Revere Beach station

Revere Beach 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.

Revere Beach
The platforms and bridge connecting them in 2016
Location220 Shirley Avenue at 300 Ocean Avenue
Revere, Massachusetts
Coordinates42.4078°N 70.9926°W / 42.4078; -70.9926
Line(s)Revere Extension
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
Connections MBTA bus: 110, 117, 411
Construction
Bicycle facilities11 spaces
Disabled accessYes
History
OpenedJanuary 19, 1954[1]
RebuiltJune 25, 1994–June 24, 1995[2][1]
Previous namesCrescent Beach (BRB&L)
Passengers
FY20193,098 boardings (weekday average)[3]
Services
Preceding station MBTA Following station
Beachmont
toward Bowdoin
 Blue Line Wonderland
Terminus

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
Crescent Beach station on a 1910 postcard

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 was located between Beach Street and Shirley Avenue.[4] The station was renamed Pavilion in the late 1870s and Crescent Beach in 1884.[5]

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.[6][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.[8] By 1928 the line was electrified, with pre-pay stations - more a rapid transit line than a conventional railroad.[9] However, due to the Great Depression, the BRB&L shut down on January 27, 1940.[6]

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.[8] 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.[10][11]

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.[8] The first part of the Revere Extension opened to Orient Heights in January 1952 and Suffolk Downs in April 1952; the second phase (cut short due to limited funds) opened to Wonderland on January 19, 1954 with intermediate stations at Beachmont and Revere Beach.[8][10][1]

Renovations
Platforms at Revere Beach before 2008 repair work

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[2][1] Revere Beach station was largely rebuilt at a cost of $9.8 million; it reopened along with the other stations on June 24, 1995.[12]

The station was closed while additional platform repair work was performed from August 2 through 29, 2008.[1][13]

References
  1. Belcher, Jonathan (27 June 2015). "Changes to Transit Service in the MBTA district 1964-2015" (PDF). NETransit. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  2. Blake, Andrew (March 20, 1994). "MBTA to begin $467 million Blue Line project". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com. (second page)
  3. "A Guide to Ridership Data". MassDOT/MBTA Office of Performance Management and Innovation. June 22, 2020. p. 8.
  4. Bradlee, Francis Boardman Crowninshield (1921). The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Narrow Gauge Railroad. Essex Institute. pp. 4–5 – via Google Books.
  5. Stanley, Robert C. (1980). Narrow Gauge: The Story of the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad. Boston Street Railway Association.
  6. Karr, Ronald Dale (1995). The Rail Lines of Southern New England. Branch Line Press. pp. 268–272. ISBN 0942147022.
  7. "Part of the Town of Revere". Atlas of the City of Chelsea and the Towns of Revere and Winthrop. G.W. Bromley and Co. 1886 – via WardMaps.
  8. Cheney, Frank (2003). Boston's Blue Line. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 8, 74–75, 83. ISBN 9780738535760.
  9. ""Narrow Gage" Electrified for Economy". Electric Railway Journal. 72 (23): 991–998. 8 December 1928. Retrieved 24 December 2015 – via Internet Archive.
  10. Central Transportation Planning Staff (15 November 1993). "The Transportation Plan for the Boston Region - Volume 2". National Transportation Library. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  11. Boston Elevated Railway and Boston Department of Public Utilities (1945), Boston Rapid Transit System & Proposed Extensions 1945 - Metropolitan Transit Recess Commission Air View
  12. Blake, Andrew (June 18, 1995). "Blue Line stations set to reopen after $467m upgrade". Boston Globe – via Newspapers.com. (second page)
  13. "Blue Line Rehab Project To Begin" (Press release). Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. June 18, 2008.
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