Green Line Goes Dark for 9 Days Starting Saturday: Your Shuttle, Free-Fare and Detour Guide

The Green Line shutdown begins Saturday, Nov. 7: for nine straight days, through Sunday, Nov. 15, no trains will run between North Station and Babcock Street on the B branch, Cleveland Circle on the C, Kenmore on the D and Heath Street on the E, the MBTA said in a Nov. 2 rider notice. Shuttle buses and the Orange Line will fill the gap, and the T says to plan on at least 25 extra minutes.

The closure is part of the month of work we outlined in our earlier look at November MBTA service changes. This guide covers what changes branch by branch, where the free rides are, and what crews will be doing underground while the trains are out.

Green Line shutdown: how each branch will work

The MBTA’s plan sends riders from all four branches toward Back Bay, where they can connect to the Orange Line for service downtown and to North Station.

• B branch: Free, accessible shuttle buses run between Babcock Street and Back Bay. Fares will not be collected at surface stops between Babcock Street and Boston College, and the Route 57 bus, which parallels the B branch between Kenmore and Packards Corner, will be fare-free.
• C branch: Shuttles run between Cleveland Circle and Back Bay along Beacon Street. They will not stop at Saint Mary’s Street, Kent Street or Brandon Hall, so riders at those stops should walk to the next stop.
• D branch: Shuttles run between Kenmore and Back Bay. Fare gates at Kenmore and Riverside will be open, and surface stops west of Kenmore will be free.
• E branch: Route 39 buses replace trains between Heath Street and Back Bay. The T says it will add buses to the 39, and the route will be fare-free.

On the Back Bay end, the westbound shuttle stop is on Stuart Street at Dartmouth Street, and at Kenmore the eastbound stop is at 512 Commonwealth Ave., according to the MBTA’s service alert. Riders who want a train instead of a bus can use the Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line, which will be free between South Station, Back Bay and Lansdowne. Regular fares still apply beyond Lansdowne and on other commuter rail lines.

All shuttles are accessible, the MBTA said, though some weekday buses will be lift-equipped coach buses rather than low-floor buses. Accessible van service will run between North Station and Kenmore, including Copley and Back Bay, on request through station staff or a call box.

Boston University’s BU Today noted this is the fourth time this year that Green Line service has been suspended for more than a week. Our MBTA closures and shuttle bus tracker lists the other diversions scheduled this month.

What crews are doing in the Green Line tunnel

The main job is the central tunnel’s signal system. The MBTA says the signals now in use date to the tunnel itself, which is more than 100 years old. With 56 miles of new signal cable already installed in earlier diversions, crews plan to lay another 16 miles of signal cable and about a mile of fiber optic cable, finish signal connections and begin testing the new system at several key locations.

The work is spread across downtown stations. At Copley, crews will finish signal connections and start testing. Between Park Street and Boylston and between Park Street and Government Center, they will install cable along the eastbound tracks. Government Center gets cable along all of its Green Line track areas. The agency says the finished system will give better train detection and more consistent spacing between trains, and that it is built to work with the Type 10 Green Line cars due to enter service next year.

Crews will also use the closure for other jobs: security cameras at Park Street, Downtown Crossing and Broadway, radio and fiber upgrades in the tunnels, track ties and ballast at Symphony, and pump room upgrades on Commonwealth Avenue.

By the numbers: signal work and C branch upgrades

The 16 miles planned for this closure equal more than a quarter of the 56 miles already in place. If crews finish as planned, the tunnel would have about 72 miles of new signal cable, a TBR calculation from the MBTA’s figures. That would be an increase of about 29% in nine days, also a TBR calculation. The MBTA has not said in this notice how many total miles the project needs.

On the C branch, the same nine days will advance accessibility work at seven above-ground stops that are not yet accessible: Englewood Avenue, Dean Road, Tappan Street, the combined Fairbanks Street/Brandon Hall stop, Summit Avenue, Saint Paul Street and Hawes Street. Crews will install platform edges, curbs and lighting at Summit Avenue and Hawes Street and put up steel for canopies at the Brandon Hall and Fairbanks Street ramps. The new platforms are 8 inches high for the current fleet; the T says it plans to raise them to 14 inches later, once only Type 10 cars run on the line. BU Today reported that outbound C trains will continue to skip Hawes Street from Nov. 16 to 25.

Before you ride

The T’s example: a rider going from Cleveland Circle to Park Street should add at least 25 minutes. Transit ambassadors will be at stations, and alerts are posted at MBTA.com/GreenLine. For the rest of the system, see our MBTA guide and the Boston traffic today page.

Sources

• MBTA: Green Line Modernization work, Nov. 7-15 (Nov. 2, 2026)
• MBTA: Green Line service alerts
• BU Today: Green Line B branch service suspended for nine days
• MBTA: November construction overview (Oct. 16, 2026)