page_title: Lechmere station
section_title: MBTA era
hierarchical_section_title: Lechmere station / History / MBTA era
caption_attribution_description: English: The old Lechmere Elevated (right) and construction of the new viaduct (left) on May 21, 2020, three days before Lechmere station closed for the demolition of the old viaduct and the construction of the new station and viaduct.
context_page_description: Lechmere station is a light rail station in Lechmere Square in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the intersection of Cambridge Street and Monsignor O'Brien Highway. An elevated station is under construction nearby as part of the Green Line Extension, replacing for the former surface-level station, which closed on May 24, 2020. The bus terminal at the old station remains open as a transfer point between MBTA bus routes and Lechmere–North Station shuttle buses until the new station opens. The new station will be served by the D Branch and E Branch of the MBTA Green Line upon its planned April 2021 opening.
  The Lechmere Viaduct was opened in 1912 with an incline to Lechmere Square, allowing streetcars from Cambridge Street and Bridge Street to reach the Tremont Street subway. In 1922, the Boston Elevated Railway opened a prepayment transfer station at Lechmere, separating the surface streetcars from the tunnel routes. The station was served by various tunnel routes; the surface streetcars were replaced by buses. Lechmere station had two platforms on opposite sides of a balloon loop, with a small storage yard inside the loop.
context_section_description: Several years after it was inaugurated in 1959, the Riverside Line was extended to Lechmere at most times. The MBTA took over transit operations in 1964. With the ability to reverse Green Line trains at Park Street, Government Center, North Station, and Lechmere, the MBTA frequently switched which lines ran to which downtown terminals to match passenger demands and other operational needs. On September 10, 1966, the remaining Commonwealth Avenue line service to Lechmere was cut back to Park Street. In 1967, the MBTA redesignated the remaining streetcar operations as the Green Line with branches "A" through "E". The Commonwealth Avenue line became the B branch, the Beacon Street line the C branch, and the Riverside line the D branch. After March 25, 1967, the "C" and "D" branches served Lechmere at all times.
  On March 25, 1974, the B branch was extended back to Lechmere and the "D" cut to North Station; for the next decade, the "B", "C", and "D" frequently were switched between Lechmere and other termini. On January 2, 1983, for the first time in the station's history trains from Huntington Avenue (the E branch) began serving Lechmere. On February 11, 1983, the E branch was shut down by snow for several days; a Government Center–Lechmere shuttle ran in its stead, soon joined by some D branch service. From December 28, 1985 to July 25, 1986, additional shuttle service ran between Lechmere and Kenmore. E branch service resumed to Lechmere partially on July 26, and fully on June 20, 1987. The remaining Lechmere–Government Center shuttles were replaced with an extension of D branch service on June 21, 1997.
  Around 2000, portable lifts were added at Lechmere as a temporary accessibility measure. (Unlike other stations, Lechmere was not soon retrofitted with raised platforms due to the pending Green Line Extension.) On June 25, 2004, service to Lechmere was suspended as the Causeway Street Elevated was removed, and the surface and elevated platforms at North Station were consolidated into a new underground "superstation". A shuttle bus to Government Center accommodated Lechmere passengers. Service to Lechmere, operated only by the E branch, resumed on November 12, 2005. Around 2007, the MBTA added a wooden mini-high platform on the inbound side, allowing level boarding on older Type 7 LRVs. These platforms were installed at eleven Green Line stations in 2006–07 as part of the settlement of Joanne Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA. Service past North Station was replaced with buses from April 30 to November 4, 2011, as Science Park station was rebuilt.
caption: Old station viaduct will be demolished and connection made to new viaduct, left
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