Bicycle facilities 12 spaces Opened 4 May 1987 | Disabled access Yes Platforms in use 1 | |
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Location Ruggles and Tremont Streets
Roxbury Crossing, MA Owned by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Line(s) Orange Line
Franklin Line
Needham Line
Providence/Stoughton Line Tracks 2 (Orange Line)
3 (Commuter Rail) Address Boston, MA 02115, United States Owner Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Similar Forest Hills, Dudley Square, Jackson Square, Back Bay station, Ashmont | ||
Ruggles is an intermodal transfer station serving MBTA rapid transit, bus, and commuter rail services. It is located at the intersection of Ruggles and Tremont streets, where the Roxbury, Fenway-Kenmore and Mission Hill neighborhoods meet. The station occupies the site that was previously the South End Grounds, home of the former Boston Braves from 1871 to 1914. It is surrounded by the campus of Northeastern University.
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Ruggles is a station stop for the Orange Line subway, as well as the Providence/Stoughton Line, Franklin Line, and Needham Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system. Thirteen bus routes stop at Ruggles, including four of the fifteen key MBTA bus routes.
Ruggles station opened on May 4, 1987 and was built as part of an Orange Line realignment project which relocated the former Washington Street Elevated Orange Line service into the Southwest Corridor. Commuter rail service to the station began on October 5, 1987. Ruggles is located at milepost 226.5, 1.1 miles from Back Bay and 2.2 miles from South Station.
Station layout
A total of five tracks run through the station: two for the Orange Line and three for commuter rail. Of the three commuter rail tracks (also used by Amtrak, which does not stop), only tracks 1 and 3 serve the station; track 2 (the far inbound track) bypasses it. The main bus boarding area is located next to track 2.
Urban Ring
Ruggles was a proposed stop on the MBTA's planned Urban Ring Project. The Urban Ring was to be a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Line designed to connect the current MBTA Lines to reduce strain on the downtown stations; however, it has been shelved indefinitely.
Second commuter rail platform
A number of smaller projects in the corridor have been approved; among them is adding a second commuter rail platform to serve Track 2 at Ruggles, thus allowing all commuter rail trains to stop there. Currently, about 30% of trains do not stop, as reaching the platform would require crossing over to Track 1 or Track 3. The MBTA began consideration of a second platform in 1993, just six years after Ruggles opened. A preliminary study in 2008 recommended a full-length 800-foot platform located entirely east of the busway bridge.
The MBTA began holding public meetings in 2012, with the new platform now to be located next to the existing platform. It will be split in two sections connected by a short pedestrian tunnel under the busway bridge; the gap will be short enough to allow all doors on a train to still open onto the platform. In September 2014, the MBTA received a $20 million TIGER grant for the project, which is estimated to cost $30 million in total. Besides the new platform, work will include lighting and security upgrades, elevator improvements, and rehabilitation of the deteriorated northern half of the existing platform, which is blocked off from use.
By March 2016, the project was at 90% design and expected to reach 100% design by mid-2016, when it would be advertised for bidding. Construction was to begin in late 2016 and last through 2018. In December 2016, the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board approved a $1.6 million expansion of the project scope to include reconstruction of the lower busway, elevator replacements, additional station entrances, and other accessibility improvements. As of December 2016, bidding on the $22 million main contract is expected to begin in March 2017. Construction is expected to last from 2017 to 2019.
Bus connections
Ruggles also serves as a major transfer point and terminal for MBTA Bus services. Most routes enter a deboarding platform from Ruggles Street and proceed to a below-grade boarding area which exits back onto Ruggles; some routes enter and/or exit on a side connection to Columbus Avenue and Tremont Street.