BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority today resumed service on the rapid transit Red Line’s Ashmont Branch and Mattapan Line, following a 16-day shutdown for track repairs.
The MBTA says the 16-day suspension of service allowed crews to replace nearly 5,000 feet of rail and 1,174 ties on the Ashmont Branch between the JFK/UMass sataion and Ashmont, and almost 4,700 feet of rail and 1,380 on the Mattapan trolley line. The work eliminated all existing speed restrictions, decreasing travel times by more than 10 minutes for anyone traveling the full route. The agency says the shutdown allowed crews to accomplish in 16 days what would have taken six months under normal night and weekend work windows. MBTA crews also used the time to perform work at a number of stations along the route, including painting, installation of new lighting, and stairway repairs.
“The MBTA is proud to have successfully completed this critical work on an expedited timeline,” MBTA CEO Phillip Eng said in a press release. “As a result, Red Line and Mattapan Line riders are now experiencing safer, faster, and more reliable service. … As we move towards delivering essential work to restore service levels across our entire system, lessons learned will be incorporated and enable us to continue to streamline efforts and better serve the public.”
The construction also included the Ashmont Branch of the Red Line rapid transit line. The line branches South of the JFK/UMass Station with the original Cambridge-Dorchester Line going to Ashmont and a newer branch to Braintree. The Red Lline cars are the largest of the T’s rapid transit cars.
For those keeping score at home, the Mattapan-Ashmont Line is an extension to the T’s Red Line Subway using PCC trolley cars. It connects with the big rapid transit cars at Ashmont and goes to Mattapan with more frequent stops than are suitable for the big rapid transit cars.
Incidentally, JFK/UMass is not a station on the Mattapan-Ashmont line. It’s on the part of the Red Line using those big rapid transit cars.