BOSTON – House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. (R–North Reading) and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R–Gloucester) are advising North Reading residents who utilize the commuter rail that they may soon experience some travel delays due to scheduled work on the Haverhill Line.
Over the next two months, Keolis Commuter Services and the MBTA plan to undertake $100 million in infrastructure improvements on both the Lowell and Haverhill lines, a project that will include the replacement of thousands of railroad ties that are nearing the end of their life cycle.
Beginning on May 4 and continuing through June 12, a total of 15,000 railroad ties are scheduled to be replaced between Reading and Haverhill during off-peak hours. Because this section of the Haverhill Line is single track, officials from Keolis and the MBTA have announced that passengers will be bused between Reading and Haverhill between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. during this six-week period. Doing so will add an additional 25 minutes to passengers’ daily commute in and out of Boston, with all other passengers expected to see minor schedule changes and delays of up to five minutes.
“We want to give our constituents as much advance notice as possible so they can be prepared for potential delays on their daily commute and can plan accordingly,” said Representative Jones. “Although commuters endured significant service disruptions last winter, Keolis and the MBTA have given their assurances that this scheduled work will lead to more reliable train service moving forward.”
“None of us likes delays or disruptions in commuter rail service but maintaining its infrastructure is essential to its future reliability,” said Senator Tarr. “Our hope is that by providing advance notice, commuters will be better able to plan for this disruption and minimize its impacts.”
Keolis began replacing nearly 12,000 railroad ties on the Lowell Line on April 13. Because that work is also taking place during off-peak hours, officials say commuters should anticipate only minor delays in service until this phase of the project is completed on May 3. According to Keolis and the MBTA, a short period of speed restrictions will be implemented after May 3 to enable the new track work to settle.
Representative Jones and Senator Tarr encourage commuters to utilize the T-Alert system, follow Keolis’ Twitter feed (@MBTA_CR) or contact the Keolis Customer Service team at 617-222-3200 to receive daily updates and schedule changes for these projects.
