Tracking Transportation

Keeping track of transportation

T lifts last of universal go-slow speed restrictions

As agency repairs tracks, many smaller go-slow zones remain

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 19, 2023

THE MBTA announced Sunday night that the universal speed restriction on the Green Line has been lifted, which means the precautionary go-slow policy the transit authority put in place across the entire subway system March 9 has finally run its course. Interim MBTA General Manager Jeff Gonneville initially ordered all subway trains to reduce their(...)

‘Outside the box’ thoughts on MBTA electrification

Four investments to produce a modern transit system

By Chinmai Deo, Johannes Epke, John MacDougall and Mela Bush Miles MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 18, 2023

IN THE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR, there is an urgent need to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and to reduce inequities in access to clean, reliable and affordable transportation. To do this, we must make major improvements in the MBTA’s facilities and services, specifically by immediately building the required infrastructure for bus and rail electrification,(...)

For now, slow zones on the T the new normal

'Independent party' tapped to investigate failures in documenting inspection and repair work

By Chris Lisinski 0 Comments Mar 17, 2023

ONE-QUARTER OF the entire MBTA subway system will still be subject to more-sluggish-than-usual travel once the agency lifts end-to-end speed restrictions on the Green Line. More than a week after the T ordered trains to move slower because of failures to confirm past inspections and repairs, MBTA Interim General Manager Jeff Gonneville said Friday afternoon(...)

MBTA moving slowly in lifting universal speed restrictions

Universal slow zones lifted on Mattapan Line but not Green Line

By Chris Lisinski MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 16, 2023

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MBTA lifted an end-to-end speed restriction on the Mattapan Line trolley early Thursday morning, but there’s still no official timeline for ending mandatory slowdowns across the entire Green Line and pockets of the Red, Blue and Orange Lines. The agency announced on Twitter shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday that it(...)

More second-guessing of state’s I-90 Allston work

MassDOT board approves $86m repair contract for elevated section of Turnpike

By Bruce Mohl State Government, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 15, 2023

A correction has been added to this story. STATE TRANSPORTATION officials on Wednesday moved forward with a plan to spend nearly $86 million shoring up a crumbling elevated section of the Massachusetts Turnpike between Boston University and the Charles River before tearing it down and replacing it with a ground-level replacement. Like previous elements of(...)

MBTA not susceptible to magical solutions

Here are my five ideas for putting the transit agency on an upward trajectory

By James Aloisi MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 13, 2023

LAST WEEK’S NEWS regarding T safety conditions and slowdowns took most people by surprise, as the hope associated with a new gubernatorial administration and the feeling that perhaps the absolute worst was behind us gave many a false sense that a corner had been turned. The news forcefully and persuasively pushed aside those misplaced hopes.(...)

Documentation breakdown blamed in T subway slowdown

Speed back to 'normal' on Red, Orange, and Blue lines

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 10, 2023

MBTA INTERIM General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville said a failure to properly document whether or not track defects identified last month had been addressed prompted him to order a slowdown of trains across the entire system Thursday evening. The breakdown came to light earlier this week when a state safety inspector examining work on the Red(...)

Healey’s competitiveness mantra collides with T reality

Slow zone Red Line slog would cost me at least 1 extra week a year

By Michael Jonas 0 Comments Mar 10, 2023

LIKE A WELL-OILED messaging machine, Maura Healey has had a one-word mantra to frame her early days as governor: competitiveness. It’s become her version of the stern advice given in the 1967 movie “The Graduate” to Benjamin Braddock, who was told the watchword for his future was “plastics.” We regret any inconvenience this may cause,(...)

MBTA imposes speed restrictions across entire subway system

Trains will run at 10-25 mph on all lines

By Bruce Mohl MBTA, Transportation 0 Comments Mar 10, 2023

THE MBTA announced late Thursday night that it was immediately imposing speed restrictions on all of its subway lines following a recent state safety inspection of the Red Line between Ashmont and Savin Hill. In a press release issued at 10 p.m., the T said all trains on the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green Lines(...)

Biden includes partial funding for new Cape bridges in budget

Makes commitment of $600m toward $4b project

By Chris Lisinski Transportation 0 Comments Mar 9, 2023

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS ELECTED officials who for years have been seeking federal funding to help replace the aging bridges across the Cape Cod Canal got a major ally Thursday: President Joe Biden. Biden’s fiscal year 2024 national budget proposal calls for directing $350 million toward replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges, and(...)