Revere Beach station explained

Revere Beach
Style:MBTA
Style2:Blue
Address:220 Shirley Avenue at 300 Ocean Avenue
Coordinates:42.4078°N -70.9926°W
Other: MBTA bus:
Platform:2 side platforms
Tracks:2
Bicycle:11 spaces
Passengers:3,098 boardings (weekday average)[1]
Pass Year:FY2019
Opened:June 19, 1954[2]
Rebuilt:June 25, 1994–June 24, 1995
Structure:Open cut
Accessible:yes
Former:Crescent Beach (BRB&L)
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Marker:rail-underground
Mapframe-Zoom:13

Revere Beach station is a rapid transit station in Revere, Massachusetts. Located between Beach Street and Shirley Avenue, it serves the MBTA Blue Line. It serves Revere Beach, a popular summer destination with a substantial year-round resident population. It opened in January 1954 on the site of a former Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad station, as part of an extension to Wonderland. Revere Beach station was closed and rebuilt from 1994 to 1995.

Like all Blue Line stations from Airport east, Revere Beach has two tracks and two side platforms. Uniquely among Blue Line stations, it is located below grade in a trench, with a surface-level fare lobby. Entrances to the station are from Beach Street and Shirley Avenue.

History

Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn

The narrow gauge Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad (BRB&L) opened from East Boston to Lynn on July 29, 1875. The line ran directly adjacent to the beachfront, a popular summer destination, on the alignment of the modern Revere Beach Boulevard. Revere station at Beach Street was among the initial stations.[3] The station was renamed Pavilion in the late 1870s and Crescent Beach in 1884.[4]

The Eastern Railroad-backed Boston, Winthrop, and Shore Railroad (BW&S) operated slightly inland in 1884 and 1885, with its own Crescent Beach station just west of the BRB&L station.[5] A new BRB&L station was opened on October 31, 1887. It was located at Centennial Street, about south of the previous location.[6] It was very similar in design to Chatham station – which opened the same year – with a polygonal tower on the track side of the building.[7]

In April 1897, the BRB&L was moved inland onto the BW&S right-of-way, with Crescent Beach station relocated to the new alignment. By 1928 the line was electrified, with pre-pay stations - more a rapid transit line than a conventional railroad.[8] However, due to the Great Depression, the BRB&L shut down on January 27, 1940.[9] Crescent Beach station was demolished in the early 1940s.

Rapid transit

In 1941, the Boston Elevated Railway bought the BRB&L right of way from Day Square to Revere Beach for use as a high-speed trolley line similar to the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line; these plans were delayed by the onset of World War II.[10] The 1926 Report on Improved Transportation Facilities and 1945–47 Coolidge Commission Report recommended that the East Boston Tunnel line, which had been converted to rapid transit from streetcars in 1924, be extended to Lynn via the BBRB&L route rather than using it for a trolley line.

In 1947, the newly formed Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.) decided to build to Lynn as a rapid transit line, and construction began in October 1948. The first part of the Revere Extension opened to in January 1952 and in April 1952; the second phase (cut short due to limited funds) opened to Wonderland on June 19, 1954 with intermediate stations at and Revere Beach.[11]

Renovations

Revere Beach station was closed for approximately one year starting on June 25, 1994 as the station was rebuilt along with Suffolk Downs, Beachmont, and Wonderland stations as part of the Blue Line Modernization Program. Blue Line service temporarily ended at Orient Heights and buses served the closed stations during the project[12] Revere Beach station was largely rebuilt at a cost of $9.8 million; it reopened along with the other stations on June 24, 1995.[13]

The station was closed while additional platform repair work was performed from August 2 through 29, 2008.[14]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A Guide to Ridership Data . MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation . June 22, 2020 . 8.
  2. News: Rapid Transit Line to Revere to Open June 19 . Boston Globe . June 9, 1954 . 9 . Newspapers.com.
  3. Book: Bradlee, Francis Boardman Crowninshield . The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Narrow Gauge Railroad . 1921 . Essex Institute . Google Books . 4–5.
  4. Book: Stanley, Robert C.. Narrow Gauge: The Story of the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad . 1980 . Boston Street Railway Association .
  5. Web site: Part of the Town of Revere . Atlas of the City of Chelsea and the Towns of Revere and Winthrop . 1886 . G.W. Bromley and Co. . WardMaps . 2015-12-24 . 2016-04-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160429100109/http://www.wardmaps.com/viewasset.php?aid=1416 . dead .
  6. News: A New Depot for Crescent Beach . The Boston Globe . November 1, 1887 . 8 . Newspapers.com.
  7. Book: Roy, John H. Jr. . A Field Guide to Southern New England Railroad Depots and Freight Houses . Branch Line Press . 2007 . 9780942147087 . 138.
  8. "Narrow Gage" Electrified for Economy . Electric Railway Journal. 8 December 1928 . 72 . 23 . 991–998 . Internet Archive.
  9. Book: Karr, Ronald Dale . The Rail Lines of Southern New England . Branch Line Press . 1995 . 0942147022 . 268–272.
  10. Book: Cheney, Frank . Boston's Blue Line . 2003 . Arcadia Publishing . 9780738535760 . 8, 74–75, 83.
  11. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20131005000720/http://ntl.bts.gov/DOCS/boston.html . October 5, 2013 . The Transportation Plan for the Boston Region - Volume 2 . November 15, 1993 . National Transportation Library . Central Transportation Planning Staff.
  12. News: MBTA to begin $467 million Blue Line project . Boston Globe . March 20, 1994 . Andrew . Blake . Newspapers.com. (second page)
  13. News: Blue Line stations set to reopen after $467m upgrade . Boston Globe . June 18, 1995 . Andrew . Blake . Newspapers.com. (second page)
  14. Blue Line Rehab Project To Begin . June 18, 2008 . Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.