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Vroom? No slow zones anywhere on the Orange Line for the first time in 14 years, MBTA says

By adamg on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 10:59am

The MBTA reports it's finally cleared the last of the seemingly perpetual slow zones on the Orange Line this weekend, letting riders feel the full oomph of an speed-limit reaching trains for the first time since 2010, ending the days when wood-paneled Orange Line trains always lost races to snails and turtles at Forest Hills and between Tufts and Back Bay.

Even the pace of repair quickened, the T reports.

During these seven days of unencumbered access to this area of the Orange Line, work crews replaced nearly 17,500 feet of rail and 2,600 ties. During the 30-day Orange Line shutdown in 2022, crews replaced only 6,000 feet of rail and about 2,900 ties.

The T now says that only 1% of the entire T system is still in slow zones, with the last of those - four on the Red Line and three on the Green Line - expected to be fixed by the end of December.

Topics: 
The T
Free tagging: 
Orange Line


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Comments

By Cleary Squared on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 11:08am.

I was on the OL on Saturday and it felt like the old times when I commuted to Watertown; the trains ran at a brisk pace between Forest Hills and Downtown Crossing.

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By Michael on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 11:10am.

And didn't just take victory laps before any of the work got done (coughcharliebakercough)

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By Cleary Squared on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 12:31pm.

This real repair of the OL in 2024 more than beats the "publicity" repair of 2022.

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By Waquiot on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 3:58pm.

I'm cynical enough to ponder that this victory lap by Eng is strikingly similar to the one taken by Poftak 2 years ago.

I'm enjoying the commute, except on the commutes in the past 2 weeks that have had issues. I'm kind of surprised that Adam didn't report on the switch malfunction at Forest Hills the Tuesday before last. How do you rebuild a switch just to have it fail? Is this the quality of work across the system? And what ever happened with the signaling project that was supposed to be complete by 2022?

I'd like to be optimistic. Check in on me in 6 months, a year, and 2 years. The T works when it's made to- kind of an argument in favor of getting the Olympics- but when it doesn't, it doesn't.

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By spin_o_rama on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 11:34am.

Hadn't been on the Orange Line since the winter, took it yesterday/today and almost missed getting off at North Station because it was so much faster!

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By cybah on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 1:53pm.

haha right? I was so used to it being so slow, I am not used to being at work early!

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By spin_o_rama on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 2:54pm.

I got from Brighton to North Station in 35 minutes, that includes the walk from home to Boston Landing.

Thats on par with my regular bike commute! (Still gotta walk over the locks though.)

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By anon on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 1:43pm.

Can you tell me where I can go to get my car fixed? Preferably somewhere near the Cabot Yard.

By jmeltzer on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 2:38pm.

That would be what was said in Charlie's reports. The actual figure, I suspect, was much closer to zero.

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By anon on Tue, 11/05/2024 - 3:56pm.

I ride the Blue Line two or three times a month(on my way to visit friends in Marblehead) and it's like, going fast now, so fast I'm hanging on for dear life.