Train service on the Braintree branch of the Red Line will be suspended for more than three weeks starting this Friday (Sept. 6) as the MBTA’s latest “surge” project gets underway to repair tracks and eliminate so-called “slow zones” between JFK-UMass and Quincy and Braintree stations. Shuttle buses will be in place to service T customers as improvements are made along the 18-mile stretch of track through Sept. 29.

The surge is intended to remove speed restrictions that T officials say could improve “round-trip Braintree Branch travel times by as much as 24 minutes.”

“Fare-free” commuter rail service to Braintree, Quincy Center, JFK/UMass, and South Station will be offered on weekdays on the T’s Middleborough, Kingston, and Greenbush (Old Colony) Commuter Rail lines. Extra coaches will be added to the commuter rail trains lines.  Free shuttle buses will make stops at Braintree, Quincy Adams, Quincy Center, Wollaston, North Quincy, and Ashmont for connections to further Red Line subway service.  However, T officials say, “there will be no direct shuttle bus service to or from JFK/UMass.”

“There will be increased subway service on the Ashmont Branch in order to maintain train frequency through the Red Line core between JFK/UMass and Alewife,” the agency said. “Trains will operate at about an eight-minute frequency between Ashmont and Alewife.”

See mbta.com/RedLine for more information.