BOSTON — Commuter service on the MBTA’s Haverhill Line is changing until the end of the summer, but thanks to the intervention of constituents, municipal leaders like Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio and the area’s legislative delegation, the inbound weekday commute won’t be as bad as it could have been.
Originally, the schedule was to eliminate the inbound 284, making the last morning train the 282, which leaves Wakefield Station at 7:39 a.m. After advocacy from various groups, however, the MBTA amended the spring/summer schedule for the Haverhill Line and restored the 284, which leaves Wakefield Station at 8:18 a.m.
The MBTA and Keolis Commuter Services (Keolis), the operating partner for the MBTA Commuter Rail, announced the temporary schedule change on the Haverhill Line to facilitate important rail replacement work. Until the end of the summer, midday inbound trains will run express between Ballardvale and North Station via the Lowell Line. Passengers between Reading and Wyoming Hill can take MBTA bus 137 for free to Oak Grove or Malden Center for a connection with the Orange Line.
This temporary schedule adjustment will allow crews to replace some of the last jointed rail in the MBTA system with continuous welded rail. This will improve performance and resiliency on the Haverhill Line in conjunction with the recently installed Positive Train Control/Automated Train Control signal system. The project will reduce noise and vibrations experienced by abutters along the line, and the new rail will not need to be replaced again for about 25 years.
Regular inbound train service will operate in the morning, with the last scheduled train departing Reading at 8:18 a.m. Train service from Reading will resume in the evening with the 6:08 p.m. inbound train. Outbound service will not be affected.
