Orange Line (MBTA)

The Orange Line is one of the four subway lines of the MBTA. It extends from Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain, Boston in the south to Oak Grove in Malden, Massachusetts in the north. It meets the Red Line at Downtown Crossing, the Blue Line at State, and the Green Line at Haymarket and North Station. It connects with Amtrak and Commuter Rail service at Back Bay and North Station, and just the commuter rail at Ruggles station in Roxbury.

Originally known as the Main Line of the Boston Elevated Railway and later the Forest Hills-Everett Elevated Line, the current name is derived from Orange Street, an old name for the section of Washington Street immediately south of downtown under which the Washington Street Tunnel, forming the center of the line, still runs. (Cars throughout the Boston rapid transit network were formerly painted orange or with orange stripes by MBTA predecessors, and restored streetcars on the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line wear their historical orange livery, but this is largely coincidental.) In 1975, the Charlestown Elevated to Everett was shut down and replaced with a rerouting to Malden. In April 1987, the Washington Street Elevated south of the Essex (Chinatown) station was closed; service along part of the line was ultimately replaced in 2002 with the Silver Line. The line was rerouted into a modern subway running along the Amtrak right-of-way (the Northeast Corridor) from Back Bay to Forest Hills.

During the conceptual stages of the modern Orange Line in the 1970s, extensions to the beltway Route 128 were proposed, with termini at Reading in the north and Dedham in the south.

The old Orange Line El was the train seen in the opening sequence of the television program St. Elsewhere.

Stations

Station listing

Oak Grove Malden Center Wellington Sullivan Square Community College North Station Haymarket State Downtown Crossing Chinatown New England Medical Center Back Bay Massachusetts Avenue Ruggles Roxbury Crossing Jackson Square Stony Brook Green Street Forest Hills

Station	Time to Downtown Crossing	Opened	Transfers and notes
	March 20, 1977
	December 27, 1975	Commuter Rail Haverhill/Reading Line
	September 6, 1975
	April 7, 1975
	April 7, 1975
	April 7, 1975	Green Line and Commuter Rail north side lines
	November 30, 1908	Green Line originally Friend-Union until January 25, 1967
	November 30, 1908	Blue Line originally Milk-State until January 24, 1967
	November 30, 1908	Red Line, Green Line and Silver Line originally Winter-Summer until January 22, 1967, then Washington until May 3, 1987
	November 30, 1908	Silver Line originally Boylston-Essex until February 10, 1967, then Essex until May 3, 1987
	May 4, 1987	Silver Line
	May 4, 1987	Commuter Rail Attleboro/Stoughton Line, Framingham/Worcester Line, Franklin Line and Needham Line also called Back Bay/South End
	May 4, 1987
	May 4, 1987	Commuter Rail Attleboro/Stoughton Line, Franklin Line and Needham Line
	May 4, 1987
	May 4, 1987
	May 4, 1987
	May 4, 1987
	May 4, 1987	Commuter Rail Attleboro/Stoughton Line, Franklin Line and Needham Line

Trains/Equipment

The Orange Line's current fleet is the 01200 series, built 1980-1981 by Hawker Siddeley Canada Car and Foundry (now Bombardier Transportation) of Fort William, Ontario, Canada. They are 65 feet (20 meters) long and 111 inches (2.8 meters) wide, with three pairs of doors on each side. They are based on the PA3 model used by PATH in New Jersey. There are 120 cars, numbered 01200-01319. These units are expected to remain in service until 2015.^*

Accessibility

All stations on the Orange Line are handicapped accessible, though State is not fully accessible on the Blue Line.