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MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak, joined by Deputy General Manager Jeff Gonneville (right), shows reporters decades-old signal equipment (pictured) that was damaged in a June 11, 2019 Red Line derailment. State House News Service photo | Chris Lisinski.
In the 13 days since a Red Line train with 60 aboard derailed in Dorchester, MBTA officials have been hesitant to offer an exact estimate of when full service would be restored, citing the complexities of repairing signal infrastructure wiped out by the careening six-car set.
Now, it is clear the timeline is months, not days or weeks, meaning more headaches on a route that runs from Braintree through Quincy, Dorchester, Boston, Somerville and Cambridge and averages 240,000 weekday trips.
On the first day of summer, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak announced Friday that delays of 10 to 20 minutes on the Red Line would persist “at least through Labor Day.” That means slower service for people trying to get to work or home during a summer that will feature fare hikes effective July 1.
“We understand how disruptive this has been for riders,” Poftak said at a press conference. “Our priority is on improving service, doing it as quickly as we can but doing it as safely as we can.”
Some progress has been made since the June 11 derailment just outside the JFK/UMass station – commuters no longer need to change trains to access the Braintree line, for example – but because bungalows housing the signal system sustained considerable damage, MBTA crews must manually direct traffic and will run fewer cars.
“In those bungalows are systems that essentially control train speed, train spacing and even ultimately throwing switches between the Ashmont and Braintree branches that allow us to operate the Red Line every day,” Deputy General Manager Jeff Gonneville said at Friday’s press conference.
A standard rush hour will see 13 to 14 trains running on the Red Line every hour, but for the summer, the system will only be able to accommodate 10. Delays and crowding are likely to come with that.
The key challenge, Poftak said, is that the equipment damaged in some cases dates back to the 1970s. Crews are using whatever pieces they can for now and are in the process of finding additional repair materials, but that is not an easy task when the parts are several decades old.
The derailment also pushed up the MBTA’s timeline on plans to modernize signalling in the area. A project was already underway to replace analog signals near Columbia Junction with digital ones by 2021, but Poftak said officials are now working with the contractor to complete that work by 2020.
There is some chance for service to improve over the course of the summer, ahead of the Labor Day deadline outlined Friday, officials said. As signal circuits come back online, the MBTA may be able to reduce the almost 50 workers manually directing trains and run them more quickly.
“We are working every day to decrease the amount of manual work that’s being done, and if we are able to make sufficient progress, that number will decrease,” Poftak said. “But I think to allow the riding public to plan, right now, we foresee this current level of service persisting at least through Labor Day.”
Despite anticipating delays for most of the summer and significant outcry from riders and elected officials, the MBTA has no plans to pause a set of fare increases set to take effect July 1. The changes vary by ticket type, but a single ride on the Red Line will soon increase 15 cents and a monthly subway pass will go up $5.50.
“I think the requests to delay the fare increases are just an expression of frustration in the wake of the derailment,” Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack told reporters at the start of last week. “I am totally sympathetic to that level of frustration. I just think the fare increase is the wrong target for that frustration.”
Asked about the topic after Friday’s press conference, a T spokesman said the secretary’s statements still stand.
