Aquarium (MBTA station)

AQUARIUM

Location

183 State Street,
Boston, Massachusetts 02110

Coordinates

42°21′33″N 71°03′11″W / 42.3593°N 71.0531°WCoordinates: 42°21′33″N 71°03′11″W / 42.3593°N 71.0531°W

Owned by

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Line(s)

Blue Line

Platforms

2 side platforms

Tracks

Construction

Parking

none

Disabled access

Yes

History

Opened

22 August 1901 (Atlantic Avenue Elevated)
5 April 1906 (East Boston Tunnel)

Rebuilt

1924, 2000-2004

Previous names

Atlantic Avenue (1906-1967)
State Street (1901-1938)

Traffic

Passengers (2009 daily)

4,444^[1]

Services

Preceding station		MBTA	Following station
State toward Bowdoin		Blue Line	Maverick toward Wonderland
	Former services
Boston Elevated Railway
Rowes Wharf toward South Station or Dudley		Atlantic Avenue Elevated Closed 1938	Battery Street toward North Station

Aquarium Station is a subway station on the MBTA Blue Line, serving the New England Aquarium and Boston's Financial District. Uniquely on the MBTA system, the station has high vaulted ceilings similar to stations of the Paris Metro and Washington Metro. The station's headhouses are located in the Financial District at Atlantic Avenue and State Street near International Place. Nearby Long Wharf offers connections to MBTA ferries water taxis to Logan International Airport, and other ferries and excursion cruises.

Aquarium is the deepest station on the Blue Line, as it is located on the portion of the East Boston Tunnel that passes under Boston Harbor. However, the station is not as deep as Porter on the Red Line in Cambridge.

History

Atlantic Avenue station with streetcar in 1906

Entrance to Atlantic Avenue station in the center of State Street in 1915, with a pedestrian bridge to State Street station

The Atlantic Avenue Elevated opened on August 22, 1901, including a stop at State Street. The East Boston Tunnel opened on December 30, 1904, serving streetcars which ran from Court Street downtown to Maverick portal in East Boston. Atlantic Avenue station opened in the tunnel on April 5, 1906. It was connected with the elevated station by a three-story fare lobby that featured long, narrow wooden escalators - the lower sections of which lasted until 2004 - and a pedestrian bridge over Atlantic Avenue. The two stations had separate fare gates; a paper transfer was required to change lines.^[2]

The East Boston tunnel was converted to heavy rail metro stock in April 1924; all stations including Atlantic were given high platforms. The Elevated closed on October 1, 1938, and was torn down during World War II for scrap metal.

Atlantic Avenue station was renamed Aquarium on February 13, 1967, as part of a general rebranding by the newly created MBTA. The subway lines were given colored identifying names, and several other downtown stations were renamed.^[3] The station was modernized in 1968 as part of a $9 million systemwide station improvement program.^[4]

The station was closed from October 14, 2000 until October 29, 2001 as part of a platform lengthening project to allow six-car trains on the Blue Line. State was temporarily named "State - Aquarium" during the closure, and a shuttle bus (route #650) was put in place between the two stations. A new permanent entrance was placed on State Street west of Atlantic Avenue; the Long Wharf entrance did not reopen until September 2003.^[3] The rebuilding was officially completed in 2004.

Bus connections

The 6 Haymarket-South Station bus served Aquarium until it was terminated in March 2009 due to low ridership. The 4 North Station - World Trade Center via Federal Courthouse & South Station route was rerouted to cover part of the discontinued route; it serves Aquarium during rush hour.^[3]

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit/Entrance
M	Mezzanine	To entrances/exits
P Platform level	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Southbound	← Blue Line toward Bowdoin or Government Center (State)
	Northbound	→ Blue Line toward Wonderland (Maverick) →
	Side platform, doors will open on the right

Gallery

Atlantic Avenue station, 1906
Two 0600 Blue Line trains meet at Aquarium
Long Wharf headhouse

References

↑ "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
↑ Chasson, George Jr. (1987). Lonto, Arthur J., ed. "Boston's Main Line El: The Formative Years 1879-1908". Headlights (Electric Railroader's Association) 49: 16, 57.
1 2 3 Belcher, Jonathan (31 December 2011). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
↑ Fourth Annual Report (Covering the period October 1, 1967 - October 31, 1968) of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 1968. p. 23 – via Internet Archive.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aquarium (MBTA station).

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Subway lines
(List of stations)

Heavy rail	Blue Orange Red

Light rail	Green "B" Branch "C" Branch "D" Branch "E" Branch Ashmont–Mattapan

Former lines	Arborway Line Atlantic Avenue Elevated Causeway Street Elevated Charlestown Elevated Green Line "A" Branch Washington Street Elevated

Commuter
Rail lines
(List of stations)

North Station lines	Fitchburg Haverhill (Wildcat Branch) Lowell Newburyport/Rockport

South Station lines	Fairmount Framingham/Worcester Franklin Greenbush Needham Old Colony (Kingston/Plymouth Middleborough/Lakeville CapeFLYER) Providence/Stoughton

Former lines	Central Mass Branch Dedham Branch Lexington Branch Millis Branch Woburn Branch

Bus routes
(List of routes)

Other services

Component parts
of system lines

Boylston Street Subway
Haymarket North Extension
Lechmere Viaduct
Tremont Street Subway
Washington Street Subway

Capital projects

Under construction	Chelsea extension Fairmount Line upgrades Fitchburg Line upgrades Wachusett extension Forest Hills modifications Government Center reconstruction Green Line Extension Haverhill Line upgrades South Coast Rail

In planning / proposed	Buzzards Bay extension Foxboro service Hynes Convention Center renovation Kingston R.I. extension Nashua extension Route 16 extension Wollaston renovation

Formerly proposed	Arborway Line restoration Indigo Line (Fairmount Grand Junction Track 61) Lexington extension Lynn extension North–South Rail Link Plaistow extension Reading extension Red Line—Blue Line Connector Urban Ring Project

History

Predecessor companies	Boston Elevated Railway Streetcar lines Boston and Maine Railroad Conrail New York Central Railroad New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Penn Central Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Middlesex and Boston Street Railway Newton and Boston Street Railway

Route histories	History of the Green Line

Accidents and incidents	1990 Back Bay 2008 Waban/Woodland

Other

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.