. Just above Sullivan Square, housing and shopping centers are to be built and this would be a boon for the square.
Reading
When the Orange Line was originally relocated from the Charlestown El, the plan was to extend it to Route 128 in Reading. However, NIMBYism prevailed and the Orange Line was stopped at Oak Grove and the rest of the route got Commuter Rail. If you look at the line today you will see a third track that is rarely used from North Station to Wellington. This was to be an express track. If the Orange Line is extended north, the express track should be extended as well. The line would extend along the current commuter rail with an express track.
Saugus
By far the largest abandoned former train line is the Saugus Branch of the old Boston and Maine. This leaves North Station and heads to Malden but it does so on the other side of the Malden River than the current Orange Line. When the Main Line El (what the Orange Line used to be know as) was first going to be extended it was going to be built next to this right-of-way. It wasn’t because BERy ran out of money but eventually the Orange Line made its way to Malden.
The problem here is that now Everett is no longer directly served by rapid transit. This extension would defiantly fix that. The extension would begin just north of Sullivan Sq. The line would cross the Mystic River where it could go one of two ways. One way would tunnel under Broadway all the way up to Route 60 while the other would be built along the old ROW and parallel Main St. Eventually the two branches will meet up again where Broadway and Route 60 meet. The line would continue east to Linden Sq and north into Saugus. The line makes a large curve east and makes its way to Lynn. Near the end of the extension the line would split from the former ROW and tunnel under South Common and Central Sts and connect with the Blue Line and Commuter Rail in Central Sq Lynn.
Everett and Saugus extension map 300kb
Saugus High Speed Line
Instead of extending the Orange Line all the way out, another idea is to build it short spur to Linden Sq and and a High Speed Trolley Line like the Mattapan Branch of the Red Line. It would start at Liberty Sq. in Lynn at the train station. There it would head along Market St. to City Hall Sq. and go west along the Lynn Commons creating a nice boulevard effect. After that the tracks would enter a reserved ROW and connect with the abandoned train line. After traveling through Sagus, Malden, and Everett the line would go over the Mystic River and terminate at Sullivan Sq.
Waltham/Newton Extension
The extension starts after Back Bay station and follows the Worcester commuter rail line. It would make stops in Allston, North Brighton, Newton Corner, Newtonville, West Newton,
Auburndale, and Riverside. This branch just replaces the commuter rail service with rapid transit.
The second branch spurs off after North Brighton and stops near the Arsenal Mall, Watertown Square where it will either follow an abandoned ROW or Route 20 to Bemis and then to Waltham Center where it could be extended further to Route 128.
