Central station

Central station (also called Central Square station) is a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) rapid transit station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It serves the Red Line and has a street-level terminal for the MBTA bus system. It is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue with Western Avenue, Prospect Street, and Magazine Street at Central Square. Station design Central station has two side platforms serving the two tracks of the Red Line, which runs northwest–southeast through Central Square under Massachusetts Avenue. Each platform has three sets of stairs, an escalator, and an elevator along its length. The station is accessible. Six MBTA bus routes – – stop near the station. The station has two works of public art, which were installed in 1988 as part of the Arts on the Line program: East Indian, by Elizabeth Mapelli, seven fused glass tile murals behind benches on the platforms Circle Square by Anne Storrs and Dennis Cunningham, 100 ceramic tile reliefs mounted above the station columns History After the success of the 1897-opened Tremont Street Subway, the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) planned an elevated system with lines to Cambridge, South Boston, Charlestown, and Roxbury. The latter two lines opened in 1901 as the Charlestown Elevated and Washington Street Elevated, while the South Boston line was determined to be infeasible. After debate about running an elevated line above business districts in Cambridge, the BERy agreed in late 1906 to build a line under Beacon Hill in Boston, over a new West Boston Bridge, and under Main Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge to Harvard Square. Construction began on May 24, 1909. The Cambridge Subway opened from Harvard Square to Park Street Under on March 23, 1912, with intermediate stations at Central Square and Kendall Square.