MBTA announces major Green Line closure to replace 130-year-old infrastructure
The MBTA will close a broad stretch of its Green Line for 15 consecutive days in December as it replaces a piece of the subway tunnels dating back to their original construction nearly 130 years ago.
From Dec. 8 through Dec. 22, the T will suspend service from North Station to Babcock Street on the Green Line’s B Branch, to Kenmore on the line’s C and D Branches and to Heath Street on the E Branch, the agency said.
“For a planned shutdown, this is huge,” Brian Kane, the executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, said Tuesday when informed of the looming closure. “That’s the entire trunk [of the Green Line], basically. That’s major.”
While the lines are closed, MBTA work crews will replace a “wooden overhead catenary wire ‘trough’” running along the ceiling of the train tunnels, the agency said in a statement.
The trough, an original piece of the Green Line tunnels built in the late 1890s, houses the trains’ overhead wires.
The T said it will install “a modern, more durable, metal” replacement. Work crews will also use the closure to complete other projects, including the installation of a
new Green Line safety system.
With Green Line service closed, the T will direct riders to fare-free shuttle buses, the Orange Line, which also runs through Downtown Boston, public buses and the commuter rail……..”
The MBTA will close a broad stretch of its Green Line for 15 consecutive days in December.
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