Residents of Braintree, Quincy and surrounding areas will have to consider alternative means of transport. Rail service on the Braintree branch of the Red Line will be suspended from this Friday, September 6, and for the entire month of September.
This decision by the MBTA is part of the launch of the latest “surge” project, aimed at repairing tracks and eliminating “slow zones” between JFK-UMass, Quincy and Braintree stations. Shuttles will be in place to serve users during the improvement work on a stretch of almost 30 kilometers, until September 29.
The aim of the work is to remove speed restrictions which, according to railway officials, could improve round-trip journey times on the Braintree branch by around 24 minutes.
Free commuter rail service to Braintree, Quincy Center, JFK/UMass and South Station will be offered weekdays on the Middleborough, Kingston and Greenbush (Old Colony) Commuter Rail lines. Additional buses will be added to commuter rail lines. Free shuttle buses will stop at Braintree, Quincy Adams, Quincy Center, Wollaston, North Quincy and Ashmont to provide connections with other Red Line subway lines. However, officials specify that there will be no direct shuttle service to or from JFK/UMass.
“There will be an increase in subway service on the Ashmont branch to maintain train frequency in the heart of the Red Line between JFK/UMass and Alewife,” MBTA officials said. “Trains will run at a frequency of approximately eight minutes between Ashmont and Alewife.”
Meanwhile, the Alewife-Ashmont branch of the Red Line will continue to operate normally. However, the closure of the Braintree branch will have serious repercussions on Dorchester residents, as many Braintree/Quincy branch passengers will increasingly use the Ashmont branch for bus connections to Quincy and Braintree.
Residents of Dorchester, Mattapan and other nearby areas will also have to adjust their travel schedules in anticipation of strong demand on the Ashmont line.
The MBTA Red Line has two branches: Alewife-Ashmont and Alewife-Braintree/Quincy. The two branches separate at JFK/UMass, where one goes to Braintree/Quincy and the other to Ashmont (Dorchester). Both branches share the same route from JFK/UMass to Alewife, west of Cambridge.
The Braintree branch of the Red Line will be out of service for 24 days – starting this Friday
