Major Red Line Braintree Branch Improvement Work to Take Place September 6 – 29, MBTA to Remove 20+ Speed Restrictions | News

Red Line Braintree branch service will be suspended for 24 days September 6 – 29 to accommodate this critical improvement work.

The MBTA today announced its plans to accelerate major Track Improvement Program work on the Red Line Braintree branch during a 24-day service suspension from September 6 – 29. Between JFK/UMass and Braintree, MBTA crews will make repairs to 18 miles of track, resulting in the removal of over 20 speed restrictions and improving round-trip Braintree branch travel times by as much as 24 minutes. This means there will be no Red Line trains servicing North Quincy, Wollaston, Quincy Center, Quincy Adams, and Braintree, though the MBTA is in the process of finalizing alternate shuttle bus plans that will be announced soon.

“The work to take place on the Braintree branch in September is unprecedented but long needed,” said MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng. “The MBTA is committed to not only restoring our system to deliver safe and reliable service, but we are focused on building it back better. While each of these critical but necessary closures impacts your travels in the short term, the public will gain long-term benefits. Once complete, we estimate that our riders taking a round trip between Braintree and JFK/UMass stations will save 24 to 27 minutes a day. We’re committed to communicating our progress, listening to the public, and delivering on the promises we make to provide better service. I look forward to returning faster, safer, more reliable Braintree branch service to our riders on September 30.”

The MBTA continues to thoughtfully plan this service outage, incorporating important stakeholder feedback from impacted communities and lessons learned from previous Track Improvement Program suspensions this past year. The MBTA’s Engineering, Maintenance of Way, Operations, Signals, and Stations teams have spent the last several months carefully planning the upcoming outage to get as much work done as possible, maximizing every opportunity for track, signals, and station work, and have a clear set of goals to be accomplished when the outage ends.

The track work accomplished during these 24 days allows the MBTA to run service up to the maximum allowable speed of 40 miles per hour, but also lays the groundwork for our goal of raising current Red Line train speeds above that. Other critical steps after this work is completed will need to be take place before train speeds are increased above 40 miles per hour, like additional Red Line motorperson training, further service and schedule planning, and more.

The MBTA is in the process of finalizing alternate service plans, including shuttle route stop locations and frequencies, and will provide more information in the coming weeks. Alternate service will be a combination of shuttle bus service replacement that serves all closed stations and adjacent Commuter Rail options. There will also be increased service on the Ashmont Branch in order to maintain train frequency through the Red Line core between JFK/UMass and Alewife. This information and more will be available soon at mbta.com/RedLine as well as through in-station signage, public announcements, and more.

Following this important work, riders will experience a more reliable trip with fewer unplanned service disruptions related to older tracks, older infrastructure, signal issues, or power problems. Riders will also be provided with a safer ride as a result of this state of good repair work.

The MBTA understands how these service changes affect riders’ daily travels. The MBTA is committed to improving commutes long term with more reliable, timely, and safe service. The MBTA thanks riders for their patience as this important work is delivered and for continuing to ride the system.