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Green and Orange Line service restored after structural repairs

The MBTA shut down portions of the Green and Orange Lines due to deteriorated support columns running through tunnels near Haymarket.

HYM Construction discovered support columns that pass through the MBTA tunnels had severely deteriorated. Jonathan Wiggs/Boston Globe Staff

By Susannah Sudborough

June 26, 2022

The MBTA announced Sunday evening that the Green and Orange Lines had reopened fully after partially closing around Haymarket station at the end of last week.

The transit authority had announced Thursday night that a contractor had discovered the support columns for a private Government Center garage running through the MBTA tunnels near Haymarket Station had deteriorated.

Orange Line service between Back Bay and North Station was suspended, and the Green Line was with shuttle buses between Lechmere and Government Center stations.

The contractor told the MBTA that the columns were in such disrepair that the tunnels were dangerous for trains to pass through.

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The transit authority expected the closure to last several days.

On Sunday, the MBTA tweeted that it had worked with the contractor, HYM Construction, to reinforce the support columns.

“Engineering & safety experts have reviewed the repair work & determined that it is structurally sound and therefore safe to resume service on the Orange & Green Lines,” it wrote.

The MBTA also tweeted that the Orange and Green Lines were up and running as normal as of Sunday evening.

“We can’t thank our riders enough for their patience during this work, & we’re grateful to our workers who went above & beyond to support this effort,” it wrote on Twitter.

The developer installed the necessary supports to uphold the structure, which is key to protecting our infrastructure & service. We can't thank our riders enough for their patience during this work, & we're grateful to our workers who went above & beyond to support this effort.
— MBTA (@MBTA) June 26, 2022

On Thursday, the MBTA and HYM Construction clashed over whose responsibility the supports were after MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak blamed HYM Construction for the closure in a statement.

The MBTA explained that the supports were part of a private garage, even though they ran through MBTA tunnels. Therefore, it said, it was the responsibility of the contractor working for the private garage to maintain them.

But HYM Construction fought back in a statement to WBZ-TV, saying that the support columns had deteriorated due to water damage, and that the state of the columns had nothing to do with HYM Construction’s demolition work on the garage.