Among the T’s estimated $4.5 billion in backlogged repair and replacement needs, this segment of the Red Line seized public attention in 2009 when it was singled out in an independent report on the MBTA ordered by Governor Deval Patrick. Report author David F. D’Alessandro, the former John Hancock chief executive, said the threat of derailment from deferred maintenance was so serious he would avoid riding the Red Line beyond Harvard.
The T put the project on its five-year capital plan and secured $4.3 million in federal stimulus funds to defray the cost.
The work is part of about $420 million being spent this year to maintain or replace vehicles and infrastructure in disrepair, a sum dwarfed by the system’s needs.
“Track conditions, switch conditions, power … if these things aren’t working well, people are going to be late, people are going to be delayed,’’ state Secretary of Transportation Richard A. Davey said in an interview yesterday after ribbon cutting for the rebuilt transit station at Ashmont, at the other end of the Red Line.
That event drew more than a dozen city, state, and federal officials and scores of onlookers, a gathering unimaginable at the completion of an underground track or unseen power project such as the one north of Harvard Square.
“This is the sort of investment that the state [needs] to make,’’ said Brian Kane, budget and policy analyst for the MBTA Advisory Board, which represents cities and towns served by the T. “It’s not glamorous; it’s not sexy; it’s not anything you cut a ribbon on. But it is the investment that allows the system that provides 1.2 million trips a day to function.’’
Riders at Davis Square said yesterday that they understood the need for the work but might use the T less frequently on weekends. They also expressed surprise that the MBTA had yet to post signs or announce the work, worrying that many would be caught off guard.
