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BOSTON (State House News Service) -The entire B Branch of the MBTA's Green Line will shut down for 12 days in July for work that officials say will be accelerated in the wake of the recent derailment near Packard's Corner.
Trolleys will not run between Kenmore and Boston College, the B Branch's western endpoint, from Monday, July 17 through Friday, July 28, the T said Thursday. Shuttle buses will replace service.
During the shutdown, crews plan a "full-depth replacement" of more than 2,000 feet of track at Packard's Corner station and in the span from Harvard Avenue to Allston Street stations.
Officials said Thursday they planned to perform that work later in the summer, but moved it up after a June 12 derailment near the Packard's Corner stop. No one was injured in the incident, which occurred with about 30 passengers on board.
" ... You had some deteriorated ties, which resulted in a wide gauge condition and one of the [trolley] trucks fell into the wide gauge and that is the derailment," MassDOT Chief Safety Officer Patrick Lavin told the MBTA board on Thursday.
Lavin said he provided MBTA General Manager Phil Eng with "eight recommendations" for action prompted by the derailment, including an "immediate, high-level inspection of every area of the system where there was a speed restriction of 10 miles an hour or less."
The tracks near Packard's Corner had been subject to a similar speed restriction at the time of the derailment. Those additional inspections have been completed on the Green Line and Blue Line, Lavin said, and should be wrapped up on the Orange Line by Friday and on the Red Line by Monday.
Written by Chris Lisinski/SHNS
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