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Probably not good that wires are exploding in a Green Line tunnel

Boom

LT captured the fireworks in the tunnel between Boylston and Park, suggests Green Line riders find another way to get around [Video].

Park Street filled with smoke:

The T is citing "a power problem" for the suspension of service between Park and Haymarket.

Just yesterday, the state released a panel's report on T safety issues.

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Last night after the Celtics game on the O line I saw a pretty big explosion accompanied with a loud pop on the side of the train that was much higher than the tracks. MBTA can't get it together...Abandon all hope commuters of Boston.

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Instead of merely scolding Baker, Pollack, and Poftak via twitter, Pressley can take charge of situation. A.P. can meet with Secretary Chao one-on-one in DC and nail down a reasonable plan for the 7th. As of today, Baker, Pollack and Poftak continue to prioritize the 7th's future Green Line (GLX) over the existing Green Line. Pressley can flip the prioritization and put the existing Green Line before the future Green Line.

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I love Ayanna Pressley and I think in some ways she's Wonder Woman, but she can't do this.

Chao is corrupt so yeah. There's that.

And for the 239048204820572394704927354928359823754928374 time..

GLX Money is TIED to that project. You can't "divert" money like that. Its a budget line item and would require a whole shit tone of people to get involved to move it. Then it would have to be re-bid. and on and on and on.

Simply put. No, its just not possible.

Don't @ me. It's just how federal transportation dollars work, don't like it? THAT Ayanna pressley can change for you.

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There's not rationalizing with the anon that is dead set against the Green Line being extended.

And as an added point, there is a difference between capital costs and maintenance costs. Politicians to love spending money on capital projects (which can be good and sometimes not so good) but, as we've seen, spending money on things like preventative maintenance is not as sexy, so it gets shunted until things happen like the third rail being unusable after a major snow storm or red line drivers needing to get out of their cabs and run the signal switches themselves leads to runaway trains (which should be the classic example of the T's safety last philosophy.)

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Ever hear of the Gateway Tunnel project in NYC? How about the Big Dig? In both cases. Federal funding came. Federal funding went. Nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to federal funds. Pressley's power is unrestricted. And before you or others clap back and say the GLX Medford project is legally mandated. Look up the former Conservation Law Foundation GLX Arborway agreement. Legal mandates come. Legal mandates go.

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Those federal funds would have to be returned to DC. Now of the funds the DOT gave would be able to help safety. Moreover, your precious trees are gone and the bridges aren't finished yet. You are rooting for Washington Street to be disjointed forever.

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You might not want to say others are wrong at this point, as you still seem to not understand how budgeting works. Or legal matters for that sake - the Arborway restoration isn't a great example of anything normal.

BTW, you also don't seem to realize that the GLX helps the entire system. It allows further balance, eliminates the Lechmere short turn/curve (one of the most restrictive in the system), allows much better and more flexible operations, adds an entirely new maintenance facility at the northern end of the the line, adds a proper terminus station with proper capacity, and, things like the Lechmere vaiduct, which is in such bad shape only one train can run on it at a time in each direction is getting redone/repaired during the outage.

Furthermore, the MBTA already has a separate project for system wide improvements under design. The Green Line Transformation, which includes the Type-10 fleet replacement is already under way. It, BTW, requires all of the GLX-goodness to be done, too. But, sure, do go on about how terrible the GLX is and yada yada yada.

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You're wrong and have no grasp on how this works or how each one of the contracts you state actually worked.

Your examples aren't even good ones. Big Dig was allocated in 1983. Fully funded. Money wasn't used for something else or diverted. A highway was planned, a highway was built with the money.

Gateway Tunnel - Same deal. Money was allocated, and a tunnel was built. No funds were diverted.

Not sure what you are getting at other than being pissed because I shot holes in your argument. But you don't have a clue and seem to think Pressley is some super wonderwoman who can change this on whim.

If you know far more than I do, someone who has worked in the public sector and knows how this works, please come at me and provide sources. But you won't because you're an anon.

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The Chelsea Line SL3 rollout was a huge flop. Why not deal with that first?

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Sure, it is sometimes delayed by traffic and the drawbridge, but it's always crowded. Many people who travel from the North Shore who work in the Seaport and financial district use it.

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A Chelsea St Bridge pact with the feds would have created timed windows. Meaning maritime and bus traffic would be in sync. A pact was not agreed to and the SL3 project went ahead anyway. The result. Sometimes SL3 buses wait up to 30 minutes at the bridge. Maritime traffic has hierarchy 24/7. Buses are at the mercy of the maritime schedule. In other words, the SL3 is crap. And its really ironic that cybah would pontificate to anyone about the feds and transportation post SL3 fail

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The RMV material obstructions were putting the bond bill on thin ice. This recent safety report killed off any chance of the bill passing as its structured. When Baker is sent back to the drawing board, it will give Pressley more time and leverage

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We’re all doomed Magoo sez. Dooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooomed. Magoo.

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Enough.

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Even Charlie Baker chuckled when he heard the latest from the propaganda machine at Park Plaza.

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Charlie doesn't even want to hear about the daily disasters of the T until there are fatalities, then he'll spring into action and act shocked and horrified.

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"ho-hum, train's on fire...oooh I think I got 27 across though!"

The T is a friggin' JOKE!
When a train full of people finally dies, will they shut the whole thing down? Seriously asking. What happens when a bunch of people die on this death trap?

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If you see something, break the window.

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but don't worry, the state gov is thinking about charging everyone per mile who has been forced to drive to work daily because they can't rely on the T. On top of the excise tax. and tolls. and gas tax. yearly inspection fees. registration fees. etc.

Wasn't there a billion dollar surplus in the state budget, that they managed to carve up without including the promised $50M on the T as well? Where is all the money going...

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The black hole is state government is why people vote Republican and don't want to pay taxes. The pave roads and have transit arguments are obviously not valid if you have either driven or taken the train in Massachusetts in the last 10 years. What is to be done?

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Because they are 'car guys', the money is being used to drive people like Baker and Walsh in big black private gas guzzling SUV's.

Who cares about trains when you have a black SVU pick you up from work every day.

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I have no car, I take the T everywhere.

It usually works great, Boston is unyieldingly challenging for public transit, and it's cheap.

One has to wonder about the amount of energy that goes into bellyaching about the T here, Jesus.

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Usually works great

What are you smoking?

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Daily rider, here. Very rarely do I encounter issues. I know I'm probably lucky in that regard, and not unaware that there are quite often service disruptions, but the way folks like you talk about the T, you'd think that the June derailment was a daily occurrence. You're just wrong.

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Lol

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The MBTA usually works great if you're lucky enough. It's so unpredictable that it's necessary to allow 2-3 hours to get to where one wants to go. It used to be that it was only necessary to allow at least an hour, especially if one had to change trains, but it's gotten much, much worse.

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That person doesn't seem to care about the sparks nearby. Bravo to them.

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The resilience of the body politic in the face of a massive failing of our government.

Unfortunately, it is also the prelude to the "Cocoanut Grove on the T" that I have been warning about for years. This is going to be one of the times where being able to say "I told you so" will be horrible. Maybe I won't be saying that though. Maybe I'll be on the train on which everyone gets trapped and incinerated.

If so, avenge me, friends. Make sure that the people responsible for it lose everything.

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