South Station

When things go south on the T, they go south really fast

adamg — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:18:28 -0400

You might think that if you get to the Franklin commuter-rail station for the 12:41 into Boston, you might reasonably expect to be able to get to the Cambridge River Festival before 4 p.m.

As Quasit reports (here and here), you'd think wrong. Especially fun was the T's complete unpreparedness for something you'd think it would have well under control, given how often it happens these days: A fire at a Red Line station:

... When buses finally started to appear they were all destined for JKF/UMASS, and therefore completely useless for us. In the meantime the crowd had become enormous, spilling onto the streets and greatly slowing traffic. There were several points where buses were pulling in, but it wasn't clear if there were particular locations for specific destinations. Many of the signs on the buses simply said "OUT OF SERVICE", and people had to shout and ask the drivers where they were going. It was, simply, chaos; nobody seemed able to organize the situation and let people know what had happened or where they should go. Parts of the crowd ran back and forth from loading-point to loading-point, trying to find buses to take them where they wanted to go. ...

Complete with photos and video.

Maybe the red stands for the color of the firetrucks that keep having to be called

adamg — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:07:29 -0400

Red Line shut down due to fire at South Station.

Earlier:
Red Line shut down due to fire at Porter.
Red Line shut down due to fire at Downtown Crossing.
Red Line shut down due to fire at Broadway.
Red Line shut down due to fire at Charles/MGH.
Mattapan Line shut down due to brush fire.

North Station commuter to South Station commuters: Suck it

adamg — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:51:33 -0400

Mike explains why, for a change, North Station commuters got the better deal on something - the new electronic sign boards.

Crabby couples on the Red Line

adamg — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:46:14 -0400

Anali reports that between South Station and Wollaston yesterday afternoon, she passed three different couples in various stages of arguing:

... When I got out at Wollaston, there was another couple at the entrance talking loudly. But they could have just been playing around, because they seemed to be sort of wrestling with each other. ...

Dead rat stuck to Red Line tracks

adamg — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:40:06 -0400

At first, Marcy thought the thing on the inbound side of the Red Line at South Station was a gray mitten. Then she realized it was a dead rat. Today, she reports on RatWatch, Day 11.

Morning fun on the Blue Line

adamg — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:05:06 -0400

Hilarity ensues when the power goes out and the substitute buses are routed to South Station:

... Another thing about the Silver Line is that all of the T employees were yelling at people not to board them when they arrived. This is pretty strange, considering the Airport station is not on its usual route. So apparently the MBTA were re-routing Silver-Line buses with the sole intention of taunting everyone late for work stuck in a huge crowd. ...

Train accident shuts down Providence line

oddjob60 — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:51:14 -0400

Sitting on the 5:40 at South Station, they just announced that there was a collision at Canton Junction between a commuter rail train and a freight train. They're holding us at South Station until further notice.

Train 917 hit when a CSX boxcar rolled off sidetrack onto main line.

BNSFGP38 posts from the scene:

The cure for what ails commuter-rail riders

adamg — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:08:41 -0400

Dan Miller turns to Cabernet in a plastic cup:

... Like when the commuter rail is delayed for the 114th time after a long, tiring day that includes a final sprint to the subway just to make a connection that doesn't exist.

So there stands the peeved wine connoisseur, sipping Cabernet from a plastic cup, one eye on the "delayed" rail board and one on the angry masses dialing their significant others to announce they will be late for dinner once again. ...

A sure sign of spring

adamg — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:07:34 -0500

The anthropomorphic flowers are in full bloom outside South Station.

MBTA tries novel way to curb overcrowding on commuter trains

adamg — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:14:10 -0500

Train Rider reports that for the second night in a row, the doors on his train at South Station were locked:

... They announced the train, still the doors were locked. There was a conductor on the track, just walking back and forth. Finally, the majority of us standing on the platform, went through the front door and then back through the cars to get to a seat. While we were walking down the aisles, one of the conductors was coming through and getting angry (p*ssed) that the conductors couldn't get up the aisle. I said, "well, this wouldn't happen if all of the doors were open." Not sure they appreciated that! ...