⁴ᴷ Action Around Boston's MBTA Rapid Transit System (4/28/26)

The MBTA, nicknamed "the T" by residents is Boston's very own mass transit system, operating full service of the city areas and all of the surrounding neighborhoods using different forms of rapid transit of varying frequencies. This includes the lines like the Red Line, a major subway line with two branches that either run toward Braintree (the farthest terminal) or Ashmont, which connects to a technical light rail extension of the Red Line called the Mattapan Line. The other side of the Red Line leads all trains to Alewife, running through the heart of Boston and making several transit connections, with one to the Blue Line proposed in the foreseeable future. The Mattapan Branch extends as its own line operated instead by freshly refurbished, vintage 1940's era PCC trolleys, making it a low frequency heritage route instead of the average light rail route you would see in Boston or any of the surrounding states, not even making stops if requested and operating more closely resembling Philadelphia SEPTA's Norristown High Speed line. The main part of the Red Line being a heavy rail metro is operated by four different kinds of fleet, two of which able to run together by design due to their deliberate similarities in mechanics and style. This includes some of — if not the oldest — subway cars still in active revenue service in the USA, the 1500/1600 Series or #1 Red Line cars built by Pullman-Standard in 1969-1970, sharing an age with New York's work service only St. Louis Car Company R42 subway cars, which retired in 2020. These cars have actively been getting retired and replaced since 2024, though still run mixed in with the second and much more abundant and maintained fleet of the line, the UTDC 1700 Series or #2 Red Line cars, built in 1987-1988, a near 20 year age difference, and also being projected to be replaced after the Pullman cars. Only a few years younger are also the 1993-1994 Bombardier 1800 Series, or #3 Red Line cars, sharing nearly all of their technology and mechanics with the New York MTA's experimental and retired fleet of prototype R110B new technology cars built and delivered around the same time. Finally, Red also operates the replacement of the two oldest fleets of the line, the CRRC Massachusetts 1900 Series or #4 Red Line cars, built between 2019 and 2026, but currently held for unethical production investigations. Coming away from the major line that is the Red, there is also the Green Line, which is Boston's most major line with a total of 4 branches and even the newest extensions of the system, having opened in 2022. Unlike the Mattapan, Green as a light rail system operates highly frequent and has some of the highest ridership in the entire city, using 1986-1988 and 1997 Kinki Sharyo Type 7 and 1998-2007 AnsaldoBreda Type 8 LRV's, as well as elusive 2018-2020 CAF Type 9 LRV's, with Type 10's also from CAF on the way for the coming years. The Blue Line operates an independent fleet of subway cars built by Siemens from 2007 to 2009, in order to have replaced terribly aging cars from the 1980's on Boston's smallest independent metro line, which happens to be heavy metro like Red. Uniquely, it uses overhead catenary wires instead of just third rail at Airport station, giving it along with its uniquely built and short 2000's era fleet very high popularity. For the third and last heavy metro line, the Orange Line is much like Blue in the sense it also only operates one independent fleet of metro cars, being the most recent and largest fleet of "next generation" subway cars in the system that share nearly every feature with Red's newest fleet, being the CRRC Massachusetts 1400 Series cars, which replaced the badly aged 1980's era Hawker-Siddeley 1200 Series cars in 2024, previously the lines only independent fleet as well. While Blue keeps to itself and is highly independent on its routing, Orange operates next to commuter rail lines and makes major transfers similarly to Red. Finally, the Silver Line and Commuter Rail lines are uniquely colored though are not technically part of the metro system, with the Silver Line instead being a BRT bus system standing apart from the yellow colored regular bus system, and the Commuter Rail wearing a bold purple, save for heritage units, serving suburbia's throughout greater Massachusetts in general. #mbta 0:00 - Silver Line BRT Action (South Station) 1:34 - Red Line Metro Ride (1800 Series) 5:13 - Commuter Rail @ JFK-UMass (NYC Heritage F40PH) 6:04 - Red Line Action (ALL Fleets + 1900 Series Ride) 19:26 - Mattapan Line Ride (PCC Streetcar) 22:07 - Mattapan Line & Bus Action 24:23 - Red Line Ride & Action (1700 Series) 27:05 - Green Line Action & Ride (Type 7/8 Action, Type 7 Ride) 30:20 - Blue Line Ride & Action (0700 Series) 37:09 - Massport NABI 60-BRT Action 37:44 - Blue Line Departure @ State 38:30 - Orange Line Action & Ride (1400 Series) Video Clips Taken: April 28th, 2026. Instagram:   / emperor_of_nyc   Enjoy!