The MBTA reported at 11:14 a.m. it had suspended all Providence Line service "until further notice due to debris on the tracks from severe weather in the Mansfield area. At 11:37, Keolis reported a train to Boston had left Wickford Junction but would hold at Attleboro because some of that debris remained on the tracks. Read more.
MBTA Commuter Rail reported at 7:47 p.m. that a train that left Wickford Junction at 4:35 p.m. remained stuck in Sharon, more than two hours after it was supposed to pull into South Station, because of a dreaded "mechanical issue," and now the crew and passengers are waiting for the 5:48 p.m. train from Wickford Junction to arrive and try to push it all the way into town, or off the tracks or something.
Smoke rising from near tracks at Hyde Park Avenue and Cummins. Photo by Richard Ovesen.
Riders on some of the last trains into Boston from the south tonight are going to be wicked late: The T is reporting delays of more than an hour on some trains on the Providence and Franklin lines due to a "disabled train in the Readville area." Read more.
MBTA Commuter Rail reports the 12:20 p.m. train to Providence is just sitting at South Station with its doors closed because of a "crew availability issue," i.e., they can't find anybody to work that train.
Brett snapped the social distancing on a 9 bus in South Boston this morning: Read more.
The Orange Line has delays of up to 15 minutes due to an inbound train with "an air pressure problem" at Haymarket.
Also, there's a dead Amtrak train at 128 gumming up service on the Providence Line.
Delays on the Providence Line yesterday are being repeated this morning, if not quite as astoundingly. An hour delay on a train out of Wickford Junction yesterday has found a shadow in today's 810 out of Providence, which developed some of those "mechanical problems" and was more than 30 minutes late.
Signal problems on the Worcester Line, meanwhile, mean delays of up to 40 minutes on trains between Auburndale and South Station.
A downed power line in Canton is causing major havoc for Northeast Corridor and Providence and Stoughton Line train service.
CommonWealth Magazine reports Massachusetts and Rhode Island are looking to rent some locos from Amtrak as a way of providing faster, cleaner service between Boston and Providence. No timetable or any other specifics released.
The fire-belching loco. Photo by KMV.
Passengers heading towards Providence had to evacuate their train in Canton Junction after the train experienced a "mechanical issue" that included the diesel belching fire, around 8 p.m. More flaming action.
I guess@MBTA_CR wanted to cheer up riders on the 40-minute late #providence train today with a nightclub car? No drinks offered. pic.twitter.com/Vd0Zp8Scja
— Kevin Essington (@citygreener) May 29, 2019
Alon Levy ponders the oddity that is the Providence Line: Completely set up for more reliable electric trains, yet the T - which owns the tracks from South Station to the Rhode Island line - continues to run diesel locomotives on it.
An inbound train that died early this morning on the Providence Line caused a cascade of delays that made some commuters more than two hours late getting into Boston.
The MBTA is reporting delays on the Providence/Stoughton line due to "a switch issue."
The MBTA reports delays are piling up outbound to Providence and Stoughton due to a switch near 128 that is being a bad, bad switch.
The Globe reports the Senate wants the MBTA to look at electrifying the Providence and Fairmount lines - with the goal of having them run on electricity by 2022.
WBZ's Ryan Kath runs alongside the sprinting commuters at the Westwood/128 station, as they try to get to their cars and to the furshlugginer exit gates that now routinely keep people trapped inside the garage for 20 minutes every evening.
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.
