After a sequence of delays, the Medford department of the Green Line extension lastly has a gap date: Dec. 12, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak stated.
Poftak stated the long-awaited Phase 2 department, which is able to journey by way of Somerville to Tufts University in Medford and embody 5 new stations, will open initially of service, at 4:45 a.m.
“Our original hope was to be opening towards the end of November,” Poftak stated at Thursday’s MBTA Board of Directors assembly. “We had some further work that we wished to get performed.
“We also wanted to be sure that we were doing everything we needed to do, not only on the Medford branch, but across our system. We wanted to make sure that we did it safely and that we did it properly.”
Planned for many years, the $2.3 billion Green Line extension will add mild rail service up by way of Somerville. The Union Square department opened in March, however the for much longer Phase 2 department to Medford, with 4 new stops in Somerville, has seen a number of delays.
It was initially set to open in 2021, a date that the T pushed again, first to late summer time, after which to late November. The first part of the Green Line extension, to Union Square in Somerville, was shut down for 28 days, from Aug. 22 to Sept. 18, to carry out “final-phase construction work” for the challenge.
“We’ve been working hard to get ready for this,” Poftak stated. “We have been operating a demonstration revenue service just without passengers for a number of weeks, as well as getting the traction power substations ready to go and making sure that everything is in readiness for Dec. 12.”
According to Poftak, Medford department take a look at trains ran from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days every week, to organize for the department opening. Two new traction energy substations alongside the brand new department on Pearl Street and Ball Square will present energy and are tied into the MBTA’s operations and management middle.
In thanking these concerned with the challenge, Poftak indicated that at one level, it appeared that the Green Line extension “was not going to happen,” and was “revived.”
In latest weeks, an unsure begin date and Green Line extension take a look at trains that abruptly ended service for Union Square-bound trains at Lechmere station in Cambridge drew the ire of riders.
MBTA spokesperson Lisa Battiston stated riders who’ve seen their journeys finish at Lechmere have the choice to board a Union Square-bound Riverside prepare for continued service.
“We understand that commissioning and testing a new line brings challenges, but the MBTA’s inability to provide accurate information or keep consistent headways inconveniences riders and dampens enthusiasm,” advocacy group TransitMatters stated on Twitter final week.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”