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Commuter rail a mess. Why? Take a guess
By adamg on Fri, 12/16/2016 - 8:36am
At 8:31 a.m., Natsha Verna reported more than 40 delays on commuter rail. Broken rails, signal issues, at one point, only the Fairmount Line, of all lines, was not reporting delays.
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Orange line was the usual
Orange line was the usual level of crowded, but no delays this morning, thankfully!
Fitchburg delays are due to a broken rail in Belmont - it probably snapped in this cold.
There's a Pan Am signal issue between Haverhill and Wilmington (are all the trains running via the Wildcat branch then...?).
Anderson short turns cancelled.
And another broken rail in Manchester delaying Rockport trains.
South side seems fine now. Few minor delays (5-10 mins) here and there.
Multiple broken rails
The rails snapped on the Rockport line too, and then the 7:10 train died too and they cancelled it. We're not alone in having both frigid weather and trains. What do other places do to keep train rails from snapping in very cold weather? I'm surprised that this is a thing that could happen, and so easily too.
Good Question.
Some lines in different states have extra crews on hand to promptly fix snapped rails (which can just happen in very cold weather). There are plenty of colder climates (i.e. Canada, for example) that use rail so the answers are out there.
To be fair, out in Chicago
To be fair, out in Chicago Metra's having issues in the cold right now as well. It's not just us.
Yes, but
according to the article, they seem not to have as many issues (no way near our reported 40) and the issues they did have appeared to be promptly resolved:
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/delays-reported-on-multiple-metra-lines/
Keolis should give 'em a call.
Was it actually 40 separate issues
or 40 separate alerts? Because the MBTA has this habit of sending out multiple alerts for each incident - even when the status of the incident hasn't changed. They apparently learned this from the The Big Bus school of event reporting:
40 delays sounds like 40 delays?
n/t
Luck of the draw
Turns out that the my train (8:00 out of Reading) was the only rush hour train on the Haverhill Line that wasn't affected by the delays and problems plaguing most of the system. And it was apparent that many of the regular riders had been scared away by the reports of doom and gloom.
Of all lines
Apparently Worcester did okay this morning.
Something about blind squirrels and nuts …
Oopsie...so much for Keolis' preventative measures...
Well, I lucked out. My inbound train from Franklin arrived on time to Readville. Seems like the car was less filled with folks - perhaps they chose to drive in?
My red line experience was also perfect this morning. Fingers crossed that my commute home will not be a horror show.
Yeah, I only take the T
Yeah, I only take the T occasionally these days (because I have literally structured my life to allow me to avoid an MBTA commute) and when I took the red line today and got to my destination in a normal, undelayed manner it felt like winning the lottery. I feel like it's...not supposed to be that way?