In 1912 the Red Line benefited from being the last of the original subways in Boston to open. A decade of subway building allowed the Red Line to be designed with larger trains and platforms that were easier to navigate (unlike the disconnected Orange Line platforms). Planned as an elevated subway until the citizens of Cambridge objected, the original route connected Harvard Sq. with Park St. At Harvard Sq. a parallel subway was built for trolleys to transfer commuters from the northwestern suburbs and is still in use today.
The Red Line was quickly extended to South Boston and large transfer stations were built at Broadway and Andrew Sq. to collect trolley (and later bus) commuters coming from Dorchester.
In 1926 and 1927 the Red Line was extended to Ashmont in Dorchester along the route of and old commuter rail road. Though the subway was proposed to be extended further to Mattapan the residents of Milton and southern Dorchester opted for a high speed trolley route instead, pre-dating the concept of light rail.
Plans were drawn up to create a new branch of the Red Line to Braintree as early as 1945 but construction didn’t begin for another 20 years. First to Quincy in 1971 and finally to Braintree in 1980 the new branch was designed to bypass Dorchester for a quicker commute.
At the other end the Red Line was extended northwest from Harvard Sq. to Alewife in 1985. Originally planned to run out to Lexington along the abandoned Boston and Maine Railroad the line was cut back when residents of Arlington protested.
The Red Line runs two heavy rail routes, Alewife-Ashmont and Alewife-Braintree (which skips Savin Hill).
A light rail section runs from Ashmont to Mattapan using refurbished PPC trolleys from the 1940s.
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