Green D Line back ahead of schedule

By Kaz on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 12:42pm

MassDOT announced the reopening of the Green D Line as of 2:30 PM this afternoon after setting an original expected date of Monday.

The MBTA reports that in four days, workers:

Pumped all the water out of the swimming pool-sized hole;
Installed a 250 foot, 18 inch in diameter, concrete drainage pipe to prevent wash-outs in the future;
Erected a retaining wall comprised of concrete blocks;
Re-built the earthen rail bed beneath the tracks;
Restored power to the overhead wires and tested the signal system and tracks

There'll be a little ceremony/press conference at 2:15 at Reservoir station, after which Transportation Secretary Jeff Mullan and acting T General Manager William Mitchell will board a trolley and not be swallowed up by a sinkhole as they take the ceremonial first ride on the new trackbed.

Neighborhoods:

Topics:

Free tagging:

Ad:

Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

OK, who wants to be first?? ;-)

By merlinmurph on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 1:36pm.

n/t

Interesting how the MassDOT blog has far more information

By roadman on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 4:39pm.

about the D line restoration efforts than the T's own web page, which simply notes on their alerts page:

Green Line - Normal D line service has resumed today at 2:30pm. All shuttle bus service has been cancelled. 3/19/2010 3:56 PM

And..

By Kaz on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 6:36pm.

And I got to that page from the MassDOT Twitter feed. MassDOT has definitely taken its PR role very seriously, which is nice for a change.

New policy of "Let's put our cards on the table" working well

By Arborway on Sat, 03/20/2010 - 2:06pm.

I've long argued the best thing the MBTA could do to help its image would be to take a more open and honest approach to what's going on.

Just have someone snap a photo behind a construction barricade, write a small paragraph explaining that there was some unforeseen complication with something and what's being done to mitigate that. Openly showing the good and the bad will help humanize what's often seen as a monolithic, uncaring organization.

ceremonial first ride?

By Brett on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 8:02pm.

Dignitaries? Ceremonial first ride?

Lolz.

Test Riders

By SwirlyGrrl on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 9:28pm.

"Ceremonial First Ride" is what we want them to think. BWAHAHAHA! While they gloat over their special status and wave to the papers, we know better. They're ballast for the full-speed test run.