Commuter Rail: MBTA Postpones Planned Service Changes

WAKEFIELD, MA — Planned service changes along the Commuter Rail's Haverhill and Lowell Lines next week will not take place as previously scheduled, the MBTA notes.

Instead, the agency will be rescheduling planned signal work around North Station that would have prompted these and other disruptions, according to an alert.

The MBTA said this past week that Haverhill Line train service would end at the Malden Center station in Malden on Aug. 4 and Aug. 5. Riders would have to transfer to the Orange Line for continuing service to North Station.

Lowell Line service was due to end at the Anderson/Woburn station in Woburn both this weekend and next weekend. Shuttle busses would replace service on remaining stops to North Station.

Similar disruptions were scheduled to take place on the Newburyport/Rockport line and the Fitchburg line.

"Contrary to previous communication, regular train service will operate between Haverhill and North Station," the MBTA said in a new alert.

The MBTA made similar announcements for other impacted lines. The train diversion will be rescheduled, the MBTA said.

The eventual diversion will aim to accommodate part of a more than $45 million overhaul of signal systems in a one-mile stretch of track near North Station. That project dates back to 2019 and is still scheduled to be completed later this year, according to the MBTA.

This change of plans in the North Station project is the second such rescheduling for the agency in a matter of days.

On Wednesday, the MBTA announced that it had paused a planned acceleration of work on the Orange Line around Wellington Station in Medford. The pause did away with a planned monthlong disruption for Orange Line commuters using stops between Oak Grove and Wellington Station.

Asked about the reasoning for the pause, an MBTA spokesperson told Patch that "officials want to revisit the original plan and broaden its scope to weigh other repairs and maintenance that would be easier to complete with trains offline."