Four weeks of disruption to Green Line riders kicked off Monday, with construction aimed at fixing narrow tracks and eliminating speed restrictions on the beleaguered line.
Trains will largely be replaced by shuttle buses, with regular bus and Commuter Rail service available as other travel alternatives over that time period, as the MBTA begins to implement its new “track improvement plan.”
Highly-publicized work on both Green Line Extension branches was set to begin Monday night and last through Dec. 10. Train service will be cut off from 8:45 p.m. to end of service between North Station and Union Square, as well as the Medford/Tufts station.
Crews will perform “critical track work” during that two-week period, to alleviate tight-gauge conditions on the two GLX branches and lift two speed restrictions on the Lechmere viaduct.
MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, who disclosed the narrow-track conditions on the Green Line Extension in October, said at a Nov. 16 board meeting that the planned construction is aimed at eliminating that issue “once and for all.”
The so-called early-access diversion, Eng said, “would give the design build team appropriate hours, eight hours, to have a full shift and accomplish this work in the most expeditious manner, most cost-efficient manner and allow us to minimize the impact to the traveling public.”
Shuttle buses will replace trains between North Station and Medford/Tufts each night through Dec. 10, and between Lechmere and North Station all day, from start to end of service on Dec. 4 and 5.
Riders impacted by the lack of nightly train service between Lechmere and Union Square stations are “encouraged” to consider alternative bus routes, including the 86, 87, 91 and CT2.
The diversions are overlapping with all-day closures that will last through Dec. 3 on the B, C, D and E branches from North Station and Babcock, Heath and Kenmore stations.
The work will “accommodate structural repairs at Boylston station, track reconstruction throughout the Green Line underground central subway, and work to alleviate a speed restriction on Commonwealth Avenue in Allston,” the T said.
Trains will also be replaced by shuttle buses on the D Branch between Kenmore and Riverside stations for 10 days, from start to end of service. The Dec. 11-20 diversion will involve track work aimed at eliminating speed restrictions throughout the line.
In addition, Green Line service will be suspended in the downtown between North Station and Government Center through Dec. 22, due to the continued demolition of the Government Center Garage by private developer HYM Construction.
Orange Line trains will also bypass Haymarket station during that four-week period, with riders on both lines directed to walk past the impacted stations.
Eng said two weeks ago that the planned work is aimed at restoring “the service that the public deserves.”
It’s important, he said, to eliminate the tight-gauge issues on the Green Line Extension, address the Lechmere viaduct work, and move past the Government Center Garage demolition, which has impacted not only MBTA service but downtown traffic on the surrounding streets.