Several MBTA lines will be closed for maintenance in November

The MBTA will close multiple rail lines for the month of November to achieve long-awaited service improvements by the end of the year.

T officials said last November that by the end of 2024 they intended to fix the nearly 200 slow zones that plagued the transit system at the time. Each represented an area where the MBTA’s ailing infrastructure limited the speed of trains, increasing commute times.

After extensive work carried out throughout last year, only 16 slowdown zones remained by the end of October, MBTA data shown.

The upcoming closures will affect the Red Line and the E and D Branches of the Green Line as crews work on remaining maintenance projects.

For all closures, details of alternative transport options – including a free shuttle bus and commuter rail journeys – can be found at MBTA website.

Red Line

The Red Line will be closed from Broadway to North Quincy from November 5 to November 10 for track work. On November 9 and 10, the closure will cover Broadway to Ashmont.

Shuttle buses will transport passengers between affected stops and commuter rail journeys will also be free between Braintree and South Station during the outage.

From November 18 to 24, the Red Line between Harvard and Broadway will be closed for track work. Shuttle buses will replace rail service, but will not stop at Park Street or Downtown Crossing. Instead, riders in these areas should board buses at Haymarket or State stations, the MBTA says.

During the closure, the commuter train will also be free between Porter Square and North Station and between Braintree and South Station.

The MBTA also announced that shuttle buses will replace Red Line service between Braintree and Quincy Center on November 3 from the morning until approximately 2 p.m. as part of an “emergency training exercise.”

Green Line

The E and D branches of the Green Line will not stop between Park Street and East Somerville during the weekend of November 15-17 due to track maintenance. The closure will begin on Friday at 8:30 p.m. and will last until Sunday.

The MBTA encouraged passengers to use shuttle buses or use the Orange Line to travel between downtown stops.

D Branch will be closed between Union Square and Lechmere November 11-17 for track work. The MBTA encouraged passengers to use bus routes 86 and 91 for travel between Union Square and East Somerville.

Branch D will also be closed between Riverside and Kenmore on November 9-10 to improve signal. The MBTA said riders wanting to reach Union Square should instead take the C Branch, which will run trains between Cleveland Circle and Union Square.

Gradually extended closures allowed the MBTA to drastically reduce the number of speed limits.

On Oct. 22, the agency reopened a vast section of the Orange Line that had been closed for nearly two weeks for “critical” rail track upgrades. As a result of the work, officials lifted train speed limits in 20 areas. The closure also allowed maintenance crews to upgrade the station’s signaling, security and amenities systems, according to the MBTA.

If repair crews only worked every night, when subways are usually closed, it could take years longer to complete the massive backlog of T train maintenance projects, MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said this summer.

“I have a lot of catching up to do, but I thank the audience for their patience,” said Eng, who was there appointed last year he said, after serving in top New York transit positions. “Because at the end of this year they will have a system they can rely on better.”