Red Line (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)
The Red Line is one of the four
MBTA subway lines in Boston. It has its northwestern terminus at the Alewife station near Fresh Pond in West
Cambridge, meets the Green Line at Park Street and the Orange Line at Downtown Crossing, and splits into two branches south of South Boston. One branch terminates at
Braintree, and the other at Ashmont in Dorchester with a trolley extension to Mattapan.
The Red Line gets its name from crimson, the school color of Harvard University. Until 1985, when it was extended to Alewife, the Red Line terminated at Harvard Square.
The Red Line was originally known as the Cambridge-Dorchester Tunnel. The Cambridge section was first to open, in 1911, followed quickly by the Beacon Hill tunnel to Park Street and from there to South Station. Later extensions brought service to South Boston and Dorchester. The Braintree branch opened in 1971 over the former right of way of the Old Colony Railroad.
Stations
- Alewife (Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge)
- Davis (Davis Square, Somerville)
- Porter (Porter Square, Cambridge)
- Harvard (Harvard Square, Cambridge)
- Central (Central Square, Cambridge)
- Kendall (Kendall Square, Cambridge)
- Charles (Cambridge and Charles Streets, Boston)
- Park Street (Park, Tremont, and Winter Streets, Boston)
- Downtown Crossing (Summer, Washington, and Winter Streets, Boston)
- South Station (Dewey Square, Boston)
- Broadway (Broadway and Dorchester Avenue, South Boston)
- Andrew (Andrew Square, South Boston)
- JFK/UMass (Columbia Road and Morrissey Boulevard, Dorchester)
Dorchester Branch
- Savin Hill (Savin Hill Avenue and Sidney Street)
- Fields Corner (Charles Street and Dorchester Avenue)
- Shawmut (Dayton Street)
- Ashmont (Ashmont Street and Dorchester Avenue)
- Continuing service to Mattapan via the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line
Braintree Branch
- North Quincy (East Squantum and Hancock Streets, Quincy)
- Wollaston (Newport Avenue and Beale Street, Quincy)
- Quincy Center (Hancock and Washington Streets, Quincy)
- Quincy Adams (Burgin Parkway and Centre Street, Quincy)
- Braintree (Ivory and Union Streets, Braintree)
