MBTA plans two-week closure of subway line NEWSWIRE

More Monday morning rail news:

— The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will shut down a portion of its Blue Line subway for 14 days beginning May 18 to allow for accelerated track and infrastructure work. Subway service will be replaced by shuttle buses for the seven-station stretch between the Bowdoin and Airport stations through May 31. “The work accomplished during this closure will lead to numerous benefits, including increased train speeds, shorter travel times, and a more reliable service schedule,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said in a press release. “… We know these diversions can be an inconvenience, but the service suspension allows us expedite critical track and tunnel infrastructure work and remove the restrictions that currently limit train speeds.”

— Paul Jablonski, CEO of San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System, died suddenly on Sunday, the agency announced. He was 67. Jablonski, who had a 40-year career in transit, had been CEO of MTS since 2004, and was the American Public Transportation Association’s manager of the year in 2014. “We are shocked and saddened about the passing of Paul,” said MTS Board Chair Nathan Fletcher in a statement, as reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He was a good man who not only ran a great agency but was a respected national transit industry leader. The entire MTS family is grieving right now, and our thoughts and prayers go out to Paul’s family.” Deputy CEO Sharon Cooney will serve as the agency’s interim CEO.

— Vandals broke into a shop building near Johnstown, Pa., and did more than $50,000 damage to a privately owned collection of streetcars, some of them dating to the early 1900s, the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat reports. They sprayed graffiti on the walls of the former coal company building in Windber, Pa., smashed windows and lights on the streetcars, spray-painted seats, and damaged an automobile in the building during the break-in last Tuesday. Owner Ed Metka told the newspaper he’s been collecting the equipment since the 1980s and while some have been parted out for buyers who operate vintage equipment, others have found homes as far away as Egypt. Police report they are following leads on the vandalism and are asking anyone with information to come forward.