BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority on Monday began the first work in its massive program to eliminate slow orders on its rail transit network, initiating maintenance shutdowns on the Green Line that will run through Dec. 10.
Full closures are set through Dec. 5 downtown between North Station and Kenmore; on the Green Line B between Kenmore and Babcock Street; and on the Green Line E between Copley and Heath Street. On Dec. 4-5, there will be no trains between North Station and Lechmere. Shuttle buses are available in most of these locations; full details on travel alternatives are available here.
Additionally, nighttime closures began Monday and will continue through Dec. 10 on Green Line E between North Station and Medford/Tufts, and on Green Line D between North Station and Union Square, from 8:45 p.m. through the normal end of service each day. These closures will allow the MBTA to address the out-of-gauge construction issues on the Green Line extension that opened last year [see “MBTA Green Line extension was built with track out of gauge …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 19, 2023].
The MBTA said earlier this month it would eliminate all speed restrictions on the Blue, Red, Orange, and Green Lines by the end of 2024, which will require incremental shutdowns across those four lines across the next four months [see “MBTA announces plan …,” News Wire,” Nov. 10, 2023]. This work, and additional Green Line work Dec. 11-20, is the only part of that program scheduled for 2023.
In other words, from Monday 11/28/23 through Tuesday 12/5/23, the entire Green Line subway that services the B, C, D, and E lines through downtown Boston is out of service! Plus one can’t ride the E line between Heath St and the subway at Copley (this section includes street running on Huntington Avenue). But you can ride the Comm Ave line 3 miles from Boston College to the west end of the Boston University campus at Babcock St, the Riverside line to/from the subway at Kenmore, and the new extensions to Somerville to North Station (until 8:45PM only). I think this could be a significant disruption to traveling to/from downtown Boston.