MBTA: Green Line Extension repair work will not be completed on time
Work on the MBTA’s Green Line extension project will not be completed on time, the transit system said Friday.
The MBTA is now hoping that the project will be completed by Sunday, December 17, almost a full week from their original December 11 target date.
Crews have been repairing miles of track after it was discovered they were initially stalled incorrectly. The MBTA says the problems appeared to be linked to metal plates that connect the rails to the wooden ties that run perpendicular. Those plates -- which were pre-installed off-site before the rails were delivered to the MBTA -- are too close together in many areas.
Most of the new MBTA Green Line tracks need to be fixed after ‘construction, oversight failures’
Shuttle bus service past 8:45 p.m. on both the Union Square and Medford/Tufts branches of the Green Line which will continue as it has since November 27.
“The MBTA is committed to ensuring that GLXC completes this work safely, thoroughly and expeditiously. We are disappointed that they could not complete their work on the Green Line Extension on the timeline that they previously projected and, at our direction, they will be bringing in more resources, including more crews,” said MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng in a statement. “We apologize to riders for this inconvenience, and we will continue to do everything in our power to deliver the longer-term, safe, and reliable service that they expect and deserve.”
In April 2021, the MBTA received an inspection report from a firm named Terracon warning that tracks in a railyard set to be used for the extension were too narrow, Eng said. It appears that MBTA officials at the time did not view that report as a red flag and did not respond by taking a closer look at the space between rails on actual construction sites.
More than a year later in November 2022 -- when the Union Square branch had already opened and the larger Medford branch was about to open -- a scan found 29 locations where rails were so narrow that trains would not be able to safely run at full speeds, plus a “significant portion” of tracks where the gauge was tighter than construction standards but not bad enough to warrant slow zones. The T fixed those 29 defects at the time, Eng said.
“There was tight gauge in this yard facility. That was back in April of 2021, We also had other reports in November of ‘22 that indicated the widespread need to address more than just these isolated conditions,” Eng said. “Back in April of 2021, it’s my belief that it could have been, it should have been more proactively investigated prior to opening, prior to installing what we’ve done.”
It’s not clear why MBTA officials did not address the issue earlier. Steve Poftak served as MBTA general manager from January 2019 until January 2023, and Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration oversaw the T.
A redacted copy of an April 2021 inspection report that identified narrow track gauges on the MBTA’s Green Line Extension project.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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