Some Blue Line speed restrictions could last until November; T hopes to speed up repairs with some nightly shutdowns

New MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng said today that although he hopes to have all speed restrictions between Bowdoin and Aquarium on the Blue Line lifted by the end of May, fixing all the track and other problems that keep slowing the line down could take until November to fix.

At his first MBTA board meeting today, Eng said he and his engineers are looking at speeding that up by shutting the entire line down at 7 p.m. for several nights - initially April 24-27 and May 1-4, but with possible additional nights over the summer. This would give workers seven hours a night to make repair the problems that now add 15 minutes to a round-trip ride rather than the mere two hours a night they will have if the line shut down at its normal time shortly before 1 a.m.

The T says it will provide shuttle buses those nights, except to Bowdoin.

A spokeswoman says:

As of April 14, 5.37 miles of restricted track currently exists on the Blue Line. With the 7 PM evening diversions on April 24-27 and May 1-4 (as well as work to follow taking place during non-revenue hours), the T is able to aim for 3.5 miles of restricted track and to remove 7 speed restrictions by the end of May, which would not be possible if work took place only during standard overnight hours or during typical evening diversions that start at about 9 PM. We’re exploring other opportunities for evening diversions that we’ll announce if confirmed and finalized, and we anticipate 0 miles of restricted track and all current speed restrictions removed in November.

Eng said that engineers have yet to come up with similar schedules to eliminate all the speed restrictions on the Red and Orange Lines, but said he hopes to have those in place " "in the very near term."

He continued that the T operated very well under heavy loads on Patriots Day, save for "one incident on the Green Line." He did not detail that incident, in which some riders were kept waiting for more than an hour on stopped trolleys, but acknowledged "we have a lot of work ahead of us" to avoid a repeat.

In comments after eight full days on the job, Eng said his primary immediate task is in helping to create "a culture of safety, excellence and accountability." He said that this has started with safety retraining for 1,000 T managers. Roughly 800 managers - including himself - have undergone the retraining.

He acknowledged the Federal Transit Administration recently sent the T another urgent missive, this time about "near misses" on T tracks. "Near misses are avoidable and should not be happening," he acknowledged.