Green Line E branch

Green Line E branch
An outbound train at Museum of Fine Arts station in 2019
Overview
Locale	Greater Boston
Termini	Medford/​Tufts Heath Street
Stations	25
Service
Type	Light rail
System	Green Line (MBTA subway)
Operator(s)	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Technical
Line length	8.6 miles (13.8 km)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	600 V DC overhead
Route map Show interactive map Legend Mystic Valley Parkway proposed Medford/​Tufts Ball Square Magoun Square Gilman Square East Somerville D branch Lechmere Lechmere closed 2020 Lechmere Viaduct over Charles River Science Park  Orange Line  North Station Haymarket  Orange Line  Government Center Tremont Street subway Park Street Boylston Arlington Boylston Street subway Copley B, C, and D branches Prudential Huntington Avenue subway Symphony Northeastern University Forsyth Street closed 1980 Parker Street closed 1980 Museum of Fine Arts Vancouver Street closed 1980 Longwood Medical Area Wigglesworth Street closed 1980 Brigham Circle Fenwood Road Frawley Street closed 1980 Mission Park Riverway Back of the Hill Heath Street Arborway Line closed 1985 South Huntington Avenue street-running stops Centre Street street-running stops South Street street-running stops Forest Hills  Orange Line  Arborway This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram map

The E branch (also referred to as the Huntington Avenue branch, or formerly as the Arborway Line) is a light rail line in Boston, Cambridge, Medford, and Somerville, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line. The line runs in mixed traffic on South Huntington Avenue and Huntington Avenue between Heath Street and Brigham Circle (the last MBTA street-running tracks in revenue service), in the median of Huntington Avenue to Northeastern University, then into the Huntington Avenue subway. The line merges into the Boylston Street subway just west of Copley, running to North Station via the Tremont Street subway. It then follows the Lechmere Viaduct to Lechmere, then the Medford Branch to Medford/​Tufts. As of February 2023^[update], service operates on eight-minute headways at weekday peak hours and eight to nine-minute headways at other times, using 13 to 17 trains (26 to 34 light rail vehicles).^[1]

Horsecar service on Centre and South streets in Jamaica Plain began in 1857, followed by service on Tremont Street (part of which became the west part of Huntington Avenue) to Brookline Village in 1859 and on the east part of Huntington Avenue in 1881–84. Jamaica Plain service was electrified in 1891, and Huntington Avenue service in 1894. Several branches of the Huntington Avenue line were opened west of Brookline Village between 1894 and 1900; both Huntington Avenue and Jamaica Plain service began using the new Tremont Street subway in 1897. A connector on South Huntington Avenue opened in 1903, allowing service to Jamaica Plain via Huntington Avenue. In the 1920s, Jamaica Plain service was extended to Arborway, while the western branches were reconfigured; they were cut in the 1930s.

The Huntington Avenue subway opened in 1941, cutting travel times through congested Copley Square. Ownership passed from the Boston Elevated Railway to the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1947, and to the MBTA in 1964. Tremont Street subway service was designated as the Green Line in 1965, with the Huntington Avenue line becoming the E branch in 1967. Service was modified numerous times during the early MBTA era, including a major reconstruction of the line in 1980–82. In 1985, service past Brigham Circle was replaced with the route 39 bus – a "temporary" change that controversially became permanent, although service as far as Heath Street was restored in 1989 after replacement of the street trackage on Huntington Ave. The downtown terminal of the E branch underwent a number of changes during the MBTA era; from 1987 to 2020, it was usually Lechmere. In May 2020, the E branch was cut back to North Station for construction of the Green Line Extension, as part of which it was temporarily extended to Union Square in March 2022. It was permanently extended to Medford/Tufts in December 2022.