Two days before crews were set to start a month of maintenance on the Orange Line that would have temporarily closed subway stations, the MBTA indefinitely delayed the project to allow officials to consider additional work they might add into the mix.
The MBTA had been planning to suspend trains on the Orange Line between Oak Grove and Wellington on weekdays and between Oak Grove and North Station on weekends, replacing that service with shuttle buses, starting the night of Friday, July 29 and running through Sunday, Aug. 28. Officials said crews would have better access with a longer shutdown to replace more than 7,000 feet of track, 2,300 feet of third rail, install a new traction power switch and more.
On Wednesday morning, the T announced in a news release the project will be pushed off to an undetermined date. A T spokesperson said officials want to revisit the original plan and broaden its scope to weigh other repairs and maintenance that would be easier to complete with trains offline.
"While the MBTA is pausing this work for now, the MBTA is exploring additional opportunities to accelerate work on the Orange Line, and will keep riders updated," the agency said in its news release.
The T pointed to a recent project elsewhere on the Orange Line, where workers replaced about 500 feet of rail along a sharper curve. As a result, the T lifted a speed restriction -- which had been a focus for federal investigators who warned that delayed maintenance creates safety hazards -- in the area from 10 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour.
"The MBTA continues to prioritize safety enhancements and address additional track work and maintenance associated with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) directives," the T said. "This includes projects that address track conditions in need of most repair and those that currently have substantial speed restrictions."
