The MBTA is convening an independent team to get to the bottom of the delays in construction and delivery of more than 300 new Red and Orange Line cars, Gov. Healey announced to reporters Thursday afternoon after taking a ride on the Red Line and touring the T’s operations center.
With the MBTA still awaiting more than 300 new Red and Orange Line cars to replace units that are up to 50 years old, Gov. Maura Healey said Monday that her administration is still in the “early stages” of identifying what went wrong.
As the MBTA struggles with service delays and prepares to suspend downtown Orange Line service for three upcoming weekends to work on tracks that were part of last year’s month-long end-to-end shutdown, Gov. Maura Healey said the new general manager she plans to name at the T will be charged with making sure that “these things stop happening.”
The outlook for the already-delayed transition to entirely new Orange and Red Line fleets continues to grow worse.
Seven weeks after the MBTA pulled its new Orange Line trains from the tracks to deal with a mechanical issue, the first set returned to passenger service Tuesday as T officials hinted further disruptions may come as the updated fleet rolls out.
Heading into 2020, the MBTA does not have a timeline for putting its new Orange Line cars back into service after the trains were pulled from the rails in November.
Work continues on testing a signaling system for the new trains, which were initially supposed to begin running in January before complexities prompted delays.
The Senate’s top Democrat is calling on the federal government to step in and investigate whether a plan for new subway cars in New York City designed by a Chinese state-owned company could pose a threat to national security. The company is also building much of the MBTA’s future fleet.
Rollout of new Orange Line trains has been delayed once again, officials said Monday, with public use now likely to begin during the summer to allow additional time for software testing.
