BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority announced Tuesday (Nov. 21) that it had completed “critical track work” on the transit Red Line, removing four 10-mph speed restrictions and five 25-mph restrictions between the JFK/UMass and Park Street stations.
Rail service was replaced with shuttle buses on the evenings of Nov. 14-16 and all day on Nov. 18-19, allowing MBTA crews to complete work including replacement of more than 2,000 feet of rail and 115 ties. At the same time, in-station work was done at three locations, including bench repairs, stairway and platform improvements, and new or cleaned signage.
MBTA CEO Phillip Eng said the completed work removed three more speed restrictions than had been originally planned.
“Part of this success is the collaborative coordination between contracted work and our growing in-house Maintenance-of-Way staff.,” Eng said in a press release. “I know that we have many challenges ahead, but this reconfirms a new way of doing business at the MBTA to safely improve our tracks and infrastructure and providing a faster, more reliable ride for the public.”
The completed work leaves the Red Line with 57 restrictions covering 9.2 miles, or 19% of the route — the first time that figure has been below 10 miles since the MBTA initiated siystemwide slow zones.
This work was scheduled ahead of the MBTA’s recently announced plan to eliminate all speed restrictions on its rail transit network by the end of 2024 [see “MBTA announces plan …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 10, 2023] The first work as part of that program is slated to begin Nov. 27 on the Green Line.
Mr. Eng has the correct idea. Announce a route closing with a set number of repairs. However, have extra material on hand if no unforeseen problems occur to make additional repairs-that were not announced.
On a downtime-available basis… A little incentive (if they can get the work done faster and have time to tackle something else) would not go amiss…