D Line

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.

This Saturday as opposed to Monday, per The Boston Globe.

This will certainly ease the coming weekend of hell brought about by several Red Sox games, college move-ins and Labor Day tourist traffic.

Trains will be able to run faster, and the handicapped-accessible Breda trolleys should theoretically be able to traverse the line at full speed without derailing now that the track renovations are complete. The T expects the latter to enter service on the D Line by the end of the year.

The news isn't all good however. Renovation projects at Longwood and Brookline Village stations will not be finished until next Spring.

This is not how I like to find out about service disruptions:

The MBTA employees on site were as surprised as I was - they had only found out about it shortly before my arrival.

Personally, I'm tired of waiting for the MBTA web site to become fully functional