Arborway station was an

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

stop and bus transfer location in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. It served the

Green Line E branch. It was located in Arborway Yard near the Forest Hills station complex. It closed in 1985 when the outer section of the branch was temporarily—and ultimately permanently—closed.

History

On December 12, 1895, the

West End Street Railway The West End Street Railway was a Tram, streetcar company that operated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts and several surrounding communities in the late nineteenth century. Originally an offshoot of a land development venture, the West End rose ...

opened its Forest Hills Yard with a 12-track carhouse on the east side of Washington Street, serving newly electrified streetcar lines. The

Boston Elevated Railway The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a Tram, streetcar and rapid transit railroad operated on, above, and below, the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in 1894, it eventually acquired the West End Street R ...

(BERy), successor to the West End, opened a second carhouse on the site two years later. In 1913, the BERy opened a ramp from the

Washington Street Elevated The Washington Street Elevated was an elevated segment of Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway system, comprising the southern stretch of the Orange Line. It ran from Chinatown through the South End and Roxbury, ending ...

into a small yard inside the complex. The ramp was disused after six months, and was removed in 1922. On March 1, 1924, the BERy opened a streetcar transfer station inside the yard to relieve crowding at Forest Hills station. The Jamaica Plain via South Huntington line was soon extended to Arborway, improving connections with the other lines. The BERy replaced the older carhouses with a new six-track carhouse and a bus garage in 1924–25. Buses gradually replaced streetcars; all of the Arborway-terminating lines except the South Huntington line (Arborway Line, later Green Line E branch) were converted to bus by 1956. In 1962, the MTA opened its headquarters building at 500 Arborway. Arborway closed on December 28, 1985 when the line was "temporarily" suspended and ultimately closed. When the new Forest Hills station was opened in 1987, a loop for the E branch was included as part of the station complex, so that Arborway would only be used for layovers and maintenance. No streetcar ever used the station, which was instead later used for route 39 buses from 2000 to 2017. The loop and the waiting area were removed in 2017 as part of the Casey Overpass replacement. The Arborway carhouse remained until 2001 when it was demolished and replaced by a smaller facility for CNG-powered buses. The MBTA plans to construct a two-level garage on the eastern portion of the site where the largely-disused 500 Arborway building is located. It will expand the Arborway-based fleet from 118 CNG buses to 200 battery-electric buses. This will include buses to move routes and from Southampton Garage and convert route to 60-foot buses. , design is 15% complete; construction is expected to last from 2025 to late 2028 at a total cost of $495 million. The western portion of the site will be reserved for mixed-use development.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline Green Line (MBTA) stations Former railway stations in Boston Former MBTA stations in Massachusetts 1985 disestablishments in Massachusetts Railway stations in the United States closed in 1985 Jamaica Plain, Boston