Service along MARTA’s northern rail lines will be disrupted for nearly a week beginning Tuesday as the agency begins a multi-year effort to replace aging tracks. BOB ANDRES / [email protected] AJC FILE PHOTO
By David Wickert
Service along MARTA’s northern rail lines will be disrupted for nearly a week beginning Tuesday as the agency begins a multi-year effort to replace aging tracks.
MARTA will suspend rail service between the Lindbergh Center, Buckhead, and Lenox stations from 9 p.m. Tuesday until 4 a.m. on Monday Feb. 22. MARTA will operate bus shuttles between the stations and will give passengers Uber vouchers to help replace the missing service.
Agency officials say the track replacement will mean smoother and safer rides and fewer delays in the future. But it may make for some hectic commuting while the lines are down.
“We have to remember MARTA is now a 40-year-old system, and over the course of those 40 years we get a lot of wear and tear on these rails,” Frank Rucker, MARTA’s chief of capital programs, said in a statement announcing the suspension of service.
MARTA will invest $225 million to replace track in coming years. It’s part of a larger system rehab that includes replacing aging rail cars and renovating stations, among other improvements.
Rail service north of Buckhead and Lennox and south of Lindbergh will operate normally. Service on the east-west blue and green lines will not be affected.
MARTA will operate free bus shuttles between the affected stations. The shuttles will run continuously until the end of service on Sunday Feb. 21.
In addition, under a yearlong pilot program, MARTA will provide $10 vouchers that customers can download to their Uber app and use twice daily to travel to and from the Lindbergh Center, Buckhead and Lenox rail stations. Customers will be responsible for any amount over $10 per trip and will not receive credit for trips that cost less than $10.
For more information on the track replacement and the service disruption, visit www.itsmarta.com/trackreplacement.
Read the original story on AJC.com.
