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MBCR response confused and confusing
By oddjob60 on Wed, 03/26/2008 - 11:37am
As I read through the accounts and talk with co-commuters, I am struck by what seems to be a stark contrast in the efficiency and effectiveness of the responses to the accident in Canton yesterday. From all accounts, local first responders recognized the scale of the accident and the high number of casualties, and responded accordingly with triage and, eventually, treatment and transportation to the hospital for those who needed it. In comparison, MBCR and the T sent confusing, conflicting information about the situation and how stranded commuters could get home.
I consider any inconvenience I suffered to be minimal compared to those who were on the train that was struck. I am not wearing bandages today, and I am very thankful, and I hope that everyone who was hurt recovers quickly. However, I have heard a common thread of confusion and frustration from commuters, and I wanted to pull it together into a post.
I'll start first with my experience. The first sign of trouble came in a T-alert as I sat on the 5:40 Providence train waiting for it to leave South Station:
Prov/Stou service is experiencing over 30 min delay.
Shortly after, a conductor announced that there had been an accident at Canton Junction, and that the train would be held at South Station until further notice.
The next T-alert, at 5:52:
Prov/Stou is being diverted to substitute shuttle bus service between Route 128 Station and Sharon and Stoughton Stations due to a medical emergency at Canton Junction Station.
Soon after I received that message, the conductor announced that we should get off the train, and that buses would be coming to South Station. I decided to grab some dinner, and spent maybe 30-40 minutes in the dining area above the food court--which, I now know, is out of earshot of the station announcements, so I think I missed an announcement or two.
At 6:17, another text alert:
Prov/Stou is being diverted to substitute shuttle bus service between Readville Station and Sharon and Stoughton Stations due to a medical emergency at Canton Junction Station. We apologize for the inconvenience.
As I came back, I caught the tail end of an announcement, and saw a Stoughton train posted for track 5. I went up to the information desk, but neither of the two MBCR reps there knew what was happening; they were surprised when I told them I had just heard a Stoughton train called, and had no idea if trains were running through yet. An Amtrak employee next to them was using his cell phone to call someone who might know, and having trouble getting anyone to pick up. This was perhaps the most striking moment of the night: if there was supposed to be a system for getting information to front-line employees, that system was not working, and everyone-- crew, employees, passengers-- had to fend for themselves.
Eventually, he said that trains would be leaving from tracks 5, 8, and 9-- Providence on 8 and 9. As I walked out to the platform, the train on track 8 was leaving, so I got on the train on track 9. The PA announcer, however, kept repeating that the Providence train would be announced "as soon as it arrives in the station," so I decided to get off the train and move back toward the station. After a while, perhaps around 7:00, they announced the "6:50" Providence train on-- guess what-- track 9. After sitting there for a while longer, we pulled out around 7:20.
The uncertainty was not over. As the train left South Station, there was an announcement that the crew didn't know yet whether we'd be able to go all the way through, or if we would be bussed at some point. A little while later, we got the word that the trains were going through to Providence, and that's what we did-- moving slowly past the accident scene. Beginning from the time I left work in Harvard Square, it took me 3.5 hours to get home.
Others got more of a runaround. I've heard about people whose train backed up from Canton to Readville, where people got off for buses. I've heard about buses playing follow the leader between Rte. 128 and Sharon, when it was clear the leader didn't know where he/she was going, and driving into the middle of the scrum at Canton Junction station. I have no idea what happened to people who were trying to get into Boston from Sharon and beyond.
This was a major accident, yes, but it was a single incident, contained to one station on one line. The refrain I heard over and over again this morning was, what if it had been a major disaster? The consensus on my station's platform was that, once again, we can't trust the T or MBCR to manage it competently.
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Comments
MBCR / MBTA Communication Issues
I'm agree on all counts-- while I was pleased to read that emergency response on the scene of the accident was prompt and efficient, I was again frustrated by the MBCR/MBTA communication with passengers and their own employees.
As I said in your original thread (http://www.universalhub.com/node/13647#comment-30922), I spent an hour to go *back* one station from where I started, and when I got to South Station, they were boarding commuters right back on another outbound train.
MBCR
They reeeeeally need to get their house in order.
Nah
They just got a contract extension. What do they care?
Similar Experience
I had a similar experience to yours. I was orignally on the 5:40 Providence train but I caught the "6:10" Providence train that you missed on track 8. We had repeated announcements that we were going to be moving so don't get off. About 3 or 4 of those before we actually went anywhere. The announcement in South Station said we were going to be going to Readville and then shuttle bused to the rest of the stations on the line.
There weren't as many people on the train as you might have thought -- some gave up to try again later and others arranged for alternative rides or for people to meet them at Readville.
The next part is really inexcusable though. We didn't get any update announcements the entire trip. We crawled along very slowly and I think stopped at Readville to let people off although no announcement was made (would have helped folks who arranged for rides to meet them there).
When we got to 128 there was mass confusing as most people on the train expected to be loaded on to shuttle buses. It was hard to find a conductor who finally said we thought we were going through. We crawled through the accident site and eventually made it to Sharon around 8pm. There were 3 MBTA buses there with a hundred? people who boarded the train in Sharon for the rest of their trip home. I'm guessing these were the passengers from the 5:00 Providence train? As I passed some people on the stairs they asked if it was the Providence train -- obviously they didn't get much communication either. The person said that was the best news he'd heard in hours.
Obviously this is nothing compared to being on the train that was hit. I also understand that the plans were probably fluid, but the communication was really lacking. Not sure who's fault it is, but they really should address it. Even an announcement that they aren't sure what's going on would be welcome.
Gotta love the Monday Morning quarterbacks
Would the chronic whiners please cease and desist. MBCR/MBTA's reponse (to a once in a lifetime accident of this nature) was just fine. No one was seriously injured and everyone got home. Give it a rest whiners!
Not whining
If I come across as whining, it's unintentional and it wasn't why I wrote. Once I was resigned to my situation, it became a sort of little adventure, a departure from routine.
But I think there's a legitimate concern about the lack of coordinated communication if you consider this accident as a rehearsal for a major incident. I can spin what-if's all day and probably not come up with everything, but that's not the point. I HOPE there are people at the MBTA and MBCR whose jobs include thinking about what might go wrong, and developing contingency plans. From my perspective, those plans were not executed on Tuesday, since basic information was reaching neither passengers nor train crews. More troubling still is how the lack of coordination may indicate that there is nobody making those contingency plans.
This is not a once in a lifetime accident. It's at least the fifth time in the past year that a commuter rail line has had to be shut down by an accident-- there was Providence recently, the bridge on the Beverly line twice, and Woburn a year ago, and I think there have been others as well. This was a larger accident, with more injuries, a longer interruption in service, and more media coverage, but in the way it had a focal impact on one line's service, it was far from an unusual situation for MBCR.
Either there was a plan that didn't work, or there was no plan. In either case, I'm worried, and MBCR and MBTA aren't doing what they should.
Why is every accident "once in a lifetime"?
Specific details yes - incidents happening, no.
The fact is that the T should have clear written plans to isolate stations and continue service for every section of every line and every station without system wide chaos and "confusion and delay". Well, the delay is understandable - the confusion is not.
As it is, they make shit up, run people around in circles, change their minds fifteen times, bark at passengers, and then throw up their hands as if interruptions in service were dropped by pidgeons at random intervals and there was nothing to be done.
I'd love to have more Monday Morning Quarterbacks WORKING FOR THE SYSTEM. Maybe then they would be learning from their mistakes instead of looking skyward and blaming fate like they had no control over the situation.
Its more complicated than you think
The problem was that there were questions whether trains would be able to use the tracks around the scene. It was a mess just for the few Amtrak trains to pass through the scene and they were already two hours late. Having additional trains going through the scene may not make the situation any better.
You also had an additional problem in that, those trains that may or may not be able to use the tracks have to go to other places later in the evening (i.e. Train sets that go to Stoughton are scheduled go to Greenbush after it completes it's trip). What are they going to do with all those Greenbush customers if the tracks are not clear and the train has to wait for three hours to get to it's destination and then potentially wait three hours to get back and will that make things better or worse?
The question of whether to go or not go maybe a more difficult question than you think and it might also be fluid. Believe it or not, there are dozens of people and dozens of different organizations involved in an investigation like this. They may not all be on the same page and may not give the T and MBCR all the same information about whether or not making a trip is possible. So, I'm sure nobody wanted chaos to ensue, but situations change pretty rapidly in these situations. Everyone tried their best.
Complex problem? Plan ahead!
Yes it is complex. In my days as an engineering consultant I was involved in some FAA investigations. I have also worked with the federal chem accident people - the group that our state's fire marshal "never heard of" because of some of the same sort of myopic ignorance plaguing this emergency planning and response situation.
The complexity and inter-agency nature of these issues is EXACTLY why the need to figure out many of the roles and actions BEFORE these things happen. Agencies involved should have written plans detailing exactly who to call, get together and have drills, have decision trees drawn up for people to use in the field, etc.
These are called accident contingency plans. There should be some in place for every segment of line. There should be plans to get passengers to nearest stations and get buses under way, as well as some advance planning of work-arounds for line closures and freight and passenger traffic.
Making it up as you go along because that nasty accident bird just dropped an accident on your head and you have to understand that these things are sooooo tricky and you just don't understand how difficult it is and that people paid big bucks to sort them out are just way too busy sucking up to be bothered to plan ahead - ever? Spare me.
There is homeland security money out there, other cities with professional folks (not political hacks or some actual professionals that are ignored and marginalized by the political hacks) seem to have plans in place that work. There are plenty of competent professionals available for hire to do the job right, if the politician's friends can't manage or don't have the training. That's why I ain't buying the cluelessness here, not because I don't appreciate the complexities.
So, what would you do?
SwirlyGrrl, you make it sound simple when it's not. Spare us your pontificating about how it should be. Why don't you suggest some specific actions they could have implemented that could have done to make things better?
A contingency plan was in place. Buses were dispatched to first pick up the stranded passengers on the train that was hit and trains already on the track. Then they worked to take care of the people whose trains were canceled or delayed at South Station. Did the plans work as well as they seem on paper..? I don't know….probably not. I'm sure they would have loved to get everyone, everywhere they needed to be at the exact time they should have. They didn't, but I don't know how they could have. There just isn't a lot of redundancy in place anywhere on the T. Plans sometimes need to change in order to deal with new and/or changing situations.
Maybe you can tell Dan G. what specific things you would do help in the future. He might even give you a nice little certification of achievement.
Swirly E. Coyote, Suupergenius.
I'll put my theory up against your praxis any day.
Riddle me this
Why does the T not seem to have a plan to get people from any given point A to point B when there is the slightest problem?
I'm not talking about direct emergency response, I'm talking about running the line. I don't expect it to be done without delay, but I do expect it to be done within reason and without confusion.
Look at all the shut downs we have seen and ask "Is our MBTA/MCBR learning"? Isolating problems and resuming service is difficult on a single-track multi-use line, granted, but what is the excuse for treating passengers like they have been treated when the subway system has an issue?
Did you notice the people leaving a stuck, hot train that didn't pull into Charles street or back up to Kendall? How about people stuck in tunnels on the Orange line for a problem multiple stations on? What about shuttle bus situations where there is no communication, just blanket hostility toward customers? I've seen that when a driver tried to prevent people coming off the Orange Line from getting on the 93 bus, and tried to tell them they had to pay again (despite a transfer policy). Oh, yeah, gotta love the "take the shuttle bus" when the starter was telling them to take the other buses because there were no shuttles.
Sounds like a plan to me, uh huh. A plan to further cement the philosophy that customer=enemy.
Brilliant Plan!
So, I just figured out SwirlyGrrl's plan brilliant contingency plan. The MBTA should have about 50 garages filled with buses (and drivers) all around eastern and central Mass. so that they can 'spring into action' once every year or so when there is an incident like this accident. I'm sure her plan would not be very costly. I mean, really. How much would it cost to build 50 new large bus garages and fill them with a few thousand buses... and hire a thousand drivers (who only have to work when there is a rail accident)! Can't believe the T didn't think of her idea first.
Better yet ...
They can contintue to blame the passengers for their own inability to be screamed at, confused, misdirected, stranded, and detained without being happy about it!
Oh, and say they don't have the equipment. Do the double cop-out dance as an excuse for the lack of planning.
After all, the MBTA is an "authority" and is therefore infallible. They can't be held responsible for any problems because problems are created by people seeing something and saying something about them. The only problems they see are silly people challenging their infallibility!
So much easier to blame chaos on tiny little malevolent pixy sky gods than to think about how to efficiently redirect passengers around a given bottleneck in advance - and communicate effectively about where people are to go and what they are to do. Oh my, that might take some actual thought about what to do! It might take competence that a politician can't claim direct credit for! What other places do can't possibly apply here because we're so different we don't even need to breathe air!
Put on your thinking cap.
SwirlyGrrl, you still haven't answered my question.
You keep complaining about the T's inability to efficiently redirect passengers around a bottleneck, but you don't provide any ideas on how to do this.
In the case of the accident the other day, what were they to do given all the restrictions I've pointed out?
Don't hold your breath
waiting for a straight answer from SwirlyGrrl. Given her record here of not being able to provide a direct answer...can you imagine if she was in charge of getting info to commuter rail customers?!?! I'll take my chances with the T, thank you very much.
Communicate and Plan
#1: Create plans for trouble on every segment of the rail lines. Plans should include getting passengers to the nearest platforms when lines are closed.
#2: don't tell people there are or will be shuttle busses when there are not going to be any.
#3: if there are shuttle buses, send people to the right place to find them
#4: designate shelter places where sensitive people can get away from extreme heat and cold during delays and line closings
#5: plan in advance for which buses will be pulled from service for shuttle buses, which lines will be rerouted, and which existing overlapping bus lines will receive passengers from the subways in the event of an emergency closure - and let the drivers know this. There seem to be no plans in hand for how, exactly, passengers will get from the trains, to the platforms, and to shuttle buses. If there can be some permanent signs showing people where the "emergency shuttle bus" locations are, so much the better.
#6 Have signs available at each station (paper print outs and tape will work) and announcements directing people where they need to go
#7 If there is nothing happening for a long time, admit it and say so. People have cel phones and can make alternative arrangements that way.
#8 If you topple a work car at 5am, or have any other situation that will screw up service, don't pray it will just go away in time. Alert the media immediately so people can make other plans.
#9 COMMUNICATE - plan communication chains and test them in advance, and maintain communication at all times with ALL station workers ALL drivers and ALL passengers.
#10 realize that passenger safety and security are high priorities, not after thoughts.
None of this takes new equipment and it probably doesn't even take much money. It simply takes planning in advance for what will happen several times a year, and doing so with customer service in mind.
Far better to think about what you are going to do ahead of time than make it up off the top of your head and blame those who got caught up in the unnecessary chaos - like the people who forced the doors on that red line train on the Longfellow last summer and then stopped traffic to get away. Maybe what Boston needs is a few more earthquakes to get its clue.
Example: a Train derails and closes a line. What happens?
Line emergency, segments x and y is declared.
Trains stuck in tunnels are directed to nearest platform to offload passengers
Alert goes to buses, and buses divert according to segment x and y diversion plan
Alert goes out over text message and web systems.
Waiting passengers are notified of segment x and y emergency and follow signs to shuttle buses or to existing overlap routes (or call SO or head home and get bikes ...)
Media announces delays in appropriate language (they know segments x and y means busing between station a and station b because they have the memo) and what bus lines will be affected by the diversions to shuttle busses. People not yet on the road can work around problem.
Will there be delays? Of course. Will people have a chance to avoid and contribute to the delays? Yes. Will people know where to go and what to do? Yes. Will workers have a clue as to where to go and what to do? Yes. Will there be less chaos? Yes.
Will people be stranded on the Longfellow Bridge or in a tunnel just a short distance from a platform? No.
Keep thinking...
Basically, you only have one point and that is to communicate better. I will grant you that the communication was not that great, but communicating effectively to a large group of people when situations are changing minute by minute is very difficult. Anyways, that's something the T (and every other government agency) could improve on.
So I'm guessing you would have chosen to send all of those people waiting at South Station on buses to their destinations through rush hour traffic to all the stations between Boston and Providence. That's what you're saying.. right?
How long would you have done that? All evening?
Where are you getting those buses to replace six round-trip trains over the evening?
What about those people who live in the city and their buses don't show? Aren't they going to be pissed off, too?
What if just as you were getting close to having the buses available and someone in told you that they were going to have the train tracks available for use?
Do you ditch the bus idea since it will potentially take much longer for people to get home that way or do you still go with the plan even if it's not as logical or convenient for the passengers?
What do you do if your plan isn't working? Do you stick with the plan no matter what or do work on an alternative that could work better even if it's not in the 'plan'?
The real problem
They don't have a plan.
Even a non-functioning plan with adequate communication is an improvement over no plan. Plan can be iteratively improved. No plan remains no plan.
I wonder how much of this has to do with avoiding accountability.
In any case, this is reason number 3,535 why Boston will continue to fall behind economically and socially.
Please...
How do you know there wasn't a plan? Just because they don't have a 1000 page manual for satisfying the personal whims if SwirlyGrrl, doesn't mean they don't have a emergency response plan.
Were you even there or personally affected?
I still haven't seen any sort of response from you regarding your ideas for coordinating a better response to the accident the other day.
Reality check
SwirlyGrrl lives in a fantasy world where magic buses appear out of nowhere and money rains from clouds so that the T can build her specially designated shelters all around eastern and central Massachusetts (only to be used once every ten years or so) An I assume she'll want these shelters equipped with plasma TVs, waterbeds, French chefs, a sauna, and Harry Potter books. According to the T's website, there are more than 250 miles of commuter rail tracks. Shall we have a shelter every 1/2 mile? or every 1/4 mile? What the heck. Make it every 1/4 mile. Can't cost that much
Uh huh
Sure, they have no adverse event SOP. Yeah, nobody believes that, not even you I hope.
Also, reacting to a problem in a subway tunnel downtown where the original transportation was going to take 30 minutes to do a full transit and go a few miles is not the same as reacting to a problem on a multi-use train track where a full trip may take an hour and go dozens of miles from start to finish.
Just *learning* that there's a problem or what the nature and effect to that day's schedules is a much greater influence on the system's response for the train than the subway. If they react too hastily to try and "communicate" faster to passengers, they may end up causing more confusion or problems when they are able to restart quickly than if they wait until they can assess the full situation to get word out as to what commuters need to know to deal with their day.