Lynn’s MBTA deck upgrade is slow going

LYNN – Repairs to the commuter rail station platform should be completed by the end of November, but at least one commuter is annoyed by inconvenience created by the work.”I can’t physically carry my folding bike through the narrow train car aisles any more without doing damage to my bad back and withthe platform closed off, we can’t get on at the end car where there isroom for bikes,” Lynn resident Linda Kitch complained in electronic mail she sent to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.Kitch wants the MBTA to post periodic updates on the platform repairs that began last month when workers closed off the platform stairs between Mount Vernon and Union streets.Workers are repairing the platform, which runs from Central Square to Munroe Street, in three phases. After initial repair work they applied the first of several layers of rapid drying deck coating to the platform.”The work is tedious,” said Robert Stoetzel, chief transportation officer for MBTA railroad operations, explaining that each layer of coating must be inspected before the next application is laid down.”Work at every commuter rail station is carefully sequenced so that work will not impede and/or significantly hinder the accommodation ofpassengers during construction.””As with any construction project, there is always a temporary inconvenience to the general public that will hopefully be offset by the improvements once construction is completed,” Stoetzel wrote in a reply to Kitch.After current is work is completed, the Mount Vernon end of the platform will be reopened while workers move on to the next phase of repairs.