MEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - Repairs to the Orange Line during the 30-day shutdown are well underway.
“It’s very early in the project,” MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said. “Right now in terms of construction work we are on schedule.”
Crews started round-the-clock over the weekend to make repairs and have already finished three projects, including 2,400 of feet of southbound track replacement work between Downtown Crossing and State Street and some light replacement, according to Poftak.
At Wellington Station, crews are demolishing old track, and at Sullivan Station, crews focused on roof repairs Monday afternoon. The MBTA also plans to install new signaling systems at Oak Grove and Malden Center stations.
In the lead-up to the shutdown, MBTA officials have said the pause in rail service will allow crews to do five years’ worth of work on the Orange Line in the 720 hours they have been allotted.
“We very carefully planned this out,” Poftak said. “We put some float in the schedule. We also have some flexibility.”
Some riders have told 7NEWS they are skeptical of that, even with the non-stop work.
“(I’ll) believe it when I see it,” one rider said.
The Orange Line shutdown is slated to wrap up by September 19.
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