Airport Station Opening

Glad to see the the new Airpourt Station is opened up now, that one and the NYCT (JFK Airpourt) one are now alike, except NYCT's station is a bit bigger.

I got to see the station today. Here are my comments about it.

1. A lot of passengers on the Massport Shuttle Buses missed the station, not realizing that the T had opened the new station. Hopefully that won't last long.

2. Signage from the bus area to the station could be a bit improved.

3. There were passengers on the blue line complaining saying that the T wasted a whole bunch of money on the station when one already existed. Does he even have any idea how bad the old station was?

4. A very interesting thing I saw on the blue line map in the station. The sign had wheelchair indications on some stations that were labeled over, which could indicate that they are going to be accessible in the future. One of the stations was Bowdoin.

5. There is an arrival departure monitor in the unpaid lobby, which doesn't indicate all airlines. Massport needs to work on this, although some airlines, noteably America West, use a board and not the monitors.

6. The massport bus ride to the terminals is longer than it was from the old station.

apodino wrote:6. The massport bus ride to the terminals is longer than it was from the old station.

Ya, 500 feet longer

I also visited the new station. I quickly realized that I was running late (I didn't have my watch) so I had to switch sides to head back to Boston. Wow! I was lost for a few minuets... I couldn't find the stairs to switch over. I found an elevator but it said PARKING next to it. I then went to ask an official who had no idea why I would want to get off and then switch over. Eventually I got annoyed by this so I turned around and there were the stairs. Overall the new station is better than the old but still only gets a B+

i can't wait to see it :D

van its a bit more than that. I know I got disoriented on the shuttle bus. The station is accessed from the same road as North Cargo. The bus goes down the road toward E, than appears to loop around back toward the airport exit. Then uses a turnaround to head back toward the terminals. It seemed to be at least 5 minutes longer

how old is the above ground section of the Blue Line?
(airport----->wonderland)

Not to try and change topics but when the T modernizes the State stop, will it upgrade the Orange Line platforms as well? I know they will do both Green and Blue at Govt Center. I hope they dont change State too much as it is ver unique, both platforms.

And what are those huge supports on the Orange Line platform! They are huge and cool looking but I don't know what they are for (support duh!).

I went through it at about 1050 am, and I got off and checked it out, it seemed really nice with a cool modern look, wider escalators, elevators, easy access to busses to terminals, and the aforementioned flight info which was cool. When I was there media was there in the process of leaving NECN and WB56 not interviewed or anything, but it was cool to see and about time we got a state of the art station for the Airport.
One more thing about the new station, the turnstiles seemed a bit different
probably to fit the luggage that T riders have, so it seems like they really
tried to make this station more friendly for the air traveller that just
arrived in the area.

how old is the above ground section of the Blue Line?
(airport----->wonderland)

Maverick to Suffolk Downs opened in 1952, and the remainder to Wonderland in 1954.

With the replacement of the old Airport Station, the only station on the Revere Extension that remains as it was originally built is Orient Heights. Suffolk Downs burned in 1976 and was finally replaced by a new station in 1984. Beachmont, Revere Beach, and Wonderland were closed, demolished, and completely rebuilt in 1994-1995. I believe Wood Island was rebuilt sometime around then, too, but it remained in use during the reconstruction.

So when are they going to finally start rebuilding Orient Heights?

Looks like the platform's already long enough for six-car trains, so probably they won't touch it until it's ready to fall down on itself. Aside from being slightly shabby looking, it seems to still be in pretty good condition overall. And I do love the Art Deco lettering on the facade.

I like Orient Highets, just needs a paint job and to be ADA compliant. Oh, and new signage. The first time I went there it blew my mind that it has a system map form 1971!!

jwhite07 wrote:Looks like the platform's already long enough for six-car trains, so probably they won't touch it until it's ready to fall down on itself. Aside from being slightly shabby looking, it seems to still be in pretty good condition overall. And I do love the Art Deco lettering on the facade.

The station is practicaly falling apart, and it can only fit about 5.5 cars

If they lined the doors up right, 6 cars would fit, but the train would definately overhang the station!

I was at beachmont the other day, and from where i was standing it seemed like it was ONLY big enough for 4 cars (unless i was missing something!)

Yep, i remember the old wood island, with the "underground" bus terminal (it was covered, but strange....)

apodino wrote: 3. There were passengers on the blue line complaining saying that the T wasted a whole bunch of money on the station when one already existed. Does he even have any idea how bad the old station was?

I can't speak from a railfan's perspective, but when I went through it for the first time when I flew out of Logan in October 99 I thought the place was a dump.