Blue Line (MBTA) - History

History

The East Boston Tunnel, opened in 1904, was the first subway in the world to run underneath a section of the ocean. It was initially designed to carry streetcars, and ran from Maverick to Court Street via State. In 1906, Atlantic Station (now Aquarium) was opened, with a connection to the Atlantic Avenue Elevated. In 1916, the terminus at Court Street was moved to Bowdoin, and the Scollay Square station (now Government Center) was opened near the closed Court Street station.

In 1925, the subway portion of the line was retrofitted for high platform service, and rapid transit cars began shuttling between Bowdoin and Maverick. From 1952 to 1954, a surface extension was created along the disused Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, from Maverick to the current terminus at Wonderland. The old railroad was narrow gauge, but was converted to standard gauge for this Revere Extension of the subway.

The line, officially known as the East Boston Tunnel & Revere Extension by the MTA since 1952, was redesignated Blue on August 26, 1965 as part of the new MBTA's color-based re-branding. The color blue represented water, as the line passes under Boston Harbor and travels near the coast for much of its length.

In the early part of the 20th century, the Blue Line was actually connected to the Red Line by a direct rail connection (though the color designations of the subway lines had yet to be assigned at that time). Rail cars from the Blue Line could emerge from a ramp portal surfacing between Joy Street and Russell Street, just beyond Bowdoin station, and run on the former streetcar track down Cambridge Street, then most of the distance across the westbound side of the Longfellow Bridge, connecting to the Red Line just east of its Cambridge Subway portal, near what is now Kendall/MIT station. Because the tracks were unpowered, individual cars had to be towed along the street at night. This connection was never used in revenue service, but was used to transport Blue Line cars to the Eliot Street Yard maintenance shops then located near Harvard Square station. When the Blue Line eventually got its own maintenance shops, the connection was removed and the ramp portal was permanently covered, around 1952.

As of 2012, there are plans to rebuild this historic Red/Blue Line connection, but in a more permanent manner. The new connection would be entirely underground, with no direct track connection — passengers would transfer at Charles/MGH inside a fare paid area.