Andrew (MBTA station)

ANDREW
An inbound Red Line train at Andrew in 2011
Location	Dorchester Avenue at Southampton Street South Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°19′49″N 71°03′26″W / 42.33019°N 71.05712°W / 42.33019; -71.05712Coordinates: 42°19′49″N 71°03′26″W / 42.33019°N 71.05712°W / 42.33019; -71.05712
Owned by	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Line(s)	Red Line
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	June 29, 1918
Rebuilt	1990-1994
Traffic
Passengers (2013)	6,425 (weekday average boardings)
Services
Preceding station   MBTA   Following station Broadway toward Alewife Red Line JFK/UMass toward Ashmont or Braintree

Andrew is a rapid transit station on the MBTA Red Line, located at Andrew Square in South Boston, Massachusetts. Named for John Albion Andrew, the square is at the intersection of several major thoroughfares: Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester Street, Southampton Street, and Boston Street. Andrew is the primary transfer point between the Red Line subway and the MBTA surface bus routes into South Boston. Opened in 1918 and renovated in 1994, it is fully wheelchair accessible.

The station opened in June 1918 as the southern terminus of the Cambridge-Dorchester Line, and quickly replaced Broadway as the primary streetcar transfer point for South Boston. A multiple track streetcar station was built on the surface, with direct connections from the rapid transit platforms. Andrew was the terminus of the line until November 1927, when Columbia, Savin Hill, and Fields Corner stations opened on the Ashmont Branch.

The fare mezzanines and staircases were reconfigured over the years as streetcars were replaced by trackless trolleys and later buses. Streetcars and trackless trolleys entered the surface station from Dorchester Avenue, but after bustitution in 1962 the traffic direction was reversed.

From its opening on September 1, 1971 to until the second platform at JFK/UMass opened on December 14, 1988, Andrew was the southernmost transfer point between the Ashmont and South Shore branches of the line. The platforms were extended in the mid 1980s to allow six-car trains, but the station itself was deteriorating.

After political requests and lobbying efforts by the local community, the station underwent extensive renovation from 1990 to 1993 with a new bus shed and underground connections, including a crossover mezzanine between the Red Line platforms. Work began in September 1990; the station was closed nights and some weekends until March 1991 during the heaviest work. Construction on the busway finished in January 1994. The rebuilt station incorporates elevators to the platforms to provide full handicapped accessibility.