MBTA Winter 2020 Weekend Orange Line Diversions
The MBTA announced upcoming weekend closures on the Orange Line between Sullivan Square and Tufts Medical Center Stations beginning at 8:45 p.m. on Fridays through Sundays for four weekends in January and February starting the weekend of Jan. 17.
These closures have been scheduled to replace Orange Line station track in both directions at North Station, and to perform additional track work at State, Haymarket, and Downtown Crossing. This weekend work has been scheduled to build off work that was performed during last fall’s weekend diversions as part of the 2019 Capital Acceleration Plan. These closures are expected to result in 840 feet of full-depth track replacement at North Station, and will allow for the replacement of an additional 140 feet of track at State and 200 more feet of track at Haymarket.
“This past fall, we made major progress in our efforts to build a better, safer, more reliable T,” said MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak. “Continuing these weekend diversions in 2020 will allow us to maintain that progress while we look to take a more aggressive approach later on this year.”
During these four Orange Line weekends in which service is suspended between Sullivan Square and Tufts Medical Center, shuttle buses will be provided between Sullivan Square and Haymarket Stations only. 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. These four weekends are:
•8:45 p.m. on Jan.17 through Jan. 19. (Note: On Monday, Jan. 20, 2020, the Orange Line will operate a Saturday schedule in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.)
•8:45 p.m. on Jan. 24 through Jan. 26.
•8:45 p.m. on Feb. 7 through Feb. 9.
•8:45 p.m. on Feb. 14 through Feb. 16.
Following track work, the MBTA typically implements speed restrictions as a safety precaution, and customers should expect these to last for several days while the T monitors the proper settlement and consolidation of new track and stone ballast. Speed restrictions are lifted once engineers have confirmed proper settlement has occurred.