Haymarket station (MBTA)

Because the Washington Street Tunnel was built to replace the Tremont Street subway for Main Line Elevated use – and to share the Canal Street incline – the Green Line and Orange Line are parallel and approximately the same depth at Haymarket. The Green Line, to the west of the Orange Line, has two tracks serving an island platform divided in half by a wall. The Orange Line has two tracks serving two side platforms. A sub-passage at the north end of the platforms allows transfer between the two lines. The two lines have separate primary entrances, although the sub-passage allows both lines to be reached from either entrance. The Green Line entrance is located north of Sudbury Street, under the east end of the Government Center Garage. The Green Line fare lobby is level with the platform. The Orange Line entrance is inside the Boston Public Market building south of Sudbury Street. A mezzanine level is between the street-level fare lobby and the platforms. Two elevators connect the Orange Line entrance to the two platforms, and another pair connect the platforms to the sub-passage. An elevator connects the Green Line entrance to the fare lobby, and the Green Line platform to the sub-passage. Haymarket is a major bus transfer station, with a (presently closed) two-lane busway off Surface Road adjacent to the Green Line headhouse. It is served by MBTA bus routes – – which include several local routes to Charlestown and Chelsea as well as express routes to northern suburbs and the North Shore. Haymarket is also the terminus for several early-morning round trips, which are extensions of routes that normally terminate at subway stations outside downtown. The trips are primarily intended for MBTA station agents, but are open to the public. ==History==

Tremont Street subway The Tremont Street subway (future Green Line), including Haymarket, was built starting in 1894 and opened on September 3, 1898. The original trolley station was larger than the current station and consisted of four tracks with a pair of island platforms. The inner pair of tracks served cars from the northern suburbs which turned at Brattle Loop at Scollay Square (now Government Center) station, while the outer tracks served streetcars that ran through the entire Tremont Street subway to the Public Gardens portal and Pleasant Street portal. All cars entered the subway through the Canal Street incline just north of Haymarket. Main Line Elevated On June 10, 1901, the Boston Elevated Railway's Main Line (future Orange Line) was opened from to . The Tremont Street subway was retrofitted to allow operation of the Main Line elevated cars. Main Line trains from the Charlestown Elevated entered the tunnel through the outer tracks of the Canal Street portal and exited through the Pleasant Street portal to the Washington Street Elevated. Elevated cars ran on the outer tracks at Haymarket, served by temporary high platforms; streetcars continued to use the inner tracks, which connected to a turnback loop at Adams Square station. On November 30, 1908, a new Washington Street Tunnel opened for use by Main Line trains, and the whole Tremont Street subway was returned to streetcar use. The Washington Street Tunnel ran separately from the Tremont Street subway; however, because both tunnels used the newly expanded Canal Street incline, the Main Line platforms at Haymarket Square were immediately adjacent to the Tremont Street subway. Like the other Washington Street Tunnel stations, the two Main Line platforms were named after nearby streets. The northbound platform was Union and the southbound platform Friend – collectively called, Union–Friend. In August 1975, the MBTA released plans to modernize four downtown stations, including the Orange Line platforms at Haymarket. Renovations A 2000–01 renovation, part of the Parcel 7 construction, added elevators to all levels of Haymarket. This made the Orange Line accessible at the station. A $15 million project to build raised platforms at and Haymarket began in 2001 and was completed by 2003. On June 24, 2019, the MBTA Board awarded a $29.7 million, 16-month contract for full cleaning, wayfinding signage replacement, and other improvements at North Station, Haymarket, State, and Downtown Crossing stations. Much of the cosmetic work at Haymarket, including painting and floor repairs, was completed over the weekend of August 30–September 1, 2019. The work was completed in June 2021. Part of the Bulfinch Crossing development will be built over the busway in the early 2020s; the project will include a modernization of the Green Line entrance and the busway. A temporary closure of the station during construction was originally considered; the developer later agreed to keep the station open, though temporary closures of the north headhouse may be needed. By February 2020, the section of the garage above the station was planned to be demolished in December 2020; however, this was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The busway closed on June 28, 2021, with buses stopping on nearby streets. Demolition of the garage required several weekend closures of portions of the Green and Orange lines, as well as a weekend closure of just the station, in early 2022. Construction of the development and the new busway was expected to take 36 months. After a portion of the garage collapsed on March 26, 2022, Orange Line and Green Line service through the station was temporarily suspended pending inspection of the tunnels. Orange Line service resumed on March 29, with trains bypassing Haymarket. After removal of about of debris followed by tunnel inspection and testing, Green Line service resumed on April 9, with Haymarket station remaining closed for repairs to the standpipe system. The station reopened on April 10. The Orange and Green lines were again closed through Haymarket from June 23–26, 2022, after the discovery of a deteriorated garage support column. The station was closed in August and September 2022 during overlapping closures of the Orange Line (August 19 to September 18) and the northern portion of the Green Line (August 22 to September 18). The closures allowed for maintenance work as well as further demolition of the garage. Weekend closures of the Orange and Green lines to accommodate garage construction continued into 2023. Green Line service was again suspended from September 18 to October 12, 2023, with Orange Line trains skipping Haymarket station during that closure. By April 2026, almost five years after the busway closure, no projected completion date was available. ==References==