Governor celebrates elimination of Orange Line slow zones; transit officials cite faster, more reliable service

The Governor announced at Haymarket Station that slow zones on the Orange Line have been eliminated, calling the change "a really big deal" that gives riders "time back in their lives." The event highlighted new equipment, schedule changes and system upgrades city officials say will make travel faster and more reliable.

General Manager Phil Ng said the transit agency will nearly double service by the winter schedule, from about 185 trains a day earlier this year to an anticipated 360 trains a day in December, and expects headways to fall from roughly 12 minutes to about 6 minutes. "Come December, we anticipate our headways will be about 6 minutes between trains," Ng said, adding that the change reduces the likelihood that a missed train will cause a long delay.

Ng also credited legislative funding and expanded hiring for enabling the work. He told the crowd that the new Orange Line cars are now in service and are performing "over 200,000 miles between failures," compared with the older cars that were failing "every 29,000 miles on average." He said the agency achieved major pace improvements by scoping projects differently, deploying crews to work around the clock and coordinating diversions; he added the program remained on budget and on schedule and noted the agency saved "over $70,000,000" on a busing program by improving efficiency and hiring bus operators.

The administration underscored customer-facing changes that are already in place or planned: contactless payment, low- and free-fare pilots in parts of the RTA, and station maintenance such as lighting and cleanliness. The Governor thanked Phil Ng and the workforce for the work in tunnels and stations that contributed to service improvements.

Ng said the agency will continue upgrading signaling, power systems and accessibility features next year. "The upgrades that are ongoing are vital to now taking our service to the next level," he said. Officials did not announce new fare changes or a specific operating-revenue plan at the event; they said the authority will need ongoing operating revenue and will continue pursuing federal and legislative funding.

The announcement capped a public celebration at Haymarket Station where officials recognized frontline crews and encouraged riders to continue using the system.