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Red Line riders abandoned to their fate; man, are they going to be late
By adamg on Mon, 02/02/2015 - 4:48pm
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mbta alert suggests you not take the red line
really bad sign. It will up and running tomorrow thought right?
Just sleep at work
I'm sure they will be rested and ready to enjoy all the epic snow clearing efforts during the parade.
That was an option
I actually contemplated that.
Oh how lovely. Looks like a
Oh how lovely. Looks like a pleasant time
"find other ways home"
I really, really hope that this was the frustration of the poster coming through and not something actual T employees were saying.
text from T alerts, verbatim:
"Please seek alternate transportation."
Nope, the official T alert
Nope, the official T alert says "Please seek alternate transportation". But at least they're telling it like it is.
"Please seek alternate transportation"
As someone else posted last week, this should be the T's new slogan.
On my Red Line train last
On my Red Line train last night, we spent some time discussing, as a group, what those alternate forms of transportation should be. The winners?
The Unicycle and the sled.
Hey John Fish and Marty Walsh
Are we going to award medals for train pushing, you (expletives?) We gonna give somebody the gold medal for train pushing?
OLYMPIC QUALITY
THIS IS OLYMPIC QUALITY TRANSIT.
IOC: Take Note. This is what you can expect!
Boston isn't bidding on the
Boston isn't bidding on the winter Olympics.
Happens in the summer, too
Click the MBTA tag, look back for when it all collapsed almost every day in the summer, too. The only real differences are swelter vs. freeze and the ability to escape the system with a bike.
Heat is a problem, cold is a problem. How does Russia do it, again?
Doesn't Matter
Summer = heat waves with warped rails, T cars with broken AC and the all too common third rail trash fires. The photos would be the same as above, just with less clothing.
You're so petty...
You're so petty I'm going to start calling you Tom. The butthurt the Nolympics crowd shows here just makes me want them more.
mmmm
"them" meaning the Nolympics crowd? Does butthurt turn you on...?
What other ways home?
I'm trying to get home to Magoun Square from MGH. The alternative to the Red Line is Blue to Orange to the 89 at Sullivan. So far, I've had a 15 minute delay on the Blue Line and a crowded platform at State with a sign saying the train is "ARR" for ten minutes and counting.
I'd say #BostonOlympics, but at this point I can't even laugh at that anymore.
Walk
As is often the case, walking is faster and more reliable than the T.
Better alternatives
Walk to Science Park, Green to the 80 at Lechmere. Or walk to North Station, Orange to 89 at Sullivan. Why involve the Blue Line/yet another Fail opportunity for the T?
That would have been better.
That would have been better. Unfortunately the poster was stuck at State.
No Ashmont Trains.
It doesn't look like they are running any Ashmont trains right now. I got to Park St., as a Braintree was pulling in. The next train on the schedule was a Braintree train in 15 mins. Then when that train came, the schedule showed another Braintree train coming in 15 mins. No Ashmont train though. Wtf?
Well the Braintree train I
Well the Braintree train I was on kicked everyone off at JFK and the conductor said it was going to Ashmont. So I lucked out. But I feel bad for the people who stayed waiting downtown for a train that said Ashmont. The MBTA should have announced what was going on.
Fuck everything
We have been stuck on this train outside Braintree, with no heat, for an hour. They can't estimate how long it'll take for the other train to push or pull us or whatever.
They won't let us off to walk the 20 feet back to Braintree station bc of the third rail...which is funny bc the reason we're stuck here is bc our train can't get power.
T spokesman
Just on channel 5 says they are trying to get a rescue train to you. Hope it is soon stay warm if you can
People had the right idea the
People had the right idea the other day when they started kicking out windows...
Update we
We are still stuck outside Braintree. I am freezing, starving, I have to pee and I'm not sure I'll even make it back to Cambridge.
Not cool! How they don't
Not cool! How they don't have plans in place for these incidents I'll never understand. Is the train jammed? Hang in there!
Updated update
Finally off the goddamn train.
Ugggh. Did you ever get
Ugggh. Did you ever get where you were going???
No
I live in Cambridge and I'm currently at a bar in Braintree, trying to figure out if I can make it home or if I should sleep on my friends' couch.
M....
...I'd go for the friend's couch unless you have "alternate transportation" to Cambridge. If I were you, I wouldn't want to risk stepping foot on a Red Line train tonight. You've put in enough time there today...! Good luck.
Glad you made it, M.
I think everybody would understand if you called in sick and sat around eating cookies tomorrow. Not that we're encouraging irresponsible behavior, or anything.
Commute attempt, part 2
My rad friends rescued me from Braintree, took me somewhere I could pee, eat&drink whiskey, and dropped me off at jfk/umass, where I learned that the red line is either still fucked or refucked.
I'm now on a bus, which will hopefully take me to another bus, which will hopefully get me within trudging distance of home. My cat's gonna be maaaaaaaaaad.
Can't say I've ever seen the
Can't say I've ever seen the commuter rail suggested as an alternate means of transport.
"Branches Affected: Braintree
Shuttle buses replacing Red Line (Braintree branch) service between JFK/UMass and Braintree Stations"
"Passengers seeking inbound service from JFK/UMass Station, please utilize the Commuter Rail service on the Middleboro/Lakeville, Kingston/Plymouth, and Greenbush lines.
Passengers seeking outbound service from South Station to JFK/UMass, Quincy Center, and Braintree stations, please utilize Commuter Rail Middleboro/Lakeville, Kingston/Plymouth, and Greenbush lines.
Last Updated: 2/2/2015 5:30:10 PM"
http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/transit_updates/?ttype=subway&route=Red+...
The CR was suggested a couple
The CR was suggested a couple days ago (last time the Red Line fell flat on its face).
I wonder if the MBTA fines Keolis for slow CR trains when their own trains are completely dead at the very same moment...
This is exactly why public
This is exactly why public transit should be closed & travel bans in effect for heavy storms like this. Stranded trains, cars on Green Line tracks, dead Commuter Rail trains, etc...
Everyone bitches and moans about the T closing and then they do the same when they get stuck on dead trains with no power when the T stays open during major events like this. I'd much prefer the option in favor of public safety and not the one that has the potential to leave people stranded on trains with no heat.
No, the trains need to be
No, the trains need to be properly maintained by a competent agency rather than the current MBTA "leadership."
And citing "public safety" is a thought-terminating cliché when you basically mean to say, "Our trains are in such disrepair the trains are unsafe to use during a storm." It's not the storm causing the safety issues, it's the MBTA, and the storm is just making them manifest.
This is supposed to be a "world-class city," not something out of the third world, isn't it?
Twice in the days before all
Twice in the days before all this snow started I was stuck in the tunnel outside Harvard for 30 minutes because of disabled trains.
Face it, the weather is certainly exacerbating the problems, but when you are starting off with decrepit rolling stock that routinely breaks down when there's not an inch of snow out there, I think we see where the true problem lies here.
Rolling stock is ordered
We can't do anything about the rolling stock. It's been ordered and scheduled to begin delivery in Q1 2018. In the meantime, we have to take other safety measures. Once we get new rolling stock, then we can talk about snow routes.
Safety measures?
Again, the T routinely breaks down without a flake in the sky. And it's not just the rolling stock: switch problems are routine too. Why don't we just shut the T down from December through April if we're so concerned about passengers being stuck in cold tunnels?
And that's exactly the point.
And that's exactly the point. It's hard enough to recover from those break downs on days when there is no storm. Now we have a situation where people are stranded at JFK/UMass in near blizzard conditions waiting for shuttle buses that are not coming and can't fit everyone when they come.
Speak for youself (Red vs Orange Lines)
The Red Line hasn't run well in years, rain shiny, sleet, hail, snow, hurricane. I recall taking it almost daily back in 1999 thru 2001 to get to an internship in Milton via a connecting bus from either North Quincy or Ashmont. The most delays I recall were Inbound delays after JFK/UMass because the two Inbound (Northbound) trains would somehow always come in at the same time and, rather than hold the opposite train in the station, we'd leave together and then we'd get to play "Who goes first into the tunnel?" Nowadays it's like every other day there's a switching problem there or elsewhere which causes more severe delays.
Now, for the Orange Line, things seems to run decent when it snows, at least better than the worst trips I've had and only slightly worse than a "regular" day. Green Street to Sullivan Square:
I actually did Sullivan to
I actually did Sullivan to Roxbury Crossing today around 6 pm and it took at least 45 minutes. I was surprised by how awful the orange line was in the snow.
I used to do Ruggles to North Station regularly, and it was supposed to be 11 minutes (and actually was at off-peak times), but it's recently become very rare for it to take under 25 minutes, and at rush hour it's sometimes much longer what with the ridiculous dwell times caused by overcrowding.
Chicago
I looked up what Chicago does -- they have a larger system then Boston (subway wise) and most of the El is above ground. Chicago gets far worst weather.
Here is what they do in the winter:
http://www.transitchicago.com/winterprep/
It seems they are more inclined to keep running and when they do shut down they start with the distant stations and work their way in instead of closing the entire system.
The MBTA could do better without needing to entirely shut down.
Here's part of the rub, however:
You're right about Chicago's having a much larger transit system than Boston, and receiving much worse weather than we do here, but there's a very important difference between Chicago and Boston: Chicago knows that they have the problem with super-rough weather (much rougher than we often get here in Boston), and its transit system, and they're much more fully invested in being equipped to deal with such problems.
Ice on third rail
On WBUR MTBA spokesperson said it was ice on the third rail and that it would be a while before they can run trains south of South Station.
Pestuaro
was just talking with Channel 5. In one sentence, he stated that the train failed due to ice on the third rail. Then in the next sentence, he stated that they were sending a rescue train to connect onto the disabled one.
Classic MBTA double speak and clearly a "you can't handle the truth" mentality.
Not necessarily mutually exclusive
The third rail may still be operational, for a "rescue" train to use, but the ice on the rail caused this train to fail. Either the ice gummed something up in the mechanics of this train, or it caused the train to become effectively gapped (where none of the pickup shoes on the train are touching a properly electrified and conductive section of the third rail).
Or maybe their "rescue" train is some special unit that moves under its own propulsion (at least long enough to clear the buggered-up section of the third rail).
Fwiw
The goddamn "rescue" train is also having issues. and has no power.
Next time someone asks why
Next time someone asks why the Blue Line uses overhead wire instead of third-rail, remember what happens to the Braintree line when the third-rail heaters can't keep up with the ice build up
Believe me, the overhead
Believe me, the overhead wires aren't immune to problems.
Extended T poetry
At MGH, a Red Line dies;
alternate transpo might be wise.
Another at Braintree lies in repose;
hope you wore your winter clothes.
And Pesaturo's out spreading the usual T PR;
"Nothing to worry about, blah blah blah,
"It's not our fault the trains are FUBAR."
"Blame the weather, blame ice on the third rail;
"Blame the signals and the switches; they always fail."
World-class transit in a world-class city;
just don't tell the International Olympic Committee.
If there's one thing we know, that's undeniable:
The MBTA is reliably unreliable.
I live in Braintree...
...and I commute by T regularly. Thanks for the laugh. I worked from home again today, but my husband spent three hours getting home from Cambridge tonight.
If only a crumbling mass
If only a crumbling mass transit were seen as a threat to national security, just imagine the money that would have poured in the past decade.
Then again, it probably would have gone to technology that makes the trains look like they're running but which really didn't work.
Just Remember the talking points
"Security" problems internationally = Spend more money! Boots on ground! Don't Look Weak! Never back down!
"Urban" problems domestically = Cut Cut Cut. Too much government waste. Need to live within means. No more handouts!
The money did come in
The money did come in—for mass surveillance tech and "see something, say something" paranoia.
(No subject)
There's something seriously wrong
When the silver line is the only one running normally
For The Silver Line, "Normal Service" Ain't Sayin' Much
Slow descent into chaos
This about sums up the day for the T: https://i.imgur.com/UbXMqHA.png
(Look at the stories in timestamp order—second one down, then fourth, then first.)
76 alerts
from midday yesterday (Monday) through early this morning (Tuesday). And I only get alerts for the Green and Orange lines, and the Haverhill Line commuter rail.
If this is somehow considered "normal", then it's just another sign we need to do something about the T's management.