Red Line Service To Be Suspended For 3 Hours Today

BOSTON, MA — Hello again, shuttle buses. The MBTA said it is suspending Red Line service between North Quincy and JFK/UMass stations for three hours starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday as crews work on repairing damage to a signal system caused by Tuesday's derailment.

The MBTA will have shuttle buses in place between the stops. JFK/UMass and North Quincy are only one stop away on the Braintree Line, but it will be a second consecutive day riders will need to take shuttle buses to get between Red Line destinations.

Wednesday morning's Red Line service had been delayed due to damage done Tuesday. The MBTA said the derailed train struck "multiple signal bungalows outside JFK/UMass."

The MBTA said new bungalows will need to be rebuilt, new signals and cables installed and tracks repaired. It also said it doesn't know how long that's going to take.

"We know this is a big ask," the MBTA told customers Wednesday morning on Twitter.

"Without the signal system, trains must be given permission from our Operations Control Center to move from one station to the next, one train at a time. This also means we need people along the tracks to physically set the routes to direct trains," the MBTA said on Twitter. "This failure prevents clear communication to train tracking, GPS apps, and countdown clocks. To avoid inaccurate predictions, we've turned off the countdown clocks across the Red Line."

MBTA General Manager said Tuesday the system is "still safe," but promised a third-party review of recent derailments.