New T Stops Now Open along West Campus
Amory Street, Babcock Street stations have replaced four previous ones
An eastbound Green Line trolley at the MBTA’s new Amory Street stop, which opened Monday as part of the $29 million B Branch Station Consolidation Project. Photo by Cydney Scott
New T Stops Now Open along West Campus
Amory Street, Babcock Street stations have replaced four previous ones
Comm Ave commuters woke up to a changed Green Line B Branch on Monday, since the MBTA opened two new trolley stops along the West Campus stretch of the line ahead of schedule.
The new Babcock Street and Amory Street stations opened three months earlier than originally planned as part of the $29 million Green Line B Branch Station Consolidation Project.
The new stations offer larger and safer platforms better shielded from traffic, along with new lighting, signage, and shelters and better accessibility. Cutting the West Campus stretch from four stations to two should also improve travel times, while requiring only slightly longer walks to catch a trolley for some.
The University and the T will hold a ceremony marking the opening Tuesday, November 16, beginning at 2:30 pm, which will include a ribbon-cutting at Amory Street and remarks from Angel Peña, the MBTA’s chief of capital transformation programs, Steve Poftak, T general manager, and Derek Howe, BU senior vice president for operations.
Thank you to the Boston University community and all B Branch riders for being so patient during this time of transformation and improvement.
The T had also closed and largely demolished the old Babcock Street, St. Paul Street, and BU West stops by Monday morning. The old Pleasant Street station was closed earlier this year as construction got underway.
Riders can expect to shave at least a minute off their travel times through the notoriously slow stretch of track thanks to the station consolidation, Peña says in an online video announcing the change.
“Thank you to the Boston University community and all B Branch riders for being so patient during this time of transformation and improvement,” he says in the video.
He also says it may take a little time to align maps and announcements throughout the system with the new stations. Work on the Green Line D branch also continues.
B Branch riders will no longer have to switch to shuttle buses or the regular 57 bus during nights and weekends as they did during much of this year, which allowed accelerated work on the project, enabling the early completion date. The project was originally set to finish in February 2022.
The new stations opened on the same day as a new Chelsea station on the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line. The B Branch opening was announced late Friday with Pena’s video and a tweet from @MBTA, while the Chelsea opening date had been announced months ago.
Comments & Discussion
Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.