The MBTA board today approved a $54-million plan to replace the diesel-powered trains on the Fairmount Line with more climate-friendly battery-operated cars within four years, which could mean almost subway-like train frequency - and some relief for Readville residents who live near the yard where diesels now loudly vibrate, hum - and have their horns blared - into the early morning hours. Read more.
Transitadvocate highlights some of the trains on various lines out of South Station that were canceled yesterday because of "crew availability issues." Read more.
At 1:13 a.m., HoofbeatsEqualZebra, who lives in Readville, reported that an engineer on a commuter-rail or CSX diesel in one of the Readville train yards had blared his air horn more than 60 times. Yes, of course he counted, what else are you going to do at 1:13 in the morning with an air horn blasting through your house? Read more.
A Michigan woman who says she still suffers severe pain from being tossed to the commuter-rail platform at Back Bay by an escalator that suddenly went into reverse in 2021 last week filed the latest suit against the MBTA and Kone, Inc. over the disaster. Read more.
Transit Police report they are trying to find who set a car ablaze at Readville station, off Milton Street in Hyde Park, early Tuesday, and why.
Police say the vehicle, fully engulfed in flames around 5 a.m., had been stripped of plates and other possible identifiers.
Keolis pairs some video of celebrating Celts players with this advisory for Championship Duck Boat Day, i.e., Friday:
We'll be operating on a weekday schedule with service changes. Please avoid traveling into the city on this day!
WHDH reports on a multi-vehicle crash on the Massachusetts Turnpike Friday night that sent a truck over the Jersey barriers and onto the Framingham Line right of way, where it stopped right at the tracks.
The MBTA this week sued Hitachi Rail, hired to install systems to keep commuter-rail trains from slamming into each other for $50 million for delays in finishing the system on routes in and out of North Station. Read more.
Firefighters atop a train. Photo by BFD.
The Boston Fire Department reports firefighters responded to North Station around 1:30 p.m. after a locomotive on Track 4 began belching fire. Firefighters quickly knocked down the fire, which caused no injuries but which did cause some delays on service into the station.
HoofbeatsEqualZebra lives on Fairmount Hill, just perfect to catch all the sound from the train yards and tracks of Readville, including the now infamous 22-minute stuck-on-blast hornshow late in the evening of April 16. He even recorded part of it (only 40 seconds, but for full effect, just let it keep looping for 22 minutes).
A consultant's recorder at the Readville yard used by CSX last year.
Frustrated residents from Readville, Dedham and Milton told the MBTA and state Rep. Rob Consalvo (D-Hyde Park) this evening they are fed up with the overnight vibrations, humming and train horns from Readville's two train yards that they say have especially bedeviled them since 2020. Read more.
A group of Rockport residents yesterday filed a federal lawsuit against the way their town is planning on moving forward with rezoning to comply with a state mandate to increase allowable housing density near MBTA stations (federal courts let people file suits even on Sundays). Read more.
Hitachi Rail, hired by the MBTA in 2015 for what is now a half-billion-dollar project to install a network of devices designed to prevent trains north of Boston from running into each other or getting up to unsafe speeds, yesterday sued the authority for what it says are $158 million in overruns and delays caused by alleged T bumbling. Read more.
The boat, freshly made sinkable by a commuter train. Photo by Transit PD.
Transit Police report on what, so far, is the weirdest MBTA crash of the year:
4/10 12:15AM Fitchburg Line between Cambridge & Belmont unknown person/s left a boat on the right of way. An #MBTA commuter rail train did strike the boat. No injuries were reported & no damage to train. TPD Detectives to follow up.
Streetsblog Mass gets the scoop that the MBTA and Keolis are going to try to get battery-operated trains running on the Fairmount Line within 3 1/2 years in a pilot aimed at increasing the frequency of trains, shorten trip times and replace some antiquated old diesel-powered trains. Read more.
MBTA Commuter Rail reported one Fitchburg Line train was 60 minutes late due to a deceased freight train on the tracks; other trains were reported only 50 minutes late.
CommonWealth Beacon reports Mayor Wu is continuing to look at putting some sort of education in a rebuilt West Roxbury Education Complex - and has begun talks with the T about the city building a commuter-rail stop on the Needham Line, which passes by the school. A near complete lack of transportation from the rest of the city to nearly the Dedham line was one of the reasons opponents fought to keep the O'Bryant away.
Not everything that goes wrong on the T is the T's fault, it seems. First it was the little duck and today, the T says, it had to shut the Orange Line between Forest Hills and Back Bay after an overhead Amtrak power line unspooled or snapped or something near Ruggles, causing problems for the neighboring subway line. Read more.
Transit Police report arresting a man they say went berserk and repeatedly punched a worker at McDonald's stand at South Station for the alleged sin of touching the lid of the man's drink around 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Police say the man, 34, was arrested for assault and battery. His victim was treated at the scene, police say.
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
