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Trains canceled on Rockport Line left and right; commuters say they don't deserve this slight
By adamg on Fri, 10/21/2016 - 9:18am
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Comments
That's odd, Baker gave back
That's odd, Baker gave back almost a million in fines to the commuter rail operator. Its almost as though they realized that Baker is so weak they don't need to provide good service to keep the money coming. But its a private company running it so its seemingly ok, according to Baker.
Not just Rockport
Every line seems to be suffering from 'mechanical problems' these days. Wondering if these are the old locos just giving out, or maintenance just doing a poor job these days.
All of the North Side was
All of the North Side was getting hit with delays last night too, at least in the 6pm hour. Reading short turns cancelled, and all trains 15 mins or so late. The concourse was a madhouse between that and the Bruins game.
Rockport/Newburyport line cancellations
To be clear, there are daily delays on the Newburyport/Rockport line, but I think there have been outright cancellations daily since the fares went up - or actually, nope, not just since July - I think daily cancellations since the schedules changed in May. I know the cancellations have definitely been frequent; at least a handful of trains are cancelled each week. I have to keep my phone constantly charged just to protect the battery from the incessant text warnings.
Keolis is just outright not running trains. And the trains that do run are getting more and more crowded. People stand in the aisles at rush hour just about every day because all the seats (yes, the middle seats - also the stairs) are claimed.
The only solution I can think of is to make politicians very aware that their job security is tied to the T's reliability. They need to be more aware of their constituents' needs and when they are doing a poor job, they need to be afraid.
Charlie Baker - privation is not the answer. Funding is. Your second term is dependent on paying attention to what the voters want, not your crony corporate friends & sponsors. Do. Your. Job.
I don't remember the last
I don't remember the last time I saw one of the "new" model locomotives on the Haverhill line. Didn't CR just purchase like 20 new locos? Where are they?
Reading trains are the first to be canceled when short on equipment - the same people get screwed everyday. Great system. The schedule should read "This train rarely ever runs because we can't keep enough locos on-line"
The MBTA ordered 40 new HSP
The MBTA ordered 40 new HSP-46's, and all 40 are in service. That's almost half of the MBTA's active fleet of 85 locomotives. They are quite common to see. I don't ride the commuter rail daily anymore, but I'd say about half the trains I see from the orange line at Sullivan, alongside the Pike in Newton, alongside 93 in Quincy, or on my occasional travels up to the North Shore are HSP--46's.
The reason the Reading trains are always the first to get cancelled is because they have comparatively light ridership, are bracketed by Haverhill trains that also serve all stops to Reading (e.g. oft-cancelled 295 is followed only 20 minutes later by 219), and have an easy alternative, in the form of the 136/137 bus, which effectively parallels the line from Malden Center to Reading, stopping right at most stations. Cancelling one of them impacts far fewer riders than cancelling a train that carries twice as many people, doesn't run as often, and doesn't have any alternative service. In the event of an equipment shortage, Keolis cancels the trains that will affect the fewest people, which is invariably the short turns.
Before the May schedule change, when the other north side lines also had short turns ( Beverly, Anderson, South Acton), they were frequent victims of cancellation as well. Keolis doesn't have it in for Reading riders, those trains just cause the least disruption to cancel.
Just over a week now
This has been going on for over a week now.
I was on a Newburyport train at North Station last week for a 9:30 Am departure and they could not get an interlock. They would reset the brakes, and I'd hear the locomotive rev-up and then rev-down. This went on for 8 or more minutes and by that time I knew the trainset was dead.
Sure enough the conductor announced the train was dead and they would need to get us a replacement set. We were then told to head over to Track 6 (from Track 2) and we stole the Lowell set that was soon to board. Sorry Lowell riders.
We went out about 20 mins late and I'm guessing Lowell went out late as well.
Thankfully the train died in the station and not on the road.
Then a few days ago, same scenario. I heard the reset several times and then it finally caught. we left about 8 mins late but we were OK.
I have to do this again Saturday and Sunday. Should be interesting.
And... they are adding extra trains for Salem this weekend. Oy!
DMK