BOSTON — Governor Healy onstage with Massachusetts and federal transportation officials announced that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has removed all systemwide “slow zones,” a move the administration and the MBTA said will shorten commutes and improve reliability for riders.

“Heavy thanks to Phil and his team,” Governor Healy said, listing per-line travel-time improvements she said engineers measured: about 4 minutes on the Blue Line, 9 minutes on the Green Line, 21 minutes on the Orange Line and a full hour on the Red Line. She said those per-line gains add up to a total the administration reported as roughly 2,400,000 minutes saved across riders every weekday and described the change as generating an economic boost of about $950,000 daily.

The announcement at a holiday-themed event featured Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, MBTA General Manager Phil Ng, Federal Transit Administration safety chief Joe DiLorenzo and Jim Evers, president of the Boston Carmen's Union/local 589. “This is, an ambitious project, fixing the T,” Healy said, thanking MBTA workers and labor partners. “We’re giving [riders] back time in their lives.”

Ng, the MBTA general manager, said the slow-zone removals rest on a year of concentrated track repairs and staffing improvements. “We are focused on signals, power, and new rolling stock,” Ng said, adding that some signal work has already begun and that the MBTA is targeting completion of Red- and Orange-Line signal upgrades in early 2026, before the World Cup. He said the agency would continue maintenance, signal work and rolling-stock upgrades to sustain improved frequency and reduce “drop trips.”

Joe DiLorenzo of the FTA framed the work as both efficiency and safety gains and noted the role of state oversight: the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, he said, has responsibilities for overseeing safety at the T.

Union leader Jim Evers called the results a payoff from investments in staffing and training, praising the “smart, knowledgeable, and competent leadership” he said had empowered track crews and MBTA workers to complete the work.

During a brief question-and-answer session, reporters raised a red-line delay occurring while the event was under way. Governor Healy apologized to riders affected by that delay and deferred technical explanation to Ng, who said periodic issues will continue but that riders should expect improvements over time as signal upgrades and other projects progress.

What happens next: MBTA officials said signal, power and rolling-stock projects will continue; the agency set a target to finish key signal upgrades by early 2026. Officials did not present a comprehensive, line-by-line schedule for every station or a complete cost breakdown at the event.

(Reporting note: time-savings and the aggregate-minute figure were presented by the governor and MBTA officials during the event and are reported here as stated; the audio transcript contained formatting inconsistencies for some numbers.)