Behind the Orange Line Closure
From August 19th to September 19th, 2022, the MBTA Orange Line was shut down in order for the MBTA to make repairs to rail infrastructure and remove speed and operating restrictions that were in place due to the condition of the tracks. I recently had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with the new MBTA Chief of Quality, Compliance, and Oversight, Katie Choe (also the mother of Newman senior, Xavier Choe) to ask her some questions regarding the Orange Line closures, MBTA operations, and the future of Boston public transit.
Mrs. Choe assumed the position on the 31st of August, and previously held the role of the MBTA Chief of Capital Delivery. In her former role, Mrs. Choe was responsible for the construction programs encompassing all of the MBTA’s projects in transport and infrastructure. In her new role, Mrs. Choe oversees the implementation of all of the corrective actions that are resulting from a safety audit of the MBTA by the Federal Transit Administration, the national transit regulatory agency.
Regarding the FTA, Mrs. Choe explained that much of the reasoning behind the Orange Line service closure stems from the administration’s aforementioned safety audit. This audit placed emphasis on key issues that had arisen in Orange Line operations. Particularly, the condition of the subway’s tracks had deteriorated over time. In order to keep transit safe, temporary restrictions on speed needed to be placed before the tracks could receive maintenance. Mrs. Choe stated that an issue behind performing necessary maintenance had been time.
“It’s very difficult to actually do work on the tracks overnight when service is not running,” she stated. The window of time for maintenance to occur would ordinarily be the four-hour window when trains are not running from one to five AM.
Mrs. Choe further elaborated on the logistical challenge that this time constraint posed. “By the time you get all the trains cleared off the tracks, and get all the contractors or the internal forces mobilized… you only get an hour and a half of productive work a night. That's really not enough time to do a lot of the maintenance work that needs to be done, and so we’ve developed a backlog of maintenance work. What we’re doing on the orange line right now is clearing that maintenance backlog, in order to clear the operational restrictions on the tracks, [and] bring [them] into a state of good repair.”
There’s no doubt that the maintenance conducted during the Orange Line shutdown was absolutely necessary. However, closing down the entire Orange Line prompted an important question: how would those who regularly take the Orange Line commute?
The MBTA was keenly aware of this predicament. Throughout the longest transit closure in recent MBTA history, Mrs. Choe noted that it was a priority to “think through how we would move the number of people who ride the Orange Line through alternative service.”
Different remedies were set into action upon closure, one of which was the shuttle bus service. “We joke, and I think it maybe is only a partial joke that we are using every bus east of the Mississippi for this diversion,” Mrs. Choe commented. The MBTA worked with transport service Yankee Bus, which subcontracted with a wide range of other companies to bring buses and drivers from all across the eastern United States to Boston for a month in order to provide shuttle service.
Though rapid shuttle service certainly benefited commuters during this time, the impact of the temporary service on everyday traffic needed to be considered. “We were putting hundreds of shuttle buses on the street that [weren’t] typically there. We worked with the city of Boston to implement a number of new bus lanes across the city in order to allow the shuttle buses to have priority over the cars. We also implemented transit priority on many of the traffic signals in the city, which is something new to the city of Boston,” Mrs. Choe said.
Buses were not the only means of supporting Orange Line passengers. Changes were also made to commuter rail services as another means to accommodate Orange Line passengers. For instance, the commuter rail platform at Oak Grove that had been out of service underwent a full check for accessibility standards and was reopened to commuter rail passengers. Additionally, more stops were added to the three Orange Line stations with commuter rail platforms on the south side of the system: Forest Hills, Ruggles, and Back Bay Station.
Much like the side drawbacks of the shuttle service, increasing service on the commuter rail came with its own set of trials which the MBTA needed to overcome. Mrs. Choe stated that “there were a lot of things we had to think about, [such as] the fare mitigation. We made sure that it was possible to ride the commuter rail with a subway pass, because it’s typically a different fare.” The expansion of commuter rail accessibility combined with losing Orange Line fare revenue for an entire month meant that the MBTA would face a notable financial impact.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Choe affirmed that the impact would be offset by the benefits of repaired tracks and decreased maintenance costs. “The financial impact of this was something we always considered because revenue is important to the MBTA, but it was more important that we actually get the tracks into a state of good repair.”
The Orange Line reopened for service on September 19. As passengers begin to return to their usual commutes, many wonder what the long term effects of the maintenance will look like. In addition to bearing the peace of mind that the commute is now safer, the removal of speed restrictions means that average trip time will be reduced in the future. However, Mrs. Choe stated that it will take some time before these changes can be fully realized.
“Speed restrictions don’t get removed immediately when we go into service. We need to give the tracks time under normal operating conditions to settle in, and we need to monitor them while that's happening to make sure that there’s not too much movement [and] that nothing is coming loose. The experience will be slower to start, but soon we’ll be noticeably faster.”
Though the Orange Line shutdowns have been commonly viewed as inconvenient, ultimately the maintenance done during the shutdowns contributed a major step toward making Boston a model American city for effective, sustainable public transit. On the state of public transit in the Greater Boston area, Mrs. Choe optimistically stated that there is already “a fantastic foundation to build off of at this point. I do believe that the vision of most of the politicians in the area is that we will become more sustainable, more resilient, and we will get more cars off the road and people onto public transit. We can only do that with safe, reliable options.”
Crucial to the improvement of the MBTA is the support of lawmakers. Regarding what legislators can do to support public transit, Mrs. Choe emphasized that “no matter what we do, we’re going to need funding to do it.” Funding is significant toward improving maintenance, providing fewer overtime hours for staff, and financing capital projects.
But how can individuals make their voice heard on topics like public transit? Advocacy is an important and unexpectedly straightforward tool. “I would highly encourage [reaching] out to [lawmakers], whether it is at the municipal level, state or town government, or even the federal government. I have found that elected officials listen to constituents, and that does include students,” said Mrs. Choe.
With the Orange Line repairs completed, maintenance now begins on a section of the Green Line. Whether you’re just returning to your regular commute or adjusting to a new route, it is important to take into account that though these alterations may be frustrating at the moment, they are ultimately necessary toward developing transit in Boston and preparing the city as a whole for the future.
