The Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line is set to be shut down for weekends starting in June 2018 as the MBTA installs a federally mandated safety technology.
The rail line is slated to be closed for 15 weekends through that September, according to a new plan released by MBTA. Service could be limited for four weekends that May, before the full shut-down, and three weekends following the shut-down, if needed.
MBTA does not have plans in plans for alternates, such as buses.
This technology-update effort is separate from MBTA’s proposal to cut weekend rail service for budgetary reasons.
Other commuter rail lines will be effected, as the new positive train control technology is installed in phases. The first work will begin on the Lowell and Haverhill lines in July 2017.
Several lines, including Providence and those south of Boston, will not need to have service shut down, MBTA said.
The $459-million project is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, over-the-speed-limit derailments, and train travel through track switches that may have been left in the incorrect position. Authorities said a fatal train crash in Philadelphia in 2015 would have been avoided if such a system were in place at the time there.
The system slows or stops trains if it finds it necessary to do so.
All MBTA work installing the system is expected to be complete by the end of 2020.
