Station Features
Porter's unusual depth is due to the MBTA's decision to build the station in rock rather than soft clay, saving time and money in the construction process. Passengers access Red Line platforms via a series of escalators, stairs totalling 199 steps, or a set of elevators. The longest single span of the escalators is 143 feet, the longest in the MBTA system. In 2005, a man was killed when his sweatshirt tangled in the bottom of the escalator.
The subway tracks and platforms are enclosed in a single cylindrical shell, like stations of the Washington Metro. The two platforms are at different levels, with portions of the inbound platform projecting over the outbound platform. Both tracks are on the outer side of their platforms. On the MBTA network only State, North Station, and Harvard have similar split platforms. (Several downtown transfer stations have multiple platform levels, but these are the only four with multiple-level platforms for a single line.)
Porter has five levels: the street-level entrances, the below-grade commuter platforms and the fare mezzanine, plus two platform levels underground.
Porter has a refreshment vendor outside the fare turnstiles on the mezzanine, and, unlike most MBTA stations, public bathrooms.
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