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MBTA pauses plan to lift Green Line speed restrictions Saturday

By Julianne Lima, Boston 25 News and Natalie Khait, Boston 25 News Staff
By Julianne Lima, Boston 25 News and Natalie Khait, Boston 25 News Staff

BOSTON — The MBTA today announced that the Green Line speed restrictions will remain in place at least through the end of service today.

“The MBTA continues to prioritize safety and at this time cannot lift the Green Line line-wide speed restrictions as further evaluation and validation of specific locations are needed,” MBTA spokespeople said in a release.

In a press conference Friday, MBTA Interim General Manager Jeff Gonneville said they were optimistic they would be able to lift the restrictions for the Green Line Saturday. The other lines had their speed restrictions lifted on March 10.

“While running a Green Line test train in areas where defects had previously been detected, crews identified speed signs that need to be relocated to implement block restrictions,” the MBTA said in a tweet posted at 4:30 a.m. Saturday. “As result, the global speed restriction will remain in place until this manual process is completed.”

The MBTA has identified 30-speed limit signs that need to be relocated on the Green Line. the relocation work is being completed today.

“After that work is completed, the MBTA will re-run test trains on the entire line. The MBTA apologizes for the continued disruption to service for its riders.”

At this point, about 25% of the total track is under some sort of speed restriction. While the global restrictions were lifted for the Red, Orange, and Blue lines last week, some spots are still designated as slow zones.

The speed restrictions were the result of several safety violations that were discovered by Department of Public Utilities inspectors during a recent site visit.

Between March 3 and 5, the DPU said it found the following:

  • A couple of trains overshot a station platform
  • Defective track conditions on the red line
  • Subway operators weren’t using headlights when required
  • Several third-rail insulators were defective
  • Signal control boxes and access panels weren’t securely closed
  • Inspectors observed a worker not wearing a hard hat

Riders are encouraged to visit the link here for the best transportation during St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

The MBTA also wants riders to know that tomorrow between 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m, a free shuttle will provide service between South Station and South Boston.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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