BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority restored service on two subway lines Sunday evening, ending a shutdown over structural concerns about a downtown Boston parking garage above the subway tunnels.
The agency said in a statement the move to restore full service on the Green and Orange lines followed “a comprehensive inspection of the infrastructure by internal and third-party engineers and safety experts, an intensive assessment of the repair work performed, and subsequent testing of trains in the tunnels,” and that the developer behind work on the Government Center Garage “has installed the necessary supports to uphold the structure.”
The MBTA said structural engineers will continue to monitor the location as trains operate.
Segments of both lines were shut down suddenly on Thursday after the MBTA said support columns for the garage, which pass through the MBTA tunnels, were “severely deteriorated, creating an unsafe environment in the tunnels.” [see “MBTA halts service …,” Trains News Wire, June 24, 2022]. The agency blamed the developer involved in demolition of the garage for the problem, while that company said the column was “compromised from years of water damage” and the problem was unrelated to the demolition.
Streets near the garage that had been closed have also been reopened.
Work on the same parking garage led to a suspension of service on the two lines in March and April, after part of the structure collapsed, killing a worker [see “Service disrupted on two MBTA transit lines,” News Wire, March 28, 2022].
