MBTA’s Blue Line Restriction-Free After ‘Critical’ Track Work

Crews performed track and tie replacement work along the Blue Line at Wood Island station.

Photo Courtesy of the MBTA Customer and Employee Experience Department

BOSTON – The MBTA has removed 19 speed restrictions after critical track work on its Blue Line.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) Blue Line is now restriction-free. In April, five contractor groups worked with over 200 workers in areas including track maintenance, signals, power, facilities, capital, and logistics forces. A list of speed restrictions that were removed can be found here.

Specifically, crews replaced 22,500 feet of rail, over 9,000 feet of overhead catenary wire, and more than 10,000 ties, 1,000 feet of full depth track, 700 feet of restraining rail, and around 500 feet of fencing between Beachmont and Revere Beach as well as roof canopies at Wood Island, Orient Heights, and Suffolk Downs. At Orient Heights, Wonderland, and Wood Island, crews repaired stairways. Additionally, at Orient Heights, workers repaired the operator’s walkway. At Wonderland, workers repaired the operator’s platform within the non-passenger area.

Crews also installed 48 composite ties at trip stops and 35 switch timbers. 41,000 feet of track was surfaced and tamped, and crews performed station inspections and standpipe testing. 

Along the Blue Line, workers performed station work that included cleaning, painting, and performing repairs to walls, concrete, doors, and stairways. Wooden station benches were sanded and repainted as well as other doors, sign frames, barrels, sand boxes, and fences. Crews also worked to install and replace station signage, including system maps.

MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng thanked MBTA’s “riders and the communities that we serve for your patience and flexibility as we completed critical work to repair and replace track infrastructure along the entire Blue Line. . . With each diversion, we are fulfilling our commitment to giving our riders the safe and more reliable trip that they deserve.” 

Eng went on to express pride at the “workforce and the contractors that have worked tireless hours making this our first line to be restriction-free after beginning the Track Improvement Program. . . Rides along this corridor rely heavily on the Blue Line as well as the many travelers that visit Massachusetts. While there is still more work to do across the system, they can now experience a shorter and smoother trip. We continue to make significant strides to perform this vital work due to the efforts of everyone involved and improved planning, scoping, and execution as we work to restore public trust to make the T the preferred choice of travel.”