Green Line "B" Branch
The Green Line "B " or Commonwealth Avenue Branch or Boston College Branch is an underground tram and a branch of the MBTA Green Line in the Boston area in the state of Massachusetts in the United States. On this route run Light rail vehicles on a partially non-crossing route in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue. After the Blandford Street, the route continues underground and merged with the tracks of the Green Line C and Line D Green. From the bus stop Kenmore the route leads through the Boylston Street Subway and the Tremont Street Subway continues to be a turning point at the Government Center.
History
In 1896, the first track sections on Commonwealth Avenue from Chestnut Hill Avenue were moved in a westerly direction to the city limits to Newton. During this time, the Commonwealth Avenue Street Railway opened its operation and extended the tracks to Norumbega Park. This section was later part of the Middlesex and Boston Street Railway. Trains that were traveling between Lake Street and the Boston city center, used tracks on Beacon Street, which are now traversed by the Green Line C. From Kenmore Square, the track went on to Beacon Street to the east in order to turn on Massachusetts Avenue to the south and back to drive on the Boylston Street towards the east to the Park Square. In 1900 the rest of the Commonwealth Avenue was equipped with tracks, so that a connection from the Chestnut Hill Avenue to the east was created to the existing tracks at Packard 's Corner. This section was later used by the Green Line A and allowed a train service between Lake Street and Kenmore Square. 1909 was followed by the electrification of the line.
The tunnel Tremont Street Subway opened on September 1, 1897, after which the route of the railway line on Commonwealth Avenue has been redefined so that it was a turning point at the Park Street, which they descend on Boylston Street at the Boston Public Garden reached. The tunnel Boylston Street Subway opened on 3 October 1914, and allowed the expansion of the underground route to Kenmore Square. On 23 October 1932, the descent to the Blandford Street was put together with the Kenmore subway station in operation, so that the Green Line was given its present route.
Until the 1920s, a tram was on Commonwealth Avenue from Boston College, Chestnut Hill Avenue eastwards to and from there on Beacon Street from Cleveland Circle to Washington Square, then onto Brookline Village. Today the number 65 bus to the MBTA runs on a similar route. After changing to buses the tracks were no longer used on the Chestnut Hill Avenue in normal operation, but can still find use when the trains of the Green Line " B" the depot must approach at Cleveland Circle on the route of the Green Line C.
From 1915 until January 14, 1962, there was at Boston University Field a turnaround loop that came into use during special occasions and at peak times in order to turn trains as quickly as possible can.
From 1942 to 1967, the current route of the Green Line "B " was run as Route 62, to 1967, the different lines colors and letters have been assigned and the route to Commonwealth Avenue to the Green Line " B".
Speed
The Green Line B is regularly criticized by passengers for their slowness. She drives much slower than the Green Line C, which is mainly due to the greater number of breakpoints and walk-in hybrids. Green Line D much faster than the "B" and "C" on the road, the route having the least breakpoints and is completely free of intersections.
The end of 2003 announced the MBTA, along the route of the Green Line B decommission five breakpoints to increase the speed and at the same time to reduce the maintenance and repair costs. While many passengers welcomed these changes, the changes other passengers did not go far enough, as the total time saved too low a few minutes and the round will be the Green Line B is still the slowest by far branch of the Green Line was. It has raised the question of why the MBTA not some breakpoints east of Packard 's Corner conclude, although this only a few hundred feet apart and the travel time for the majority of passengers would significantly reduce.
In early 2004, the four breakpoints Grey Cliff Road, Mount Hood Road, Summit Avenue and Fordham Road were tested as closed down as part of a pilot test, while the originally intended as a fifth closure breakpoint at the Chiswick Road due to riparian protests remained in operation. Having had a survey of 1,142 passengers showed in 2005 that 73 % of them in favor of the closures of the four breakpoints, the MBTA decided to be deactivated permanently. Further plans to improve the Green Line B were not previously known.