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BOSTON (State House News Service) — A batch of weekend and nighttime closures will hit segments of the Red Line in May to give MBTA crews more time to perform maintenance and repairs aimed at lifting speed restrictions, the T announced Monday.
MBTA officials rolled out a schedule of shutdowns and diversions for next month impacting all four major subway lines and several commuter rail lines. Much of the work planned for the Red Line is related to slow zones, which today cover about 26 percent of the entire line that stretches from Cambridge to Braintree and Mattapan.
Subway service on the Red Line will go offline between JFK/UMass and Braintree stations around 8:45 p.m. each night for 16 nights next month: May 8-12, May 15-19, May 22-25 and May 30-31. Shuttle buses will replace trains during those spans.
The MBTA said the series of evening closures will "allow MBTA crews to perform critical rail and tie replacement work on the Braintree Branch that will alleviate speed restrictions."
Shuttle buses will replace Red Line trains between Park Street and JFK/UMass stations on Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7, work the T similarly said will free up time for "critical rail and tie replacement work to alleviate speed restrictions in this area."
It was not immediately clear how much of an improvement riders will see from the work related to speed restrictions.
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The MBTA on Monday also kicked off eight nights of early-evening closures on the Blue Line, with train service set to stop around 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday this week and then again each night from May 1 to May 4.
General Manager Phil Eng estimated last week those closures would allow the T to reduce the share of the line subject to slow zones from 44 percent currently to 28 percent by the end of May. MBTA officials did not offer a similar projection for the newly-announced Red Line plans.
More weekend Red Line work will take place the weekends of May 13-14 and May 20-21, when buses will replace service between Broadway and Ashmont as well as between Broadway and Braintree. Those closures will allow crews to work on replacing the Ashmont branch's Savin Hill Bridge and perform tie and rail replacement on the Braintree branch, the T said.
On the rest of the subway system, the MBTA announced Orange Line trains will bypass Haymarket Station on the weekends of May 13-14 and May 20-21. Green Line service on those same days will be suspended between North Station and Government Center. In both cases, the T attributed the changes to ongoing demolition of the Government Center Garage by a private developer, HYM Construction.
The Green Line is set for additional shifts the weekend of May 27-28 to allow for track work. B Branch trains will bypass Kenmore Station, the entire C Branch from Cleveland Circle to Copley will be replaced with shuttle buses, and buses will also replace D Branch service between Fenway and Copley.
MBTA officials also announced several commuter rail service changes planned for late April and May:
- Shuttle buses will replace trains between Haverhill and Reading on the Haverhill Line from April 22 to May 7 for automatic train control work.
- From April 22 to May 15, shuttle buses will replace trains between West Gloucester and Rockport on the Rockport Line to allow for "rock cutting work."
- On the weekend of May 6-7, trains will not run between Rockport and Beverly Station to allow for work on the Gloucester Drawbridge.
- On the weekend of May 13-14, shuttle buses will replace trains between Braintree and South Station on the Greenbush, Kingston/Plymouth and Middleborough/Lakeville lines.
- On the weekend of May 20-21, shuttle buses will replace trains between Braintree and South Station on the Greenbush, Kingston/Plymouth and Middleborough/Lakeville lines. Shuttle buses will also replace trains between Bridgewater and Middleborough/Lakeville on the Middleborough/Lakeville Line.
Written by Chris Lisinski/SHNS.
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