Rich got to Oak Grove around 6:30 a.m., just in time to see tracks remain unshoveled, which is one of the reasons the T is still just running that single shuttle train up and down that one track between Oak Grove and Wellington, causing grief for commuters like Beth Chaplin at Malden:
At Malden Sta at 7:15am; SB "shuttle" train too full to get on. Now heading NB to OG so I can circle back to Wellington.
So she'll be one of those people with a seat as the train pulls into Oak Grove, then leaves for Wellington, where she'll join the hordes already waiting for a train into Boston, on platforms that as Brian Kokernak shows us, were already packed at 6:50 a.m.:
Things aren't much better on the Green Line, where Sarah Strosahl reports:
Waited 35+ for a D line. T worker came out of his booth to update and tell us "tomorrow is Friday"
.
Red Line? It's shuttles all the way down to Braintree from JFK/UMass again and we're getting reports of a train at Central with doors that wouldn't shut, so everybody had to be herded off.
Blue Line? Running fine, except for the fact it's overcrowded. Cybah reports:
Been waiting for a blue line train for almost an hour. They are running but just so jammed with people.
Commuter rail? On the Franklin and Newburyport/Rockport lines, some trains are so full they're just bounding through stations without stopping, leaving commuters on platforms shaking their fists - if they can even make them, given how frozen they are.
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
Broken tracks?
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:20am
I wonder if they are concerned about breaking something? Or they know something is broken?
It has to be something more than just snow in the way.
Interesting thought
By roadman
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:54am
However, they DID clear the inbound track pretty quickly. So I doubt fear of breaking something is a legitimate excuse for not clearing the outbound track.
You know
By cybah
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:05am
for once I am with you.. really how long does it take?
And to think we get MORE snow this weekend.. and we're going to be back to square one.
At the rate we're going it may be opening day at Fenway before the T is running back to its "normal" self.
You have to kill third rail
By anon
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:43am
You have to kill third rail power to use the jets. But once you kill third-rail power for that, the snow and ice will continue to build. But the jets work very slow. The jets are really intended just for clearing out switches in yards. Using the jets on the main line is more a gimmick than a practical method, but once you commit to using them, its difficult to use any other method to clear the line. A ballast regulator with a snow blower would be much better to use, but that doesn't get the same "look we are doing something!" attention as trucking some jets in from NYC to augment your own jets.
See my other comment
By roadman
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 2:20pm
about clearing the inbound track.
Inbound was cleared by the
By anon
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 6:56pm
Inbound was cleared by the "snow trains" while power was still on
And outbound had just as much snow
By roadman
Fri, 02/13/2015 - 12:31pm
on it as inbound. Unless you're saying they chose not to run snow trains on the outbound track for some reason.
Q: Why are we trucking in jet snowblowers from NY?
By rb
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 2:31pm
A: Because New York DOESN'T FUCKING USE THEM.
They use snowblowers and rotary brooms. I guarantee you that this is a result of somebody's "We do it this way because we've always done it this way" attitude.
So, MOAR JET SNOWLBLOWER!!!111
Tuesday morning, my Uber car to South Station passed over one of the jets on 93 near Community College. I couldn't believe how loud it was and how heavy the fumes were hanging. I also can't believe how much money we must be wasting on kerosene/jet fuel when it clearly doesn't work.
Well Spring will be here in a
By anon
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:10am
Well Spring will be here in a month. However, what can be done before next Winter to keep the T running. I'd guess the Legislature should have an emergency appropriation so the T can fix things... maybe they should start with the switches; or buy some snow removal equipment.
Maybe more seating can be removed from cars to increase capacity. I just don't know
Smh...
By Amanda
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:19am
If all the T workers I see sitting around doing nothing on a daily basis picked up a shovel and chipped in, this wouldn't even be an issue.
Heck, they could've even given a bunch of kids home from school on Tuesday 20 bucks each and had it shoveled in no time.
did the T do absolutely
By slowman4130
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 10:22am
did the T do absolutely nothing the past few days?
It sure seems like it.
Red Line tracks were untouched Mon-Weds, one of the busiest lines on the T, if not the busiest.
Commuter Rail and Boat lots were either barely plowed, or completely unplowed, these lots are usually being plowed as the snow is falling.
Didn't the T take tuesday off to do all of this? There has to be some politics behind this, because it sure seems like the T threw their hands up and didn't do a damn thing the past few days.
I have the answer regarding
By roadman
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:08am
the T's snow clearance policies
The month of May. It's the cheapest snowplow around.
Jack Lemmon from It Happened to Jane
If the National Guard can be
By anon
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:12am
If the National Guard can be sent on an emergency basis to clear streets, why can't they be used to did out tracks and switches on the T. Why can't they be deployed to clear bus routes?
It seems some creative thinking is needed here.... by someone; probably Baker.
This question was raised
By roadman
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:55am
in one of Baker's press conferences the other day. The National Guard person in attendance stated that clearing MBTA tracks and stations was not part of their mission, as the snow on MBTA property did not constitute an immediate threat to life and safety.
In other words, the Guard is saying "not our job."
I think they were brought in
By Lyndsay
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 12:13pm
I think they were brought in to clear roads and sidewalks and because they have tanks/gear to remove large amounts of snow at once. I think it's the equipment he wanted, not the hands on deck necessarily.
Has anyone seen them out
By Lyndsay
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 12:11pm
Has anyone seen them out there? I haven't.
I am honestly wondering if
By Laura82
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 12:55pm
I am honestly wondering if they are just waiting for the snow to melt. Yesterday, the T announced that the Braintree branch would continue busing through Sunday. But we're getting a foot snow Sunday. Surely the T won't be MORE able to run after that than it is now.
If they just said "No Braintree service until the snow melts," there'd be a riot, so maybe they're just extending the alert a few days at a time. I can't figure out why else the tracks haven't been touched.
"Outbound to go Inbound" is very much a thing now
By makeshift_vicinity
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 11:36am
I live closer to Malden Center than Oak Grove, but yesterday I thought I'd be smart, so I got up super early, and walked to Oak Grove at 6:30 AM to be sure of getting a seat.
Not only was Oak Grove pretty crowded at that time, but when the train showed up, it was full of people who didn't get off. Lots and lots of people have learned the trick of getting on an outbound train so you can already be in said train when it turns around, or so you can switch to an inbound train at the end of the line where it's hopefully less crowded.
And who could blame them? After the first few stops, the inbound trains are so crowded that no one else has even a chance. Unfortunately, this means that anyone who can't or won't use that technique has zero chance, since the upstream trains will now be packed not only with crowds that started at those stops, but people who ought to have been waiting alongside them. Madness.
Of course, yesterday the joke was on me and everyone who rode outbound to go inbound, because we all got the announcement that we'd be dumped at Wellington and have to get on a different train after we'd left Malden Center. I said goodbye to my nice seat and packed in with everyone else.
Today I'm working from home. Again.
Very interesting how this
By anon
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 2:22pm
Very interesting how this devolved from criticizing the T to a fiery discussion of wealth & poverty. Isn't it clear both rich and poor are paying dearly for this debacle ? Everybody is getting hurt. What I don't get is why some people of a certain political leaning seem to be both complaining and defending the T at the same time. Somebody else's right to be incompetent on the job ends where my pocketbook begins. I'm doing my job as a T rider, paying my fares and paying my taxes that support the T. Now the T has to produce. If they dont, and so far they have not, then heads gotta roll.
Everybody is getting hurt
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 02/12/2015 - 2:50pm
The problem is that consequences of societal breakdown accrue more intensely to those at the bottom.
I'm wealthy, have access to a car, can afford parking. I don't like to or want to commute like that, but I can when lacking alternatives. I can also work from home, and get paid even when that is not feasible.
I somehow suspect that the woman who cleans my office doesn't get paid anything if she can't make it to work. She seemed pretty grateful that we left her camping gear in an empty office and some unused hotel toiletries and clean towels for the shower, as swing shift workers are sometimes stranded with the collapse of the transit system. (If she worked directly for us, rather than for a contractor for the building management, this wouldn't be an issue).
I'm inconvenienced and slightly wounded because my wealth is a buffer. People like her are screwed.
Pages