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Blue Line (MBTA)

BLUE LINE
Train at Orient Heights, November 2013.JPG
An inbound Blue Line train at Orient Heights in 2013
Overview
Type Rapid transit
Locale Boston, Massachusetts
Termini Bowdoin
Wonderland
Stations
  • 12 in operation
  • 2 proposed
Daily ridership 67,519 (2016)
Operation
Opened 1904 (streetcar)
1924 (rapid transit)
1952–1954 (Revere extension)
Owner MBTA
Operator(s) MBTA
Rolling stock Type 4 East Boston cars
Technical
Line length 6 miles (9.7 km)
Track gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm)
Route map
Lynn proposed MBTA.svg
Wonderland
Revere Beach
Beachmont
Suffolk Downs
Orient Heights Yard
Orient Heights
Wood Island
Airport Logan International Airport BSicon ELC.svg
Catenary
Third rail
Maverick
Boston Harbor
Aquarium
State  Orange Line 
Court Street
closed 1914
Government Center  Green Line 
Bowdoin
Joy Street Portal
closed 1952
Charles/MGH
proposed
 Red Line 

The Blue Line is a rapid transit line in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, one of four subway lines operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It runs from Bowdoin station in downtown Boston under Boston Harbor to East Boston and Revere on the inner North Shore, where it terminates at Wonderland. The stop at Airport Station, with a free shuttle bus to Logan International Airport, is one of two rapid transit connections to the airport. The line was assigned the blue color in 1967 during a systemwide rebranding because it passes under Boston Harbor.

The East Boston Tunnel was built as a streetcar tunnel in 1904; after an extension to Bowdoin in 1916, it was converted to heavy rail metro rolling stock in 1924. In 1952 and 1954 the line was extended along the former route of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, in a project intended to reach Lynn but ultimately cut short to Wonderland. Further extensions to Lynn and Charles/MGH downtown are long-planned but not yet funded.

The East Boston Tunnel, when opened in 1904, was the first North American subway to run beneath a body of water, running under Boston Harbor, and the second underwater vehicular tunnel of significant length built in the United States. The tunnel was constructed using a modified version of the Greathead Shield; 2,700 feet (820 m) of the 1 mile (1.6 km) tunnel is actually under water. The excavation took two-and-a-half years, and cost $3 million and the lives of four workmen.


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Wikipedia

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