The MBTA has scheduled a meeting for Wed., April 13, to update the community on its ongoing Mattapan Line “transformation program.” The session will be held virtually via Zoom starting at 6:30 p.m. and will take up “the status of the program, public outreach strategies, and have questions and comments answered by the program team.”

There have been questions raised over the past two years about the pace and purpose of the estimated $8 million project, which, the MBTA says, is intended “to make improvements on the Mattapan Line to ensure accessible, reliable, and modern service for Dorchester, Mattapan, and Milton for years to come.”

State lawmakers have been pressing the T to explain why refurbished trolley cars have been slow to return to service. A series of reports by NBC10 Boston, which highlighted the lawmakers’ complaints, prompted Sen. Walter Timilty (D-Milton) to call for his colleagues in the state Senate to order an “oversight investigation” into the project. He says the project is “currently more than two years behind schedule” and termed it a “debacle” in a recent report aired by the TV station.

For their part, MBTA officials say that efforts to upgrade the 1940s-era trolley cars were slowed —like so many other things— by the pandemic. And, according to T spokesman Joe Pesaturo, they’ve had “little or no impact” on actual service along the trolley line. Last week, the T rolled out its first refurbished trolley with new features, including an upgraded, quieter propulsion system and LED lights.

Next month’s meeting will be a welcome opportunity to hear and see what T officials expect will happen next. Eventually, the entire fleet of historic PCC cars are supposed to be replaced by newer trolley vehicles like those now in service on the Green Line. We hope to hear more concrete answers about how— and when— those changes will happen.