BOSTON (WHDH) - The MBTA has announced that it is delaying its plan to lift a global speed restriction in place on the Green Line on Saturday, just over a week after the restriction went into effect last Thursday.
Though officials said they hoped to lift the 25 mile per hour end-to-end Green Line restriction at the beginning of Saturday service, those plans were delayed, the agency said in a statement.
In a statement, the MBTA said, “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. As result, the global speed restriction will remain in place until this manual process is completed.”
Other restrictions will remain in place on sections of tracks across all T lines, continuing to cause headaches for some riders.
MBTA Interim General Manager Jeff Gonneville discussed the changes at a press conference Friday afternoon.
The T previously announced system-wide speed restrictions on the Orange, Red, Green and Blue lines last Thursday after a Department of Public Utilities safety inspection identified issues.
The T lifted global restrictions on the Red, Blue and Orange lines on Friday of last week. It then lifted the global restriction for the Mattapan Trolley on Thursday of this week.
Asked about the speed of inspections and repairs, Gonneville said he has been satisfied about the pace of the progress that has been made.
Gonneville said the global speed restrictions were “a bold move,” adding that he understands riders’ frustrations.
“Each one of these very specific defects has a detailed series of measurements that needs to be taken at every one of these individual locations,” Gonneville said. “That takes time.”
T officials estimated that the Green Line will have 16 percent of its track operating under speed restrictions this weekend.
On the Blue Line, the number is 80 percent. Between 22 and 24 percent of the Orange and Red Lines are under restrictions.
Speaking with 7NEWS, Transportation Safety Expert Keith Millhouse advised riders to take a wait-and-see approach with the latest developments with the T.
“One of the things I think the MBTA should do, whether it’s a new leader or current leadership, is set some objective benchmarks,” Millhouse said.
“There’s a lot of lip service to ‘improving service,’” Millhouse continued. “What does that mean?”
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