Bowdoin station

Bowdoin station (/ˈboʊdɪn/) is a rapid transit station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the MBTA Blue Line. It is located in Bowdoin Square in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. It is the downtown terminus of the line (though Government Center served this role during nights and weekends from 1982 to 2014).

Bowdoin
A westbound train terminating at Bowdoin station in July 2019
LocationCambridge Street at New Chardon Street
Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates42.3614°N 71.0622°W / 42.3614; -71.0622
Line(s)East Boston Tunnel
Platforms1 wedge-shaped island platform
Tracks1 balloon loop
Connections MBTA bus: 191, 192, 193
MVRTA: Boston Commuter
History
OpenedMarch 18, 1916[1]
ClosedJanuary 3, 1981–January 11, 1982
March 3, 1982–April 20, 1982[1]
Rebuilt1924, 1968
Traffic
Passengers (FY2019)2,127 boardings (weekday average)[2]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Terminus Blue Line Government Center
toward Wonderland

Bowdoin station is the only heavy rail station on the MBTA subway system that is not accessible.[3]

Station design
A 1986 plan of the station

The station is located under Cardinal Cushing Park, a triangular public plaza at the northeast corner of Bowdoin Square – the intersection of Cambridge Street with Bowdoin Street and New Chardon Street, located at the junction of Beacon Hill neighborhood and the Government Center area.[4]:62 The single entrance to the station is near the east end of the park, with a small sunken plaza 4 feet (1.2 m) below the rest of the park and a concrete triangular prism headhouse.[5][4]:62

Bowdoin station has a single wedge-shaped island platform (two side platforms that intersection at their east ends) about 20 feet (6.1 m) below the surface.[6] The platform is located inside a balloon loop which allows westbound trains to turn eastbound. West of the loop, about 600 feet (180 m) of two tail tracks (Bowdoin Yard) run west under Cambridge Street. The yard is used as weather-protected train storage during the winter.[7]:3–5 The eastbound section of the platform is only long enough for four cars. Since the Blue Line uses six-car trains, doors cannot be automatically opened; passengers must use pushbuttons on the outside of the train to open doors.[8][7]:3–4

The fare lobby, slightly higher in elevation than the platform, is located in the center of the station. A ramp leads from the fare lobby to the east end of the platform, with stairs connecting the west end of the westbound side of the platform to the lobby.[4]:65 The station floor is terrazzo, and the walls brown enameled brick. The walls of the track area plus the ceilings are the painted concrete of the tunnel structure. Trim and fittings are primarily stainless steel; columns on the platform are covered with white enamel tile and trimmed with stainless steel.[4]:65

History
Bowdoin station in January 1916, shortly before opening

The East Boston Tunnel was opened to streetcar service as far as Court Street on December 30, 1904.[1] Court Street proved to be a problematic terminus; its single-track design limited frequent service, and also resulted in crashes. The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) began an extension towards Beacon Hill in 1912.[9]:39 The extension opened to Bowdoin with an intermediate stop at Scollay Under on March 18, 1916.[1]

Bowdoin was built with an unusual wedge-shaped island platform inside a balloon loop, which eliminated the awkward end-changing required at Court Street[10]:30 and allowed use of unpowered trailer cars in the tunnel to increase capacity.[11] A pair of tracks continued past the loop, out the Joy Street Portal, and down Cambridge Street, allowing for one route to provide through streetcar service from East Boston to Cambridge rather than looping at Bowdoin.[11]

Modifications
The 1968-built headhouse in November 2015

Though originally planned to use high-floor rapid transit trains, the East Boston Tunnel opened with streetcars serving low-platform stations.[12]:19 Large bi-loading streetcars (with high floors but capable of loading from low platforms), which incorporated many attributes from metro cars used on the Main Line El, began use in 1905.[12]:118–119[13]:14 However, neither these nor the large center-entrance cars introduced in 1917 (which were designed for multiple unit operation) could fully handle the crowds.[13]:43

In 1921, the Boston Transit Department (BTD)—the successor to the BTC—began work at Maverick Square to convert the East Boston Tunnel to high-floor metro trains.[14] The next year, the BTD board approved the construction of high-level platforms at Atlantic Avenue, Devonshire, Scollay Under, and Bowdoin.[15] Construction of concrete high-level platforms 40 inches (1.0 m) above the rails at Bowdoin began in December 1923 or January 1924. A section of low-level platform was left to serve streetcars during construction.[16] Temporary wooden platform sections were put in place to allow service to begin on April 21, with the permanent concrete sections completed by July 12. The Bowdoin platform was also extended 28 feet (8.5 m) east from August 27 to December 12.[17]

Rather than modify the tunnel, the BERy elected to build smaller-than-usual rapid transit cars which could operate in a tunnel designed for streetcars—particularly around the tight loop at Bowdoin.[10]:32 Blue Line cars are thus 48.5 feet (14.8 m) long, substantially shorter than the 65-foot (20 m) Orange Line cars and the 69.5-foot (21.2 m) Red Line cars.[18] Because the line did not have a dedicated heavy maintenance facility, major repair work was performed at Eliot Shops – the main maintenance facility for the Cambridge–Dorchester Line. Trains used the former streetcar portal west of Bowdoin and ran on surface streetcar tracks on the Longfellow Bridge, which connected to the Cambridge–Dorchester Line tracks near Kendall Square.[10]:32 When the first phase of the Revere Extension opened to Orient Heights with a new maintenance facility in 1952, the connection was no longer necessary and the portal was filled.[10]:52

The station was modernized in 1968 as part of a $9 million systemwide station improvement program.[19] The original entrances at the west end of the station were replaced with a glassy entrance under a tilted concrete slab, set into a shallow depression to reduce the costs of installing the escalator.[5][4]:65 The new headhouse, near the middle of the station, was designed by Josep Lluís Sert as part of a project for a never-built Catholic chapel nearby.[5] Illustrations showing the history of Bowdoin Square were added to the station signs.[20] The station was surveyed in 1984 and 1987 for potential inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places; it was concluded that the 1924 and 1968 reconstructions had left little of the original station, and that it was of minor significance within the system.[4]:65

Closures and reopening

In the early 1980s, the MBTA suffered from a serious budget crisis, which resulted in service cuts. MBTA Commuter Rail service to Providence and Concord and on the Woburn Branch were cut entirely, five underused commuter rail stations were closed, Boylston and Essex were closed for short periods, and the outer ends of the Orange and Blue lines were bustituted on Sundays.[1] Bowdoin, with low ridership and in close proximity to Government Center, was closed on January 3, 1981 due to budget cuts.[21][1] It reopened on January 11, 1982, but only on weekdays until 6:30 pm - intended to serve workers in nearby office and government buildings. Bowdoin was briefly closed again from March 3 to April 20, 1982, and reopened again with limited hours, with Government Center serving as the terminus on nights and weekends (though trains continued to loop at Bowdoin).[1] After the early 1980s, it was the only MBTA subway station with limited hours.[22]

The station was closed from July 29 to September 8, 1992, during track work on the loop.[1] As the MBTA planned the Blue Line Modernization Project in the early 1990s, the agency planned to close Bowdoin in order to eliminate the tight loop. The closure would take place after the renovation of Government Center, which would re-add a long-closed entrance at the west end of the Blue Line platform.[23] In 2008, the MBTA began running six-car trains on the Blue Line.[24] Because the eastbound side of the Bowdoin platform can only fit four cars, the MBTA had originally planned to close the station when six-car trains entered service; a planned renovation of Government Center station was to add a second headhouse close to Bowdoin Square.[25] However, the station was kept open, with only four cars on each eastbound train berthed at the platform.[8]

Until at least 2011, the MBTA still planned to close the station after Government Center was renovated.[26] However, by 2013, the MBTA decided not to construct the planned west entrance at Government Center, and to instead build only a less-expensive emergency exit.[27] On December 28, 2013, the MBTA resumed night and weekend service to Bowdoin station. The change was intended to provide alternative transportation during the three-month closure of the Callahan Tunnel and subsequent two-year closure of Government Center station.[28] This was the first time since 1981 that the station was open during all operating hours.[1] In February 2016, the MBTA announced that Bowdoin would remain open at all times even after Government Center reopened on March 21.[29] Daily ridership at the station increased from 1,526 in 2013 to 2,127 in FY 2019.[3][2]

In 2019, the MBTA indicated that Bowdoin was a "Tier II" accessibility priority pending the results of conceptual design.[30]

Red–Blue Connector

The Red–Blue Connector is a proposed extension of the Blue Line under Cambridge Street to Charles/MGH station, about 0.4 miles (0.64 km) west of Bowdoin, where a transfer to the Red Line would be available. The project was first proposed in the 1983 update to the Program for Mass Transportation, although extensions from Bowdoin or Government Center to Park Street were proposed in 1926 and 1978.[31][32] In 1991, the state agreed to built the project by 2011 as part of the settlement of a lawsuit over auto emissions from the Big Dig project.[33] This commitment was changed to design only in 2007–08 and lifted entirely in 2015.[34][35][36]

Original plans for the connector in 1986 called for a cut-and-cover extension west from Bowdoin Yard, with Bowdoin station retained without significant modifications.[37] The 2010 Draft Environmental Impact Report instead called for a pair of deeper tunnels bored by a tunnel boring machine (TBM), starting east of Bowdoin station and passing underneath the existing platform. Alternatives with a replacement Bowdoin station west of Bowdoin Street, and without a replacement station, were considered; the latter was recommended due to lower cost and reduced travel time.[6] A 2018 update which analyzed multiple tunneling methods only considered an extension without a replacement Bowdoin station.[38]

References
  1. Belcher, Jonathan. "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district" (PDF). NETransit.
  2. "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 10.
  3. "Ridership and Service Statistics" (PDF) (14th ed.). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. 2014.
  4. Public Archaeology Laboratory (March 2010). "Appendix L: Historic Resources Reconnaissance Survey and Archaeological Resources Assessment". Red Line/Blue Line Connector Project: Draft Alternatives Analysis Technical Report (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 16, 2010.
  5. Yudis, Anthony (December 4, 1966). "'Sunken' Subway Kiosk Proposed". Boston Globe. p. 40 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. RedLine/Blue Line Connector Project: Draft Environmental Impact Report (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 8, 2011.
  7. Red Line/Blue Line Connector Project: Draft Alternatives Analysis Technical Report (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 16, 2010.
  8. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority [@MBTA] (June 19, 2019). "Answer: Yes Thanks for your question. Have a good evening!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 14, 2020 – via Twitter.
  9. Clarke, Bradley H.; Cummings, O.R. (1997). Tremont Street Subway: A Century of Public Service. Boston Street Railway Association. ISBN 0938315048.
  10. Cudahy, Brian J. (1972). Change at Park Street Under; the story of Boston's subways. Brattleboro, Vt.: S. Greene Press. ISBN 978-0-8289-0173-4.
  11. "Boston Profits By Elevated Railway Station Improvements". Electric Railway Journal. McGraw-Hill. 48 (7): 258–263. 12 August 1916 – via Internet Archive.
  12. Cheney, Frank (2003). Boston's Blue Line. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780738535760.
  13. Cox, Harold E.; Cummings, O. R. (1963). Surface cars of Boston, 1903-1963. New England Electric Railway Historical Society. hdl:2027/mdp.39015021059525.
  14. Annual Report of the Transit Department for the Year Ending January 31, 1922. Boston Transit Department. 1922. p. 27 – via Google Books.
  15. Annual Report of the Transit Department for the Year Ending January 31, 1923. Boston Transit Department. 1923. p. 3 – via Internet Archive.
  16. Annual Report of the Transit Department for the Year Ending January 31, 1924. Boston Transit Department. 1924. pp. 28–29 – via Internet Archive.
  17. Annual Report of the Transit Department for the Year Ending January 31, 1925. Boston Transit Department. 1925. pp. 35–36 – via HathiTrust.
  18. Belcher, Jonathan (January–February 2020). "MBTA Vehicle Inventory as of February 29, 2020". Rollsign. Vol. 57 no. 1–2. Boston Street Railway Association. pp. 3–5.
  19. 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.
  20. Alonso, Jessica (April 5, 1977). "Art from underground". Boston Globe. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "Bowdoin, Symphony T stations closed today". Boston Globe. January 3, 1981 – via Newspapers.com. (second page)
  22. Buell, Spencer (March 5, 2020). "Why Do We Need the Bowdoin Stop, Anyway?". Boston Magazine.
  23. Blake, Andrew (March 20, 1994). "MBTA to begin $467 million Blue Line project". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com. (second page)
  24. "Six-Car Trains on the Blue Line" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. September 15, 2008.
  25. "DEP/EOT AMENDED ADMINISTRATIVE CONSENT ORDER AC0-BO-00-7001-AMENDMENT #2: 2006 Annual Report and 9th Status Report" (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Transportation. June 30, 2006. p. 4.
  26. Moskowitz, Eric (October 5, 2011). "MBTA board OK's millions for station improvements". Boston Globe.
  27. "Government Center Station Reconstruction Project Green Line / Blue Line Project Briefing" (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. March 13, 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2013.
  28. "Callahan Tunnel closes Friday night at 11pm" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. December 23, 2013.
  29. Vaccaro, Adam (February 10, 2016). "Bowdoin T station will remain open nights, weekends when Government Center reopens". Boston Globe.
  30. "Preview of 2019 Recommendations: Presentation to the FMCB" (PDF). Plan for Accessible Transit Infrastructure (PATI). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. April 1, 2019. p. 12.
  31. Central Transportation Planning Staff (November 15, 1993). "The Transportation Plan for the Boston Region - Volume 2". National Transportation Library. Archived from the original on October 21, 2008.
  32. Report on Improved Transportation Facilities in Boston. Division of Metropolitan Planning. December 1926. hdl:2027/mdp.39015049422689.
  33. United States Environmental Protection Agency (October 4, 1994). "Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Massachusetts—Amendment to Massachusetts' SIP (for Ozone and for Carbon Monoxide) for Transit Systems Improvements and High Occupancy Vehicle Facilities in the Metropolitan Boston Air Pollution Control District)". Federal Register. 59 FR 50498.
  34. United States Environmental Protection Agency (July 31, 2008). "Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Massachusetts; Amendment to Massachusetts' State Implementation Plan for Transit System Improvements". Federal Register. 73 FR 44654.
  35. "State Implementation Plan – Transit Commitments: Status Report" (PDF). Executive Office of Transportation. July 2, 2007. pp. 5–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 10, 2015.
  36. United States Environmental Protection Agency (December 8, 2015). "Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Massachusetts; Transit System Improvements". Federal Register. 80 FR 76225.
  37. Seelye Stevenson Value & Knecht (December 1986). Bowdoin Station and Charles Street Station Connector Project Feasibility Study (PDF). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 16, 2010.
  38. "SUMMARY MEMORANDUM: TUNNEL CONSTRUCTABILITY STUDY: UPDATE TO THE 2010 DEIR FOR THE RED LINE/BLUE LINE CONNECTOR". Massachusetts Department of Transportation. October 2018.
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