Blue Line weighs shutdowns to speed up service

The MBTA is considering shutting down the Blue Line every evening at 7pm for a month to fix the "slow zone" safety problems plaguing the subway system.

• At his first MBTA board meeting as general manager, Phillip Eng said the T's goal is to fix nearly 3,000 feet of track between Bowdoin and Aquarium stations to reduce slow zones on the downtown portion of the line.

• After that, Eng said he'd set a November deadline to lift all Blue Line speed restrictions. Nightly shutdowns would let crews work for seven hours instead of the typical two-hour window.

What's next: Eng plans to produce similar plans to fix the Red and Orange lines soon.