BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority on Wednesday announced the postponement of planned track and signal work on the Orange Line less than a week after a train full of commuters caught fire.
Orange Line service was set to be diverted between Oak Grove and Wellington stations between July 29 and August 28 to allow crews time to complete the work, but that plan has been paused indefinitely, the MBTA said.
“While the MBTA is pausing this work for now, the MBTA is exploring additional opportunities to accelerate work on the Orange Line, and will keep riders updated,” an MBTA spokesperson said in a statement.
The MBTA did not specify what prompted the sudden decision to put off the work, but it comes just six days after an Orange Line train transporting commuters on a bridge that runs over the Mystic River in Somerville caught fire.
About 200 people were forced to evacuate the train, including a woman who jumped into the river and others who climbed through smashed windows.
Video shared with Boston 25 News showed flames shooting from a train car and thick smoke billowing into the air.
A metal sill broke off the lower section of the train and it made contact with the third rail, “causing an ignition,” according to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak. He called this latest incident “incredibly frustrating.”
In June, all new Red and Orange Line trains were pulled from service after an out-of-service car experienced a battery failure in the Wellington Yard.
The Federal Transit Administration said in a recent report that investigators found the MBTA to be short-staffed to the point where trains were not safe for riders.
Since the release of the report, the MBTA says its Track Department installed about 500 feet of rail on the southbound Orange Line tracks between the Back Bay and Massachusetts Avenue stations that allowed the T to lift a speed restriction that was about 1500 feet long from 10 mph to 25 mph, speeding up trips by about one minute. When all track work is completed in this area, the speed will be able to be increased to 40 mph.
Poftak also said that the agency is taking steps to alleviate staff shortages.
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