North Station Service on the Green Line after June 20

I just called MBTA Customer Service to ask which Green Line branch(es) would serve North Station after the cut-over on or about June 20. The first representative told me in no uncertain terms that there would be NO Green Line service north of Government Center, even after I read her the last sentence of the first paragraph of the new press release.

After I insisted, she connected me to a supervisor, who was very kind and informative. She did some research, and told me that the B/Boston College and E/Heath lines will go to North Station, and the C/Cleveland Circle and D/Riverside lines will be cut back to Government Center. She also promised to pass this to the front line Customer Service agents.

So all things being equal, I guess we'll see some Type-8s at North Station beginning soon!

June 20? I thought that June 18 was supposed to be the last day of elevated service, and June 19 the first day of subway service. Has something changed?

This has not been clarified. It could be that they'll take all or part of the weekend to do the cutover, and bustitute during that time.

Are we at least sure that June 18 (or shortly after midnight on the morning of June 19) is the last run on the El?

Well, the MBTA Web site finally has posted the information. But they made a typo. At least as of this writing, it has:

Green Line Route Changes Effective Saturday, June 19, 2004:

(C) - Route 811 - Boston College Line will now run to North Station.

(C) - Route 811 - Beacon Street (Cleveland Circle) Line will run to Government Center.

(D) - Route 832 - Riverside Line will now run to Government Center.

(E) - Route 881 - Heath Street Line will run to North Station.

Of course, the first line should be (B) - Route 821 - ...

But at least they are confirming it will be as of Saturday.

The leaflet handed out today in North Station Upper says that the last elevated service will be at 7 pm Friday night, June 18. The first subway service will start at 7 am, Monday morning, June 21. There will be bustitution on Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday, and early Monday morning.

I also talked to T personnel on the North Station Upper platform, who confirmed this information.

Diverging Route wrote:Well, the MBTA Web site finally has posted the information. But they made a typo. At least as of this writing, it has:

Green Line Route Changes Effective Saturday, June 19, 2004:

(B) - Route 811 - Boston College Line will now run to North Station.

Of course, the first line should be (B) - Route 821 - ...

But at least they are confirming it will be as of Saturday.

Does this mean that type 8's could be heading to the new N/S Subway? It appears the platforms (raised) are made that way. Anyone know what trackage (switches etc) exits beyond the platform?

I know a Boeing car has performed clearance tests through the Superstation already, don't know if they've run Type 7s or Type 8s through there for a clearance test yet... undoubtedly Type 8s will eventually serve North Station, but we'll see Monday if they will do so immediately.

Beyond North Station there is supposed to be a third track between the inbound and outbound tracks for turnaround and car storage. I assume that's where they will be turning cars beginning next week.

How did they get a car into the Superstation? I don't see any switch between North Station and Haymarket -- the tracks are not connected at all.

IIRC, the Boeing showed up several weeks ago after a weekend shutdown. They probably did a temporary track cut-over for the weekend to get it in therefor testing.

I would guess that Type 8's to North Station shouldn't be much of a problem. I was under the impression that they were not running to Lechmere due to track conditions on the El. Logically, I don't think the T was going to expend the time and money to upgrade trackage which isn't long for the world.

So, perhaps this will mean that the T8's will now start roaming the whole system once the El is out of service...

I took my last Causeway El trip around noon inbound from North Station Upper today. On the way inbound, I took a close look at where the new tracks will connect - and noticed that there are _two_ tracks connecting to what should be the outbound track - in total, three tracks right now on the inbound side of North Station, none of which are currently connected. I couldn't tell, but I assume one of the two tracks for the outbound side is a stub-end for the aforementioned turnaround/storage. I may connect to both, I didn't have time to study it that long...

The past two days appear to have been spent putting the black rubber tread, trackside of the yellow "rumble strip" and a few inches lower, at least at the upper platform. Is this for the varying trolleys expected to at least eventually serve the station?

I have yet to ride on a Type 8 - I don't have much reason to go past Park St. on the Green, and only generally take it for a change of pace as it is...

the Type 8's are beautiful :D they are so clean and smooth riding

I understand from a post on ne.transportation that the Department of Telecommunications and Energy (which for some reason has safety oversight of MBTA) has not yet approved Type 8s to operate beyond Government Center. The plan now, when the new operating pattern is implemented, is to shift the majority of Type 8 operations over to the Beacon Street line for the time being, because they can run there and that route will regularly terminate at Government Center anyway. Once DTE decides it's okay to allow Type 8s to North Station, they'll return to the Commonwealth Avenue line as well.

thats good news :D

So it looks like the date on the closing has been pushed out at least a week, which is good for me since I hadn't a change to take pics/video and will do so this weekk. Checking the MBTA's website the 'B' line is going to the new N.S. and I've seen at least 3 sets of Type 8's on the 'B' line today so there's some hope!