Free shuttle buses will replace trains and trolleys at JFK/Massachusetts Station South from Oct. 14-29, and crews will work to ease dozens of speed limits, T said. Service along the Braintree Branch, and he travels north from JFK/Massachusetts through downtown to Alewife is unaffected.
But the closure will affect more than eight miles of railroads covering 11 stations, complicating commuting for tens of thousands of passengers.
“Once these 16 days are over, Company T intends to give the riders back a safe and reliable route,” Ng said in an interview with Grove. “Then we can shift resources to other areas because there are so many other things to do.”
Eng stressed that the closure of that section of the Red Line is different from the month-long closure of the entire Orange Line. Fewer passengers will be affected, travel times will be shorter, and announcements will be made ahead of the disruption.
T said workers will replace rails, sleepers and ballast between Ashmont and JFK/Massachusetts and between Ashmont and Mattapan during the partial shutdown in October, which will increase speed and It should reduce the need for future maintenance. , workers also complete off-track work, such as repairing lighting, removing overgrown vegetation, and improving accessibility.
The project aims to bring trains and trolleys back to normal pre-limit speeds, according to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The Ashmont Branch Line, which includes Ashmont, Shawmat, Fields Corner and Sabine Hill Stations, carries about 40,000 passengers daily, while the Mattapan Line carries about 3,700 passengers, according to T. Some of the oldest rails in the system are included, said T., and they should be replaced.
An AT spokesperson said workers replaced more than 8,000 feet of rail and tamped and aligned nearly 50,000 feet of track in 28 locations, 14 on each branch. The goal is to ease speed limits.
As of Thursday, both branches had at least 30 separate speed limits. According to MBTA. Meanwhile, services, passenger numbers and speeds across the Red Line have all fallen since a new slow zone was added to the T line last year.
Advocacy data shows dozens of restrictions at the Ashmont branch are causing delays of nearly six minutes on outbound trips and just over six minutes on return trips Transportation mattersdoes not include mattapan root.
The continued closure of more than two weeks marks a change from the phased repair approach Company T has adopted at Redline this summer, including night work and evening and weekend closures. According to Company T’s dashboard, the percentage of Red Line tracks and all MBTA subway lines with speed limits has increased in recent months as the MBTA struggles to repair its aging infrastructure. It is said that there is
“We’re holding the line, but we’re not making the progress we need,” Ng said. “When you think about how much you can accomplish in one night and how much you can accomplish in 16 days, this is a better way to go.”
Ng said the Red Line and other rail lines could also experience additional suspensions due to repair work.
Mother Sheila Johnson, who lives near Dorchester Center, got into an argument with her two children on a train to Ashmont Thursday afternoon. She said she hadn’t heard of the upcoming closure while Ms. Johnson picked up one child’s shoes.
“It’s really inconvenient,” she said. “This is just a mess.”
Johnson, who works in the administration department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he could take short vacations during the shutdown. Redline is prone to delays and shuttle bus interruptions, so she has already had to delay her daily shifts in order to be able to show up on time.
Ms Johnson said she and her family were already “avoiding going out during shuttle times”. She pushed a two-seater stroller that was about as wide as the space between the seats in the Redline carriage, which was too wide for some buses.
“I don’t know if I can trust you, [MBTA] Absolutely,” she said, considering the record.
At the Mattapan line, 19-year-old Naveya Williams was equally pessimistic.
Williams takes a trolley from Mattapan to Ashmont for work, then a train from Ashmont to JFK/Massachusetts. Her usual route aligns exactly with the upcoming closure.
“Every time they say they’ll change, I feel like they won’t change. We’re sticking with his idea,” Williams said. “Actions speak louder than words, so when you see it, you believe it.”
Ng learned from Company T’s month-long closure of the Orange Line last summer, and the fact that trains were even slower despite promised speeds, and that the red line closure was smoother. He said he was confident he would go ahead.
“We don’t want to repeat ourselves,” Ng said. “I can’t let my riders go through this and continue without the benefits and results they were hoping for when it was over.”
He said the agency is working to increase transparency, and although the upcoming Red Line closure will be short, it will be announced much earlier than the Orange Line closure, which passengers were notified about two weeks ago. pointed out that it was
Addressing T’s board of directors at a conference on Thursday, Ng emphasized that the diversion would “bring back speed” for the two branches. He said a high level of communication with passengers is key to facilitating the transition to shuttle buses and ensuring that public expectations are met with anticipated improvements.
“What we’ve learned with the Orange Line is that the expectations weren’t clear,” Eng told the board.
Affected passengers should allow an extra 15 minutes during the October travel period. It’s a distraction, according to Company T spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
Wheelchair-accessible free shuttle buses run every five to six minutes during peak hours on weekdays and every 10 to 15 minutes during off-peak hours, Mr T said.
The agency is also encouraging passengers to use local buses and commuter trains during the shutdown.
Pesaturo said the closure will cost MBTA at least $12.2 million to build. This cost does not include non-track work. Company T does not have an estimate of how much the loss of freight revenue will hurt the agency.
Ng said the ability to quickly restore speed to the Red Line, the slowest in the subway system, is “fundamentally invaluable.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu attended Thursday’s board meeting on behalf of the person appointing the city’s new board, she said. In a post-conference talk, Ms. Wu said redline was “the number one cause of headaches” she heard from T-Ryder.
Wu said he hopes to get more clarity on how the Red Line closure will affect passengers in the coming weeks.
“We’ll continue to press in the coming weeks…to really understand what’s going to happen and what we’re really going to experience,” she said.
During Thursday’s meeting, Wu asked the T staff a question.
After a presentation from the T rep outlining the MBTA’s new high-level goals, Wu asked when riders would see tangible changes. She pointed to the lack of progress on many of the goals set during MBTA’s last major public planning process in 2019.
Speaking after the conference, Wu said he wanted to know when long-debated projects, such as connecting the Red Line to the Blue Line, would come to fruition.
“We want to go beyond mere standards of safety and reliability to reach a place where the hopes, dreams and needs of its residents are truly clear and with actionable timelines.” she said.
Globe staffer Taylor Dolven contributed to this report.
Daniel Kool can be reached at daniel.kool@globe.com.keep up with him @dekool01.
