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|image = Train at Orient Heights, November 2013.JPG |image_width = 375px |caption = An inbound Blue Line train at Orient Heights in 2013 |type = Rapid transit |system = |status = |locale = Boston, Massachusetts |start = Bowdoin |end = Wonderland |stations = |routes = |ridership = 63,225 (2013) |open = 1904 (streetcar)〔 1924 (rapid transit) 1952–1954 (Revere extension) |close = |owner = MBTA |operator = MBTA |character = |stock = Type 4 East Boston cars |linelength = |tracklength = |notrack = |gauge = |el = |speed = |elevation = |map = |}} The Blue Line is a rapid transit line in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, one of four subway lines operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It runs from Bowdoin station in downtown Boston under Boston Harbor to East Boston and Revere on the inner North Shore, where it terminates at Wonderland. The stop at Airport Station, with a free shuttle bus to Logan International Airport, is one of two rapid transit connections to the airport. The line was assigned the blue color in 1967 during a systemwide rebranding because it passes under Boston Harbor. The East Boston Tunnel was built as a streetcar tunnel in 1904; after an extension to Bowdoin in 1916, it was converted to heavy rail metro rolling stock in 1924. In 1952 and 1954 the line was extended along the former route of the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, in a project intended to reach Lynn but ultimately cut short to Wonderland. Further extensions to Lynn and Charles/MGH downtown are long-planned but not yet funded. ==History== The East Boston Tunnel, opened in 1904, was the first subway in the world to run underneath a section of the ocean.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=MBTA Blue Line )〕 It was initially designed to carry streetcars, and ran from Maverick to Court Street via State.〔 In 1906, Atlantic Station (now Aquarium) was opened, with a connection to the Atlantic Avenue Elevated. In 1916, the terminus at Court Street was moved to Bowdoin and the Scollay Square station (now Government Center) was opened near the closed Court Street station.〔 In 1925, the subway portion of the line was retrofitted for high platform service and rapid transit cars began shuttling between Bowdoin and Maverick. From 1952 to 1954, a surface extension was created along the disused Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad, from Maverick to the current terminus at Wonderland. The old railroad was narrow gauge, but was converted to standard gauge for this Revere Extension of the subway. The line, officially known as the East Boston Tunnel & Revere Extension by the MTA since 1952, was redesignated ''Blue'' on August 26, 1965 as part of the new MBTA's color-based re-branding. The color blue represented water, as the line passes under Boston Harbor and travels near the coast for much of its length.〔 In the early part of the 20th century, the Blue Line was actually connected to the Red Line by a direct rail connection (though the color designations of the subway lines had yet to be assigned at that time). Railcars from the Blue Line could emerge from a ramp portal surfacing between Joy Street and Russell Street, just beyond Bowdoin station. The railcars would run on former streetcar track down Cambridge Street and then most of the distance to the western end of the Longfellow Bridge, connecting to the Red Line just east of its Cambridge Subway portal, near what is now Kendall/MIT station. Because the tracks were unpowered, individual cars had to be towed along the street at night. This connection was never used in passenger service, but was used to transport Blue Line cars to the Eliot Street Yard maintenance shops then located near Harvard Square station.〔 When the Blue Line eventually got its own maintenance shops, the connection was removed and the ramp portal was permanently covered in 1952.〔 In 2012, there were plans to rebuild this historic Red/Blue Line connection, but in a more permanent manner. The new connection would be entirely underground, with no direct track connection—passengers would transfer at Charles/MGH inside a fare paid area.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Red Line Blue Line Connector )〕 However, planning for the project was suspended because of financial difficulties. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blue Line (MBTA)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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