BOSTON (WHDH) - The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority announced it will be suspending Orange Line service between Sullivan Square and Tufts Medical Center for six consecutive weekends.
The shut down is set to begin Friday at 8:45 p.m., with service returning back to normal at 5 a.m. Monday.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak says he recognizes that the shut down is inconvenient but says it will make work more efficient.
“These shutdowns allow us a significantly greater work window to get important station improvements, track work, and other work done,” he said. “If we had to do these just on overnights, it would take us months and months to do the same amount of work that we can do in one weekend.”
The MBTA will be replacing and adding new signage, cleaning, painting and repairing stairs and tile at the stations.
Crews will also replace 2,250 feet of track within the Chinatown Station.
“We came to firmly understand over the summer that we need to accelerate the pace of investments and we need to show results and we need to increase the reliability and safety of the system,” Poftak said.
Over the course of the next six weekends, buses will be available between Sullivan Square and Haymarket stations. However, there will be no bus service to Orange Line stations at State, Downtown Crossing and Chinatown.
Customers are being asked to take the Green Line.
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