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Green Line extension gets delayed, again – Metro US

Green Line extension gets delayed, again

The MBTA announced another delay for its long-awaited Green Line expansion into Somerville and Medford.

The seven new rail stations will now be ready for service in 2021, adding another year to the project, the Boston Globe reported.

This is the latest setback for the $2.3 billion project, which has faced years of delays and false starts.

In August 2015, the MBTA halted the project when state officials realized they were about $1 billion over budget. A scaled-down version of the project will lay 4.7 miles of track from a renovated Leechmere Station in Cambridge, snaking through East Somerville into Powder House Square by Tufts University in Medford.

To get started, officials are waiting for an approval of a $1 billion federal grant. The cities of Cambridge and Somerville will contribute $25 million and $50 million, respectively. The rest will be provided by the state, which is still grappling with a $75 million funding gap at the MBTA.

John Dalton, who was hired last month to run the Green Line extension, said the delayed opening would give the T enough time to secure funding and contractors.

“There’s real momentum now,” Dalton told the Globe.

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The delay comes as no surprise to commuters, who have watched the bureaucratic process unfold for the better part of a decade.