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.
Photo via Transit PD.
Transit Police report what little traffic there was on West Street in Walpole around noon on Friday was disrupted when the driver of a garbage truck seemed to think his truck was 10'9" when it was really, oh, 10'11". No injuries, truck extricated, driver cited and, after an inspection, the bridge was, once again, declared the latest winner of a storrowing match.
WCVB reports a man trying to get from one side of the Hyde Park train station to the other around 3:10 p.m. was hit and killed by a commuter-rail train on one of the busiest stretches of train tracks in the Boston are - used by both commuter-rail and high-speed Amtrak trains. A fence separates the two sides of the station to try to keep people from attempting to cross the tracks.
There's a switch near South Station that's decided to take the day off, so delays are starting to pile up on commuter-rail lines into and out of the station. Read more.
CommonWealth Beacon reports on yet another effort by Boston lawmakers to convince the T to change the Hyde Park, Readville and West Roxbury commuter-rail stations to the same zone as the Fairmount one - which could save riders hundreds of dollars a year. But T officials say they're more interested in an overall reduced-fare system it's looking to set-up for low-income riders across the entire commuter-rail network.
Sparks raining down at South Station.
Adriana Lacy was at South Station around 1 p.m. when a shower of sparks and flames burst downward at South Station: Read more.
The MBTA announced today that the Fairmount Line will be free between Oct. 14 and 29, at least to people with CharlieCards - as a possible replacement for the Mattapan Line and Ashmont service on the Red Line, which will be shut then for track repairs. The T will also be running shuttle buses along the Mattapan and Ashmont lines then.
The MBTA commuter-rail Twitter feed is lighting up like a pinball machine as one train after another is delayed getting out of and into South Station due to what the T says are "downed wires."
And that would explain all the debris on the Northeast Corridor tracks in Mansfield. The National Weather Service reports on why there was so much debris on the Northeast Corridor tracks: Read more.
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.
Inspecting where the trailer roof used to be. Photo via TPD.
Around 6 a.m. on Friday, a truck driver from Columbus, OH, found out what happens when you ignore the "Low Clearance" sign on a railroad bridge after disregarding the "posted warning signs of height restrictions" in Canton. Read more.
An annoyed citizen in Hyde Park files a 311 complaint about the overnight noise from the MBTA's Readville commuter-rail yard: Read more.
At 8:46 a.m., Karen MacKenzie-Sleeman posted a photo of a Franklin Line train that had stopped just short of Norwood Central and had been sitting there for ten minutes: 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.
MBTA Commuter rail reports:
Franklin Line passengers continue to experience severe delays in both directions due to a signal issue.
Update: Yep, it was the East Street bridge.
The MBTA reports Franklin Line train 754 is between 30 and 40 minutes late into Boston because yet another trucker has slammed into a bridge in Dedham. The T didn't say which bridge, but if we were a betting site, we'd put good money on the ol' East Street bridge, which gets hit by truckers enough to be made an honorary Storrow Drive bridge.
Surveillance photos via TPD.
Not from smoking them, but from getting caught stealing more than $1,000 worth of tobacco products by breaking into a stand at North Station, as Transit Police say these two did at North Station on May 14.
If the alleged wet-behind-the-ears thieves look familiar, contact detectives at 617-222-1050.
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