Green Line (MBTA)

Green Line
Green Line train at Park Street station in 2024
Overview
OwnerMassachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
LocaleBoston, Brookline, Cambridge, Medford, Newton, and Somerville, Massachusetts
Termini
Stations70
Service
TypeSemi-metro, Light rail
SystemMBTA subway
Services4 (B branch, C branch, D branch, E branch)
Rolling stockKinki Sharyo Type 7
AnsaldoBreda Type 8
CAF Type 9
Daily ridership101,000 (2023)[1]
History
OpenedSeptember 1, 1897 (1897-09-01) (Tremont Street subway)
Technical
Line length26.7 miles (43.0 km) [2]
CharacterSubway, grade-separated surface ROW, viaduct, median reservation, street running
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Minimum radius33 feet (10 m)[3]
ElectrificationOverhead line600 V DC
Route map
Map
Mystic Valley Parkway
proposed
Medford/​Tufts
Magoun Square
Gilman Square
East Somerville
Union Square
Lechmere
Lechmere
(
closed
2020
)
Science Park
North Station
Amtrak Orange Line (MBTA)
Canal Street Incline (
closed
2004
)
Haymarket Orange Line (MBTA)
Government Center
Blue Line (MBTA)
Park Street
Red Line (MBTA)Orange Line (MBTA)Silver Line (MBTA)
Boylston
Silver Line (MBTA)
Arlington
Copley
Copley Junction
Prudential
Symphony
Northeastern University
Museum of Fine Arts
Longwood Medical Area
Brigham Circle
Fenwood Road
Mission Park
Riverway
Back of the Hill
Heath Street
Arborway Line (
closed
1985
)
Arborway Line (
closed
1985
)
Forest Hills
Arborway
Hynes Convention Center
Kenmore
Blandford Street Portal
Blandford Street
Boston University East
Boston University Central
Amory Street
Babcock Street
A branch (
closed
1969
)
A branch (
closed
1969
)
Packards Corner
St. Luke's Street
Chester Street
Linden Street
Harvard Avenue
Allston Street
Union Square
Cambridge Street
street-running stops
Oak Square
Oak Square Loop
Newton Corner
Galen Street
street-running stops
Watertown Yard
Packards Corner
Harvard Avenue
Griggs Street
Allston Street
Warren Street
Washington Street
Sutherland Road
Chiswick Road
Chestnut Hill Avenue
to Reservoir Carhouse
South Street
Boston College
Saint Mary's Street Portal
Saint Mary's Street
Hawes Street
Kent Street
Saint Paul Street
Coolidge Corner
Summit Avenue
Brandon Hall
Fairbanks Street
Washington Square
Tappan Street
Dean Road
Englewood Avenue
Fenway Portal
Fenway
Longwood
Brookline Village
Brookline Hills
Beaconsfield
Cleveland Circle
Reservoir Carhouse
Cleveland Circle
Reservoir
Chestnut Hill
Newton Centre
Newton Highlands
Eliot
Waban
Woodland
Riverside
Riverside Carhouse

The Green Line is a semi-metro system[4][5] (form of light rail) run by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in the Boston, Massachusetts, metropolitan area. It is the oldest MBTA subway line, and with tunnel sections dating from 1897, the oldest subway in North America.[6] It runs underground through downtown Boston, and on the surface into inner suburbs via six branches on radial boulevards and grade-separated alignments. With an average daily weekday ridership of 101,000 in 2023, it is among the most heavily used light rail systems in the country. The line was assigned the green color in 1967 during a systemwide rebranding because several branches pass through sections of the Emerald Necklace of Boston.[7][8][9]

The four branches are the remnants of a large streetcar system, which began in 1856 with the Cambridge Horse Railroad and was consolidated into the Boston Elevated Railway several decades later. The branches all travel downtown through the Tremont Street subway, the oldest subway tunnel in North America. The Tremont Street subway opened its first section on September 1, 1897, to take streetcars off overcrowded downtown streets; it was extended five times over the next five decades. The streetcar system peaked in size around 1930 and was gradually replaced with trackless trolleys and buses, with cuts as late as 1985. The new D branch opened on a converted commuter rail line in 1959. The Green Line Extension project extended two branches into Somerville and Medford in 2022.

  1. ^ O'Hara, Mary Ann; Turners, Pat (August 22, 2024). "History of Funding Update" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. p. 2.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference bluebook was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Booz • Allen & Hamilton Inc. (1995). "Applicability of Low-Floor Light Rail Vehicles in North America" (PDF). Transit Cooperative Research Program. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
  4. ^ Ian Yearsley (December 21, 1972). "Trams are coming back". New Scientist. Reed Business Information Ltd. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved August 28, 2023. ... San Francisco and Boston, both with semi-metros and independent plans for new tramcars.
  5. ^ De Leuw, Cather & Company (1976). Light Rail Transit: A State of the Art Review. p. 9. Retrieved August 28, 2023.
  6. ^ Most, Doug (January 26, 2014). "The bigger dig". Boston Globe. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference netransit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Sanborn, George M. (1992). A Chronicle of the Boston Transit System. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2016 – via MIT.
  9. ^ "Curiosity Carcards" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2016.