Winter Street Concourse

Winter Street Concourse, in the direction of Downtown Crossing.

The Winter Street Concourse is a pedestrian tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts which connects the upper levels of Park Street and Downtown Crossing, two busy MBTA subway transfer stations. It allows passengers to move between the Green and Orange lines within fare control. (The connection is also available at Haymarket and North Station, although they are served by fewer Green Line trips and are less convenient for most transfer directions).

History

The upper level of Park Street opened as part of the Tremont Street Subway - a streetcar tunnel now carrying the Green Line - in September 1897. It was built as a cut and cover tunnel just below the surface of Tremont Street. From 1901 to 1908, the Main Line Elevated (now the Orange Line) shared the Tremont Street Tunnel. In November 1908, the Main Line was moved to the parallel Washington Street Tunnel under Washington Street. Similarly constructed just below street level, it included a pair of one-way stations (Winter southbound and Summer northbound) one block southeast of Park Street.

In March 1912, the Cambridge Tunnel (now the Red Line) opened from Harvard Square to Park Street Under, one level below the streetcar platforms at Park Street. The line was extended (as the Dorchester Tunnel) to Washington (a lower level at Winter/Summer, now Downtown Crossing) in April 1915, and to South Station Under in December 1916. The tunnel was constructed on both levels at least as far as Devonshire Street. The bottom level carried rapid transit trains, while the upper level was constructed with potential to be a pedestrian passageway or carry surface streetcars similar to the Tremont Street Subway, through the latter role would have involved an at-grade crossing with the Main Line.

The section of upper level tunnel under Summer Street between Washington Street and Devonshire Street was used as a non-paid area with entrances from Downtown Crossing department stores and as a turnstile repair area, while the section between Tremont Street and Washington Street under Winter Street was cordoned off as offices. On March 9, 1979, that section was opened as an inside-fare-control pedestrian passageway to ease demand on the Red Line.

A ticket counter was formerly located on the mezzanine level of Downtown Crossing station (outside fare control) under Winter Street east of Washington Street. On August 13, 2012, the MBTA combined customer services (formerly located in a booth at Back Bay station) into the Downtown Crossing location as the "CharlieCard Store".