Boston –  Ashmont Delayed

Rail Transit Online, April 2007

The MBTA is reporting a delay of at least four months in rebuilding and upgrading the Ashmont Red Line station and the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Trolley line.  The transit agency’s board of directors last May 5 awarded a contract for new platforms, shelters, benches, signage, lighting and communications at the station.  The 2.5-mi. (4 km) Mattapan line was shut down in June 2006, supposedly for about a year, to allow work to be accelerated at Mattapan and at the six trolley stations, which are receiving yet another cosmetic rehabilitation.  An MBTA spokeswoman said the major setback was caused by replacement of a bridge — poor soil conditions required deeper footings.  The trolley route, opened in 1929 on private right-of-way and equipped with rehabilitated PCC cars, is now expected to reopen in October.  The entire project is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2008.