MBTA crews will spend much of the fall making improvements to the Red Line in preparation for this winter. That means track closures and travel frustration for much of Dorchester and Quincy while weekend service is replaced by shuttle buses.
The T’s board approved an $18 million contract to complete winter resiliency work on the exposed parts of the Red Line, from JFK/UMass to Fields Corner in Dorchester and the Quincy branch to Braintree.
Buses will shuttle riders between JFK/UMass and Braintree Station six weekends from September 10 through October 17. One final shutdown is scheduled for Braintree trains the weekend of December 3rd.
The Ashmont line will rely on shuttle buses over three weekends from October 22 through December 19.
Acting MBTA General Manager Brian Shortsleeve says the work will go a long way to preventing another winter of delays like in 2015.
“Nothing’s more important to the MBTA or to Governor Baker than making sure that we continue to execute on the program that we started last year, making sure the Orange Line and the Red Line are ready for winter,” Shortsleeve said.
There will be new track and rails laid down, with improvements to the rail’s heater systems and the signal system’s fiber optic network.
Repairs to the Red Line’s obsolete signal system are responsible for many of the delays on the T’s most popular line.
Failures along the Red Line in the winter of 2015 were a major factor in the decision to shutdown the system so workers could mount an intensive repair effort. Since then, the Baker administration has given the greenlight to spending on a resilience project to make sure another harsh winter won’t cripple the line.
And who could forget when a Red Line trainleft a Quincy station without an operator after the driver used a cord to tie down the throttle.
