Sun shines on sinkhole: Compare today's photo by the T to yesterday's.
What a difference a day makes. However, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says he cannot yet give a definite answer on when the Riverside line can be re-opened. "Flood waters continue to flow through the site, and work crews cannot even begin to start rebuilding the rail bed until the water recedes."
The MBTA provides this photo of the temporary dams now in place at the Fenway portal where the Riverside line goes underground. The T had been running Riverside service this morning after the Muddy River receded below flood stage, but it's back above it again and there's no service between Fenway and Kenmore.
MORNING UPDATE: The Muddy River dropped below flood stage, even if barely, so Riverside service is running this morning - although river levels have started rising again (hourly river-level data).
LATER MORNING UPDATE: The Muddy River got all floody again, so the T put the dam back and stopped Riverside service.
Around 9 p.m., the MBTA blocked off the Fenway portal used by the Riverside line to prevent a recurrence of the 1996 floods that left Kenmore station submerged in 20 feet of water and required $40 million in repairs.
The move means Riverside commuters can expect delays tomorrow as they ride shuttle buses instead of trolleys between Reservoir and Kenmore, the T advises.
A federal monitoring station on the Muddy reported the normally docile river reached flood stage around 8:45 p.m. A T alert announcing the suspension of service between Kenmore and Reservoir went out not long after.
That would be the D branch of the Green Line this morning.
Alicore tweets she normally takes the C trolley, but when she heard there were delays there, she walked over to the D line and so gets stuck anyway.
No, that's not quite true, Paul Levy reports: They do warn you that fare evasion is a crime so you better pay your damn fare:
I have to give the MBTA something for truth in advertising. It describes this capital improvement project (or one like it) as follows: This project will install new LED information signs on the platforms and lobbies of busy subway stations. These signs will provide visual equivalent of audio information on train arrival times and destination information.
What's left of the front of the trolley that smashed into another train in May, 2008. Source: NTSB.
Tomorrow, the National Transportation Safety Board discusses the May, 2008 collision on the Riverside line that left one trolley driver dead and a passenger with severe injuries. If you can't wait for the press reports on the meeting, you can listen in over the Web, starting at 9:30 a.m.
Doug reports (with photos) that the 1,000-car parking lot at the Riverside Green Line stop was manned by just one worker today as Red Sox fans arrived en masse to get to today's game:
... In a minature version of the Easter 2009 turnpike toll fiasco, insufficient staffing at the Riverside Green line terminal in Newton at noon on Sunday jammed traffic all the way back onto I-95/Route 128. ...
35 minutes to get from Newton Highlands to Reservoir.
Meanwhile, over at the Red Line, one rider wonders: Dear red line, why r u pretending to be the B line today?? And another declares: Red is the new Green.
David Harris reports on a Riverside Line grudge match Friday night:
... I tried to block out the sound of some girl screaming "Alaska!!' then again a few moments later: "Alaska!!" Then I got off the phone and what I saw was a girl and what looked like her boyfriend mocking a couple Obama supporters (though one in particular received the brunt of the rage). In between a lot of expletives, there was some talk about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her stance on abortion. ...
Or for the four weekends that follow, so the T can make a bridge disappear.
The MBTA is looking at leasing land and air rights at the Riverside Green Line terminal for housing, the Herald reports.
Accidents happen, and he should be OK, but the reason the supervisor was on the tracks was because he "was looking into a report of treecutting activity."
Now cut that out! Nobody's allowed to cut down the trees along the Riverside line except the T itself.
The MBTA is continuing on their quest for more transit-oriented development by working to lure private interests into building a mixed-use development at Riverside station. Residents are naturally apprehensive about bringing even more cars to Grove St., but is increased congestion on the roads the real problem?
Bringing more riders to the D-Line may not be the best idea.
BadTransit posts another cheery tale, this time involving a Green Line driver who thinks everybody's out to cheat the T, when he's just being an idiot.
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