Orange Line MBTA Closures This Weekend

CHARLESTOWN, MA —It's the second weekend of a six weekend-long project to work on the Orange Line. This means no service between Sullivan Square and Tufts Medical Center for five more weekends beginning at 8:45 p.m. on Fridays through the end of service on Sundays.

“I want to thank our customers for their patience as we continue to make progress on our efforts to build a better T,” said MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak in a statement. “While we understand these shutdowns are inconvenient, they give us the opportunity to accelerate necessary improvements to improve the safety and reliability of the T for the long term.”

The MBTA is replacing T service with bus shuttles between Sullivan Square and Haymarket only and ask that folks utilize the parallel Green Line service as much as possible.

This is all part of the plan to make repairs go faster on the T. The MBTA’s 2019 Capital Acceleration Plan allows the MBTA to expedite upgrades to core infrastructure and to perform maintenance activities, including cleaning and painting at stations, accoring to T officials.

During last weekend’s Orange Line closure, crews completed the following:

• The replacement of 210 feet of track, improving reliability and reducing service disruptions
• The installation of 8,000 feet of signal cabling and 233 feet of signal wiring
• Station brightening work including cleaning, washing, and re-painting of walls, floors, and ceilings on platforms areas at Chinatown (northbound/Oak Grove-bound), State (southbound/Forest Hills-bound), and Haymarket (southbound/Forest Hills-bound)
• Treading replaced on the Summer Street stairway at Downtown Crossing
• Replaced 36 Lexan panels at platform passenger enclosures at Community College
• The replacement of flooring within elevators at Chinatown
• The complete overhaul of five faregates at Chinatown (northbound/Oak Grove-bound)
• Leak repairs at Haymarket and State as well as concrete work at Haymarket, State, and within the southbound/Forest Hills-bound tunnel between North Station and Haymarket
• Tunnel inspections and utility surveys between Chinatown and Downtown Crossing

During these weekend shutdowns, bus shuttles will be provided between Sullivan Square and Haymarket Stations. There will be no shuttle bus service to Orange Line stations at State, Downtown Crossing, and Chinatown with customers asked to travel via parallel downtown Green Line service.

Headed northbound? Take the Orange Line to Back Bay, transfer to the Green Line at nearby Copley Station (0.2 miles), take the Green Line to Haymarket, board shuttle buses to Sullivan Square, and transfer to the Orange Line.
Headed southbound? Take the Orange Line to Sullivan Square, board the shuttle to Haymarket, transfer to the Green Line, take the Green Line to Copley, and transfer to the Orange Line at nearby Back Bay (0.2 miles).

The MBTA is asking riders to utilize parallel Green Line service in the downtown area at North Station, Haymarket, Government Center, Park Street, Boylston, Arlington and Copley Stations.
Customers with disabilities should see MBTA personnel in order to take an accessible van from Copley, Back Bay, Tufts Medical Center, and Haymarket to any Orange Line station without train service as well as Copley, Back Bay, Tufts Medical Center, and Sullivan Square.

The $8 billion that the MBTA plans to spend over the next five years to upgrade the system is the most in any five-year period ever.

Orange Line service is suspended between Sullivan Square and Tufts Medical Center:

• 8:45 p.m. on October 11 through October 13.
• 8:45 p.m. on October 18 through October 20.
• 8:45 p.m. on October 25 through October 27.
• 8:45 p.m. on November 1 through November 3.
• 8:45 p.m. on November 8 through November 10.