Harvard Station - Church St. entrance locked last night

Last night around 8:30, I tried to enter the Harvard Red Line station at the Church Street entrance, only to find it locked up. The steel door (gate?) had been lowered so you could not go down the steps. The main entrance a block away was open as usual.

Anyone know why? I've occasionally seen the Church Street entrance in "exit-only" mode (turnstiles blocked off, only the exit gate open) but never totally closed like this. Three hours earlier, it had been fully open.

There was a reported fire in Harvard Station on Saturday. At least that is what my friends told me when there were shuttle buses between Alewife and Park Street.

Yes, but I'm talking about last night, when the station was open and operating as usual. The entrance that I found closed at 8:30 was open three hours earlier.

According to the Globe, there was an electrical fire on the tracks around 5 pm on Saturday.

Perhaps the MBTA is trying to reduce man hours by closing that collector's booth early. But even if that were the case, why close the entired gates?!?

Do like the posters say for customer comments and suggestions and "Write to the top".

I second Conductor. There's no reason they should be closing off entrances while service is still running. You should definitely write to the top on this one. Let us know if you get a response.

IIRC, the Church St. entrance has always been open limited hours, although on what schedule I don't know. It is odd that they would close the exit too, although I've seen kids bash their way through the ones at Kendall to get on without paying, so maybe they don't want it open when unattended anymore.

I've only rarely seen the entrance part closed, and NEVER seen the whole thing closed.

Somebody probably just pulled the grate down. I saw somebody do that at Copley on the Green Line outbound exit near Citizens Bank a few weeks ago.

No, because when I got to the outbound platform, the escalator and stairway to Church Street were barricaded off.

Those barricades have been there for a long time. I've been seeing them stashed next to the stairs for well over a year now every day when I ride through. I think that they've been closing the whole thing for some time now.