Back Bay Station
Back Bay Station
Looking towards the Clarendon St. entrance from the top of the Orange Line escalators
Back Bay Station
Looking toeward Dartmouth St. after exiting the faregates. Behind the fare bending machines are stairts to the pedestrian tunnel under Dartmouth St. which connects to Copley Place. Amtrak's waiting room and ticket window is to the left.
Back Bay Station
Confusing signage in the main east-west corridor of the station. Amtrak wsiting room and ticket window is to the left, beyond track 3
Back Bay Station
Back Bay Station continues the New Haven's confusing track-numbering system, where the "main line" is tracks 1 and 2, and then all tracks left of the main get odd numbers and tracks to the right of the main get even numbers — thus Back Bay has tracks 7–5–3–1–2, with tracks 1 and 3 sharing a center platform.
Back Bay Station
The down escalator was working but the up escalator was not (and, judging by the complaints on Twitter, stil isn't).
Back Bay Station
Lots of people waiting for the outbound Northeast Regional, arriving shortly on track 1. The platform at right serves track 2.
Back Bay Station
Another view across to track 2. I don't know when it's used; on a weekend there's not enough service to require it.
Back Bay Station
There's that Northeast Regiomnal pulling into the station. mtrak consists can be longer than MBTA consists, with a standard platform length of 1,050 feet vs. the T's 800.
Back Bay Station
On track 3, an inbound MBTA commuter diesel train stops to discharge passengers.
Back Bay Station
Amtrak's Northeast Regional trains are always locomotive-led, although some corridor services including the Downeaster are operated push-pull using special cab cars.
Back Bay Station
With both trains gone, let's head to the east end of the center platform...
Back Bay Station
Looking north past track 3 toward the Mass Pike and Berkeley St. The Orange Line tracks and the Worcester Main Line (tracks 7 and 5) are obscured, between us and the Pike.
Back Bay Station
A better view of the Orange Line diving into its tunnel; the Worcester Line tracks will merge just before the South Staiton throat after the Orange Line passes underneath.
Back Bay Station
Back up at street level, after crossing over the Orange Line we find tracks 5 and 7, which serve the MBTA Framingham/Worcester Line (formerly Boston & Albany RR Main Line) and Amtrak's daily Lake Shore Limited.
Back Bay Station
The Worcester Line platform, despite having the worst dwell times on the entire line, remains resolutely low-level with not even a hint of plans to fix this. It should be the MBTA's #1 priority for platform rebuilds.
Back Bay Station
Looking east from the end of the platform, with the Turnpike on the left and the Orange Line at right
Back Bay Station
This end of the platform is really narrow — but since the MBTA only runs 800-foot trains, and the Boston cut of the Lake Shore Limited is also short, it's unlikely to ever matter. Note how track 7 is open to the sky.
Back Bay Station
The primary platform exit (and only entrance) is in the middle of the platform, inonveniently far from the mini-high platform at the extreme west end of the station where all passengers board and alight during off-peak hours.
Back Bay Station
Finally all the4 way down to the mini-high at the west end of the platform
Back Bay Station
They fould seriously have built this at least a few hundred feet longer!
Back Bay Station
There is a narrow staircase exit on the Copley Place side of Dartmouth St.
Back Bay Station
Dartmojth St. entrance — maybe the only good thing about this station
