Commuter rail to Newburyport and Rockport will shut down on weekends this summer
Starting to plan your summertime weekend beach trips? Don’t count on the commuter rail to get you there.
The MBTA is shutting down the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line on weekends from July 8 to September 30, the Newburyport News reports. A new control system will be installed in the trains during the service interruption.
The control system, called positive train control, helps to prevent train collisions by combining GPS, wireless radio, and computers that monitor trains.
A plan to install positive train control on all MBTA commuter rail trains by 2018 has been submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration. The plan calls for full PTC implementation by December 31, 2020. If the transit agency fails to meet this deadline, it will be slapped with a $105,000-a-day fine, MBTA chief administrator Brian Shortsleeve told the newspaper.
Each of the commuter rail lines will have to shut down in order to have the hardware installed.
A shutdown of the line was already planned from July 5 through July 15, while repairs are made to the Beverly rail bridge. The service interruption is not related to a rejected Baker administration proposal to stop commuter rail service on weekends in order to account for an MBTA budget gap.
No shuttle bus service will be provided during the federally-mandated shutdown.
