BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said Thursday that it will launch a major track repair program with the goal of eliminating all speed restrictions on its transit lines by the end of 2024, a program that will require incremental, multi-day shutdowns of the Red, Orange, Green, and Blue lines over the next 14 months.
The work involved will range from rail and tie replacement to reballasting to other forms of spot repairs. It will seek to address a recurring black eye for the agency that has seen the Federal Transit Administration issue safety directives over issues including track maintenance [see “Federal directives order MBTA to address safety issues,” Trains News Wire, June 15, 2022]; an extended shutdown of the Orange Line for track work that resulted in slower service than before the 30 days of repairs [see “Advocacy group says MBTA Orange Line service is slower …,” News Wire, Oct. 10, 2022]; and most recently, the news that much of the Green Line extension would have to be rebuilt after less than a year because of out-of-gauge track [see “MBTA Green Line extension … faces significant repairs,” News Wire, Oct. 19, 2023].
As of Thursday, the rail transit network includes some 190 speed restrictions covering 31.1 miles, or 23% of the system, according to MBTA data.
“By restoring our tracks, we are addressing the root causes of the speed restrictions that have accumulated over decades,” MBTA CEO Phillip Eng said in a statement. “Our efforts to rebuild track infrastructure across the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green lines will improve train speeds substantially, reduce delays and disruptions, enhance safety, and deliver timely, reliable, and consistent service for riders. Our team is deeply committed to seeing this through and we thank the public for their patience as we move the T forward. We will have a robust open house schedule to ensure the public has an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the various projects throughout the year.”
The plan calls for 39 speed restrictions to be addressed in the remainder of 2023; work next year will replace 27,900 ties and improve 124,880 of track, with more than 208,000 feet of ballast tamping.
Repair shutdowns planned for the remainder of this year will be Nov. 27 to Dec. 5 between North Station and Kenmore/Heath Street, Babcock Street, and Dec. 11-20 between Riverside and Kenmore. A tentative schedule for the 2024 shutdowns is included in the press release announcing the program. That release also includes tentative dates for five open-house meetings in January, February, and March to discuss the program; final dates and locations will be announced later. The MBTA is also working on alternate-service options for riders during the shutdown periods.
The Boston Globe reports the plan is modeled on the work done in October on the Red Line’s Ashmont Branch and Mattapan trolley line. A 16-day shutdown eliminated all speed restrictions on those lines, more than two dozen in all [see “MBTA completes work …,” News Wire, Oct. 30, 2023].
Eng told a meeting of the safety subcommittee of the MBTA board that that the program will result in “a much more consistent, smoother, reliable trip, giving people back time in their day,” the Globe reports. “What we are proposing today and what we’re going to deliver is a new way of doing business.”
We’ll see it when we believe it or something like that. I was late to a work assignment last Sunday when it took 43 minutes to get from Sullivan on the Orange Line to Arlington on the Green. Now there was heavy passenger traffic maybe delaying things further, maybe from pro-Hamas demonstrations or something.
The “Crawl” between Sullivan to Community College wasn’t as bad as it’s been; Orange Line North is showing its age (opened 1975-7). One might expect better maintenance.
Deferred maintenance personified! One hundred and ninety speed restrictions means all you do is slow down before and until your entire train clears the restriction, then speed up, only to apply brakes for next restriction.
Every year on the railroad I worked they would promise our entire 100 mile sub would be 25 mph track speed by the year’s end.
I retired in 2019, and even to this day it’s still a 10 mph sub. I hope the MTA is better with their promises.