For the first nine days of April, the MBTA will shut down Red Line rail service between JFK/UMass, Ashmont, and Mattapan Square to perform track and station maintenance work.
- The T will provide free, ADA-accessible shuttle buses, which will make stops at all Ashmont Branch and Mattapan Line stations. The T advises that buses operating on Boston's streets will be considerably slower than rail servicem and riders should plan accordingly.
- For a faster option into downtown Boston, the T will also make the Fairmount Line fare-free for the nine-day service outage.
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, title sponsor of Bluebikes, is providing free $20 Bluebikes credits for riders. Use code BLUECROSSMAMBTA in the "rewards" section of the BlueBikes app to redeem (available while supplies last).
- The work will also impose a detour for the Route 18 bus near Fields Corner station, and the inbound stop on Dorchester Ave opposite Charles Street will be skipped. More details here.
When this closure ends on April 10, the MBTA will reopen the Mattapan Line and the Ashmont branch.
But the T plans to continue track work on the Ashmont branch for the rest of April by replacing a crossover track near the Ashmont station.
That crossover track typically lets Red Line trains switch tracks to turn around back towards Boston when they reach the southern end of the line. While it's out of service for April, the T will operate a "shuttle train" that will run back and forth on each of the branch's two tracks.
Ashmont Branch riders who wish to continue their trips towards or from downtown Boston will need to transfer to a Braintree branch train at JFK/UMass.
