Museum of Fine Arts is a surface-level light rail stop on the

MBTA The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

Green Line E branch 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, Medford, and Somerville, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Auth ...

, located the median of

Huntington Avenue Huntington Avenue is a secondary thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, beginning at Copley Square, and continuing west through the Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood, and Mission Hill neighborhoods. Huntington Avenue is signed as Route 9 ...

in Boston, Massachusetts, between Museum Road and Ruggles Street. The station is named after the adjacent Museum of Fine Arts, although it also provides access to

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

Wentworth Institute of Technology Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) is a private institute of technology in Boston, Massachusetts. Wentworth was founded in 1904 and offers career-focused education through 21 bachelor's degree programs as well as 13 master's degrees. Histo ...

, and the

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...

. Museum of Fine Arts station is

accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...

History

Until the completion of the

Huntington Avenue subway 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, Medford, and Somerville, Massachusetts, operating as part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Auth ...

from to a portal near Opera Place on February 16, 1941, streetcars ran on the surface from the Boylston Street portal. Like other surface stops on the median-reservation section of the line, Ruggles Street station had bare asphalt platforms. In 1972, the MBTA began planning a reconstruction of that section of the line, then scheduled for 1973–74. The work was eventually done in 1980, when the line was closed to modify the track and wires for the new LRVs. The line was cut back to Symphony on March 21, 1980; it was re-extended to Northeastern (using LRVs) on June 21 and Brigham Circle on September 20. The station was originally known as Ruggles Street or Ruggles–Museum. After nearby

Ruggles station Ruggles station is an intermodal transfer station in Boston, Massachusetts. It serves Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit, bus, and commuter rail services and is located at the intersection of Ruggles and Tremont str ...

opened in 1987, the station was called Museum (sometimes Museum/Ruggles). The name was changed to Museum of Fine Arts in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, the MBTA modified key surface stops with raised platforms for

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

as part of the Light Rail Accessibility Program. Portable lifts were installed at Museum of Fine Arts around 2000 as a temporary measure. The platforms were later lengthened and repaved with concrete; temporary platforms to the northeast were used during the renovations. That renovation – part of a $32 million modification of thirteen B, C, and E branch stations – was completed on January 13, 2003. Around 2006, the MBTA added a wooden

mini-high platform Railway platform height is the built height – ''above top of rail (ATR)'' – of passenger platforms at stations. A connected term is ''train floor height'', which refers to the ATR height of the floor of rail vehicles. Worldwide, there are ...

on the outbound side, allowing level boarding on older Type 7 LRVs. These platforms were installed at eight Green Line stations in 2006–07 as part of the settlement of '' Joanne Daniels-Finegold, et al. v. MBTA''.

Bus connections

Museum of Fine Arts station serves as a transfer point between bus routes on

The Fenway Fenway, commonly referred to as The Fenway, is a mostly one-way, one- to three-lane parkway that runs along the southern and eastern edges of the Back Bay Fens in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, in the east-central part of the U.S. ...

, and Ruggles Street. *: – *: Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital– *: Harbor Point– *: –Kenmore or Ruggles station *: – *:

Central Square, Cambridge Central Square is an area in Cambridge, Massachusetts centered on the junction of Massachusetts Avenue (Cambridge), Massachusetts Avenue, Prospect Street and Western Avenue. , formed by the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Columbia Street, Sidne ...

– *: Cleary Square–

References

External links

MBTA Green Line – Museum of Fine Arts
*Google Maps Street View
Museum Road entranceRuggles Street entrance
{{Authority control Green Line (MBTA) stations Railway stations in Boston MBTA subway stations located above ground