The A branch of the MBTA Green Line shut down "temporarily" in 1969 after the T needed to divert streetcars to the new, popular Riverside line. Service never resumed on this line. In the mid-1980's, Brighton, Newton, and Watertown residents argued over the fate of the trolley tracks, which were being used nightly to move maintenance equipment to and from Watertown Square. Almost 30 years after the "11-week" shutdown began, the T has finally begun to tear up the unused tracks.