January Freeze: Green Line To Shut Down At Start Of 2024

NEWTON, MA — Riders who use the Green Line to get in and out of Boston from Newton and Brookline to the west, as well as the Green Line extension stops from the north, will get the cold shoulder once again starting Wednesday with shuttle service set to replace trains at the major hub stops in Boston for most of the month.

The MBTA said last month that there would be no trains between North Station and Babcock Street on the B Line, with all other train services suspended from North Station to Kenmore and Heath Street on the E Line, from Jan. 3 through Jan. 12, and then again from Jan. 16 to Jan. 28.

The closures are necessary to do track work on the trolley line, according to the MBTA.

Accessible vans will be available between Kenmore and North Station. To request a van or for help locating an Orange Line station, riders are advised to see station personnel or use a station call box.

Route 39 Bus will be free to ride between Heath Street and Copley/Back Bay. This route runs parallel to the Green Line E Branch Route 57 Bus will be free to ride between Packard's Corner and Kenmore.

Commuter Rail will be free to ride between Lansdowne, Back Bay, and South Station

Shuttle buses will run from right outside or near each of the Boston stops with delays expected both for MBTA commuters and drivers in the city that will have to compete for space on the streets during the heart of winter with the shuttle buses.

The work on the Green Line extension through Somerville and Medford will also continue with more shutdowns in January. Service between North Station and Medford/Tufts will be suspended on the weekends of Jan. 6 and Jan. 7, as well as Jan. 20 and Jan. 21.

Night travelers through Cambridge, Somerville and Medford will deal with additional shutdowns as the entire Green Line between North Station and Medford/Tufts will be replaced with shuttle bus service on Jan. 8 through Jan. 11, Jan. 16 through Jan. 18, and Jan. 22 through Jan. 25 at night as of 8:45.

This is the latest in what has been a long series of extended shutdowns beginning with the Orange Line shutdown last summer.

The MBTA released a report in November saying that a staggering $24.5 billion is needed to bring the MBTA infrastructure up to a "state of good repair."

According to the MBTA, the State of Good Repair does not indicate the level of safety but rather is
representative of an asset operating at its optimal and expected level of performance. An asset "out of SGR" is more likely to require rehabilitation or replacement.

The MBTA estimates the current overall SGR Index for assets in need of rehabilitation or replacement to be approximately $24.5 billion. This estimate includes:

• Facilities: $6.4 billion (35% of assets)
• Rolling Stock: $2.4 billion (55% of assets)
• Equipment: $52 million (28% of assets)
• Structures: $5.3 billion (22% of assets)
• Signals – CR: $1.3 billion (80% of assets)
• Signals – Transit: $753 million (53% of assets)
• Track – CR: $1.2 billion (9% of assets)
• Track – Transit: $2.0 billion (89% of assets)
• Power: $5.1 billion (76% of assets)

The estimate is an increase of $14.5 billion from the last assessment performed in 2019 with the MBTA saying that the nearly 150 percent increase is caused by a more comprehensive assessment of the inventory, significant infrastructure and construction cost increases because of inflation and supply chain challenges, the continued aging of the oldest public transportation system in the country with four more years of mostly neglect, and the lack of inclusion of the impact of some repair projects that have begun but whose benefits have yet to be realized.

MBTA officials allowed at the time that further service disruptions would be necessary to complete the work prescribed to bring the infrastructure to the State of Good Repair.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)