BOSTON — A series of shutdowns on the rapid transit Orange Line and a week of disruptions for the Mattapan Line trolley operationare the primary focal points for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority track work in October, part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to address a maintenance backlog.
Two weekends of shutdowns on the Green Line D Branch are also on tap.
Disruptions on various portions of the Orange Line are set for Oct. 8-20, and Oct. 26-Nov. 1. Shutdowns between Forest Hills and Back Bay are planned for Oct. 8-11 and Oct. 15-20, and between Forest Hills and North Station Oct. 12-14. The second batch of suspensions will be between Oak Grove and Ruggles Oct. 26-27, and Oak Grove and North Station Oct. 28-Nov. 1. Shuttle buses will replace trains in most cases; commuter rail lines will also be an option for riders for the latter two disruptions.
The Orange Line work will be part of the ongoing Track Improvement Program, announced last year with the goal of eliminating all slow orders on the rail transit system by the end of 2024.
The Mattapan Line, which has already seen five evenings of shutdowns Sept. 22-26, will see similar shutdowns between Mattapan and Ashmont beginning this Monday, Sept. 30, through Sunday, Oct. 6. Monday through Thursday, service will be suspended at approximately 11:30 p.m.; Friday, it will be halted as of 8:30 p.m., and full shutdowns will take place Oct. 5-6. Shuttle buses will replace trains during the shutdowns, which are to allow for routine track maintenance.
On the Green Line, a shutdown is planned Oct. 5-6 between Kenmore and Newton Highlands, and Oct. 19-20 between Riverside and Brookline Hills. Shuttle buses will replace trains during each service suspension.
More details on the service disruptions are available here.
As a resident of suburban Boston, I think these intentional denial of service actions are getting tiresome. Free bustituion doesn’t make up for the delays and inconvenience. Assuming most major maintenance activities are now completed, this has got to resolve to doing maintenance in the daily off hours overnight instead entire weekends. In fact Trains Magazine published an article perhaps 5 years ago about how MBTA track maintenance personnel could swap out a turnout in the Green line subway in ~5 hours overnight without disrupting service.
As a former resident of suburban Boston, I have to agree with you.The D-Riverside train is bursting at the seams any day including weekends. That’s a lot of buses to substitute.
I have read these articles each week and wonder what’s been going on. I lived the first 22 years of my life either in MBTA or NYCTA territory. I never heard of shutdwns like these.