Green Line E branch

rdf:langString Green Line E branch

rdf:langString Green Line E branch

rdf:langString Green Line E branch

rdf:langString An outbound train at Museum of Fine Arts station in 2019

rdf:langString Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville

rdf:langString collapsed

rdf:langString Green Line

rdf:langString 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, 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 Union Square Branch to Union Square. As of February 2022, service operates on 7 to 7.5-minute headways on weekdays and 9-minute headways on weekends, using 12 to 15 trains (24 to 30 LRVs). 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 will be permanently extended to Medford/​Tufts in November 2022.