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Problems on Orange and Blue; well, OK, what else is new?
By adamg on Thu, 02/25/2016 - 8:33am
Some sort of power problem at Back Bay means the T is urging people headed for downtown points to use the Green Line instead. Meanwhile, The Management reports:
Stuck at Aquarium and i can't even see the penguins. Blue Line delay due to "signal problem" at Orient Heights.
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commuter rail
Numerous commuter rail trains canceled or severely delayed as well.
In addition, Keolis communication on the Fitchburg line was an outright failure this morning. The T canceled the super-express (South Acton to Porter) Fitchburg train, forcing everyone on the next train, which is itself a semi-express train. I was planning on taking that train at 8:00 at Waltham, and was prepared to stand, given the train was carrying two trains' worth of passengers. The train arrived five minutes late at Waltham and did not take on any new passengers because it was at capacity. The conductors probably knew 20 minutes earlier that they'd be full by Waltham, yet this was not communicated back to dispatch, and no alert went out.
Meanwhile the conductors on this train said the next scheduled train was 15 minutes away, but mbtainfo.com tracking and tweets indicated that train was running late because of mechanical problems. Yet an alert about this train didn't go out for 20 more minutes.
Thankfully the usually reliable 505 express bus showed up right away. No trains boarded passengers at Waltham between 7:10 and around 8:50 this morning, yet T communication was nearly non-existent.
One morning last winter
I received an alert that the 8:00 out of Reading was cancelled. So I left the house later than usual, intending to get the 8:30 out of Reading.
On my way down to Melrose Highlands, what do I see passing me by Greenwood? Yep, the 8:00 train. To make matters worse, they then cancelled the 8:30 out of Reading, which I found out through an alert sent at 8:45, and then a notice on the station message board sent at 8:50.
Called Keolis to complain about the inaccurate information regarding the trains. They told me that the MBTA sends out the alerts and referred me to them. I then called the MBTA to complain, and they told me that Keolis sends out the information.
Funny how, when I first started riding the commuter rail 26 years ago before they had any of these amenities like alerts and information signs in stations, the system as a whole seemed to operate far more reliably. Just food for thought.
The T was correct about that
The T was correct about that one -- Keolis sends out its own alerts.
The commuter rail's equipment reliability is beyond abysmal. Outside of last winter's failure, its mean distance between failures has varied between 2000 and 8000 miles. Combine that with the infrequent schedules, and tracks with few passing opportunities, and you'll see why all of rush hour on entire lines gets hosed on a regular basis.
Passengers and politicians should be SCREAMING about this, and the people in charge should make it their first priority to fix this problem.
I did that math last month.
I did that math last month.
http://www.universalhub.com/2016/were-number-1-oh-wait-thats-public-tran...
Looks like they're running
Looks like they're running single track operations on at least part of the OL. Was waiting at Wellington and a train approached from the opposite direction on the inbound side. Passengers on the train were told the train wouldn't be continuing to Oak Grove but instead would be going back to FH.
What's Orange and Blue And Can't Get Through A Revolving Door?
Hint: It's not a nun.
Flintwater
Flintwater is orange and blue.
Charlie Baker is Flintwatering the MBTA.
Someone needs to as GE how it plans to get anyone to work on time.
GE
Someone needs to ask GE how
That's simple - by providing employee parking.
Let me fix this for you
GE employees wont be taking
GE employees wont be taking the T, we taxpayers are on the hook for a new vehicular bridge, a parking garage and a helipad. They will be driving/being driven and taking helicopters to and from work.
Amazing that with such a mild
Amazing that with such a mild winter everything is a shambles.
Shambolic, eh?
Probably, but it’s not amazing at all. It was predictable - both the weather and the shambles.
dreams of the 50s being realized
Instead of this slow death that began with when Baker worked under Weld and continues with Governor Baker (with assist from DINOs Deleo and Murray during Patrick's administration) of the Ts transition to a bus only system, Baker should just grow some and announce the core former subway system will go the way of the Washington St line, JPs E line, and the A line and become all buses. All saved funding can be used to further subsidize the never ending commuter rail and highway expansion so the dream of the 50s can become a reality in MA.
'never ending commuter rail and highway expansion”
Tell that to the people in Fall River and New Bedford.
A lot of money gets spent on
A lot of money gets spent on the commuter rail, but the service isn't exactly good.
Adam, forgive me because I
Adam, forgive me because I can't remember nor have I been trying to keep myself up to date with all the MBTA news. But, do you know when we are getting the new trains and which lines (Red, Blue, Green, and/or Orange) are they designated for? Or did that dream die, too?
Only the Blue Line isn't getting new cars
The Orange Line is getting all of its cars replaced, with some new extra cars thrown in, and the Red Line is getting some new cars, both from a Chinese company building a factory in Springfield. The Green Line will be getting some new trolleys, too, from someplace else.
First cars are scheduled to show up in late 2018, which means we won't start seeing them in service until 2019. I think the last cars are supposed to show up in 2020.
Thanks for the quick response
Thanks for the quick response. Wish the trains were just as quick.
I don't think the new cars
I don't think the new cars are going to solve the signal problems though.
That's because the Blue Line
That's because the Blue Line just got new cars 7 years ago.
Decision making based on media relations
Imagine if someone had had the guts to stand up last May and say, "look, I know that we just suffered through a nuclear winter. We’re not going to spend a gazillion dollars fixing things that broke down because of this historically bad winter though, because the probability of that happening again in the next 5-10 years is negligible. Rather, we are going to spend money on fixing the signal systems on the rapid transit lines, because those are all ready to fail on any given day in any kind of weather, and will cause continuing severe disruption on a daily basis.”
Someone, somewhere within the T or DOT was saying that. We need to find that person, and get him or her in charge of doing these things right away. This is utterly ridiculous.
Last couplet ever
T has died so many times
Local blogger has run out of rhymes