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Orange Line riders uttering cusses after their trains are replaced with buses

By adamg on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 7:44am
Waiting for a train that isn't coming.

Extra riders at Malden Center commuter-rail stop, 7:12 a.m. Photo by Manny Lim.

The T reports no Orange Line service between Sullivan and Tufts "due to the late completion of weekend work" - the repair work that was supposed to make the Orange Line more reliable.

The T began running buses between Sullivan and Haymarket for riders who weren't able to get off further up the line and catch commuter rail. The T later explained the "late completion:"

This weekend's Orange Line diversion has been extended through the morning rush due to an incident involving 2 contractor vehicles and an injured worker. Our crews are working to finish the planned work and safely resume service. We have begun an investigation into the incident.

Manny Lim reports things did not run smoothly:

Only one T employee at Sullivan yelling directions, so people everywhere getting on the wrong buses. Strangely, @MassGovernor and @spoftak nowhere in sight.

Julio Salado adds the morning started off as a complete dud, reporting at 5:40 a.m.:

Hey MBTA why did your train announce bus shuttles AFTER we were on the train Inbound from Malden? Not giving us any options. Not fair.

He posted photos of the resulting crush for a bus at Sullivan:

Sullivan crush

Theradrebe reports:

I got a train 20 mins earlier than usual for a work engagement and am barely going to be there at my standard time. Thank god I didn’t leave when I normally do.

With no Orange Line into town, some riders tried to get onto the Green Line:

Neighborhoods: 
Malden
Topics: 
The T
Free tagging: 
Orange Line


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Comments

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 7:53am.

All I can do is laugh at this point.

By Murkin on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:00am.

So now we’re laughing and complaining about an injury to a construction worker delaying our commute. This is a new low point for UHub.

By BostonDog on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:03am.

The T has not come out and said a worker got hurt. If they did, more people might be sympathetic.

By Michael on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:09am.

Two hours after they tweeted that it was "due to the late completion of weekend work". Can't even provide a straight story.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:13am.

Apparently? the T mentioned it elsewhere , but as of 9:10 am there is no mention of an accident on mbta.com. Still says it's due to

late completion of weekend work

By Ishmael Jones on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:38am.

Said one worker sustained a minor injury.

Said to my wife this morning after hearing about this through endless rambling requests for donations and a "oh by the way" after the intern reads news headlines on WERS, that it would be attributed to an injury thereby making the incident criticism-proof. That is how cynical I have become after riding this rattle-trap for too too many years.

By Old Groucho on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:46am.

it helps with year-end reporting when they compare all causes for train delays

its called creative accounting. This phantom "injury" is used to block any immediate criticism as well as soften the impact later by ignoring the real reasons for the delay; complete and total corruption with a healthy dose of inept idiocy.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:41am.

Very patriotic and much-WINNING "Murkin'" sayin' THIS is a low point for UHub without any sense of irony whatsoever.

By lbb on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 11:10am.

The shit show was going on for hours with no mention of an injury. MBTA could have got their story straight to start with. But I guess you're happy for another opportunity to piss on UHub. Why don't you just leave since you find it so disagreeable?

By roadman on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:02am.

stop at Oak Grove this morning to accommodate Orange Line passengers. No fare for people traveling between North Station and Malden Center/Oak Grove.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:19am.

But the T website says nothing about this. It only references shuttle buses and the Green Line.

No Orange Line train service between Sullivan & Tufts due to the late completion of weekend work. Buses are being provided between Sullivan & Haymarket. Green Line available between Haymarket & Copley (to Back Bay).

Seriously, fxxx the T . Of course, according to a recent poll, 73% of you still love Charlie Baker, who has absolutely nothing to do with this incompetence, (other than the photo opp this weekend admiring the Orange Line work.)

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:53am.

Delay UP TO 15 MINUTES
Haverhill Train 201 (7:35 am from North Station) is operating 5-15 minutes behind schedule between North Station and Haverhill due to the late arrival of equipment.

By roadman on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:39am.

Instead, it goes down the Wildcat and the Lowell Line. So that was a separate issue.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 2:37pm.

The late arrival of equipment very well could have been due to delays loading the Orange Line crowd on the previous inbound trip.

By dalzay on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:02am.

I'm so damn angry. It's not enough that they shutdown the entire goddamn line for a month- now they're just going to spring this shit on me without warning? Great, fucking great.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:15am.

https://twitter.com/MassGovernor/status/1185632483653627904

By sock garter on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:11am.

Accidents will happen.

Oh, I just don't know where to begin
Though he says he'll wait forever

Yeah, a worker was injured in a mishap, so I heard.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:12am.

I was just thinking this weekend, what happens if they dont finish their work by Monday morning? We have our answer.
Next up- Red Line weekend "suspension" during peak holiday shopping season. What could go wrong?

By HCL on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:51am.

And with zero information about shuttle buses right now.

I'd be willing to bet my monthly pass that there will be NO shuttle service to DTX for the Red Line closure, just like how it was for the Orange Line.

These closures are a pain in the ass but doubly so if you live in Eastie...you'll either have to take the SL3 to South Station for your Red Line shuttle, or take the Green Line to Government Center, switch for a stop to Park, THEN get on a shuttle...then get back on the Red Line. Most people are going to work on the weekends too, natch.

I guess I just won't go anywhere on the Red Line until the end of the year!

By cybah on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:13am.

By dmk on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:16am.

The T app that I use includes their Twitter feed and that has an entry stating that there was an accident that injured two construction workers. This is why the construction equipment has been delayed in being removed. There may have to be an OSHA investigation (speculation). The Tweet was posted at 7:16 AM. The following replies were all about poor service and frustration -- no compassion for those injured. Fascinating. So we'll just take the #39 from FH to Copley and go around it.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:21am.

mbta.com/alerts says

due to the late completion of weekend work

Nothng at all about an accident.

By adamg on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:17am.

They did post something on their Twitter feed (so I've updated the original post).

By Bobp on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:36am.

this is a new excuse 2 hours after they said work was not finished, then there was a worker incident. Good luck on the #39, i am sure that wont be packed and delayed.
Saw the first notice and drove to work.

By Old Groucho on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:49am.

theyre just making things up

there's not one iota of responsibility among the entire organization so who cares what they post, really?

By JohnAKeith on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 8:38am.

If they were being replaced by "busses" I'd be happy.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:35am.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/plural-of-bus

By Karl on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 7:47pm.

No one cares.

By Michael on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:03am.

Does this organization still not have layers of contingency plans in place

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 10:13am.

"How in god's name does this organization still not have layers of contingency plans in place"

It's simply not the T's method. Whenever any emergency happens, be it snow or something like what happened this morning, they ALWAYS act like it is the very first time it ever happened. Every. Single. Time. Not a single T employee (on the rare occasions when you can find one) ever knows how to respond to an emergency. Ever. I have witnessed this personally for over forty years.

By Matt on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:13am.

It’s a shame there wasn’t another way to get people to and through the city. Regionalrail.net. Read it.

By anon on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 2:13pm.

Stop! Please Stop! This is the key problem with TransitMatters. There are times to pitch and then there are times NOT to pitch!

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 7:50pm.

AT 9:13 AM THERE WAS NO REAL AWARENESS OF WHAT CAUSED THIS MESS - ONLY VAGUESPLAINING BY THE MBTA.

THERE ARE TIMES TO SPEW FAKE OUTRAGE IN ALL DIRECTIONS BUT THIS WAS NOT ONE OF THEM.

THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH ANON POSTERS.

By anon on Wed, 10/23/2019 - 10:45am.

Globe on down. As always. TransitMatters didn't check before posting. You and TM should actually release an apology.

By jillian on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 9:16am.

I commute from Quincy (via Ashmont) to Sullivan every morning - already a long commute. Although this shutdown was annoying, it only added 15 extra minutes. The shuttle was surprisingly quick.

I got to Sullivan just before 7 am, though, and I can imagine it being worse for people later in the morning. I dread this still being in place this afternoon.

The worst parts of this seemed to be...

1) not a lot of good info on where to go, especially for people for whom English is not their first language (this was non-existent, as far as I could tell). The biggest holdup seemed to be passengers who did not know what was going on. But they're not to blame. The only person giving out any directions at Haymarket was yelling at people. The driver of my red line train was also yelling at people. Yelling seemed to be the default communication style of the morning.

No one yelling at Park, but also no one helping people out here. I felt thankful that I use the Green line regularly, and knew what direction Haymarket was, what stairway to use to get to that direction, etc. That definitely saved me a lot of time.

2) backup at Sullivan, with so many regular route buses, shuttles, and a bunch of T repair trucks blocking up the busway - all the way out to the rotary of death. Our driver nicely let us out on that road that runs through Sullivan, getting out of the bus to block traffic and make it safe for us. Otherwise it would have easily taken us another 10 minutes or more. This driver was great, actually, about as calm and patient as someone can be in a situation like this. This is how officials should act in tense, confusing situations.

By roadman on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 12:27pm.

And the service is still suspended. "Minor" accident indeed.

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 10/21/2019 - 7:48pm.

I was just going to bike to the 326 bus.

Then there were two missed buses during rush hour.

So I biked to a train station.

Then I realized a full on clusterfuck was in full cluster.

So I rode.

Fortunately, it was a beautiful day and I didn't sweat up my work clothes too much.

Perhaps those who are fed up might consider planning out a bike commute for one of these lovely fall days when the T can't stop failing, then give it a trial run.

Coming home my maps app said "51 minutes to home" for driving. I said "bitch, please" and rode into the sunset.