The boat, freshly made sinkable by a commuter train. Photo by Transit PD.
Transit Police report on what, so far, is the weirdest MBTA crash of the year:
4/10 12:15AM Fitchburg Line between Cambridge & Belmont unknown person/s left a boat on the right of way. An #MBTA commuter rail train did strike the boat. No injuries were reported & no damage to train. TPD Detectives to follow up.
MBTA Commuter Rail reported one Fitchburg Line train was 60 minutes late due to a deceased freight train on the tracks; other trains were reported only 50 minutes late.
Somerville City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen captured the scene along the Fitchburg Line tracks, next to the impending Union Square Green Line stop, after this afternoon's drenching rain. Note the floating timbers. Read more.
Transit Police report an outbound commuter-rail train hit and killed a man on the Fitchburg Line tracks near Beacon Street, around 1 p.m.
Police say the man was "intentionally on the right of way" and that foul play is not suspected.
An 18-year-old was fatally hit just west of the the Conant Street crossing around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, according to Transit Police, who say foul play is not suspected.
The T started with a general warning around 8:30 a.m. that Fitchburg Line riders could expect delays "due to a combination of minor train defects, switch failure & Freight train," but now they're up to delays of 50 to 60 minutes, at least on one Boston-bound train.
Bad news for people heading to Fitchburg this holiday morning: The T canceled train 2403 out of North Station and, after first telling passengers, woopsies, go take an Uber or something, decided to dig up a shuttle bus for the long ride out to Wachusett. The T is also telling passengers who'd hoped to take 2406 out of Wachusett to Boston at 1:15 p.m. to expect to ride a bus instead.
Transit Police report a man, about 21, was hit on the tracks by a train at the Brighton Street crossing and was killed, around 6:20 a.m.
Transit Police report an outbound Fitchburg train hit and killed a man on the tracks at the Brandeis/Roberts train station around 6 p.m. Police say foul play is not suspected.
Passengers on an outbound Fitchburg Line train had to endure two hours on a cold, unlit train stuck in Weston this evening - and then 15 minutes standing outside in single-digit temperatures waiting for a relief train. Read more.
Mark A. Grasso was heading into town on Train 414 on the Fitchburg Line, which pulled into Belmont shortly after noon - and then just sat there. He reports: Read more.
Car hit by train on Old Sudbury Road in Lincoln, MA. Driver escaped the vehicle before the train smashed into it! pic.twitter.com/Q0o0dE7dnT
— Rick Macomber (@boston_camera) December 7, 2018
Around 11:10 p.m. at the Old Sudbury Road crossing. Read more.
A car on a Fitchburg Line train slipped off the rails - but stayed upright - outside the Waverly stop around 7:30 a.m. Riders were given the option of waiting for a relief train - which still hadn't come after an hour - or walking to the nearest station. Read more.
The 400 train was canceled and now the 402 train out of Fitchburg is running 45 minutes late, the MBTA reports.
It is operating at reduced speed between Waltham and North Station due to a mechanical issue.
Other lines reporting some delays, but no others like that.
Keolis says its train engineers are now blowing their horns as they approach the Sherman Street crossing starting as early as 6:30 a.m. because it's decided the area is no longer a "quiet zone."
A Cambridge city councilor who is also currently vice mayor responds: Wha? Read more.
Michael Doyle is among the scores (hundreds? thousands?) of Fitchburg Line riders forced to deboard prematurely at Porter Square this evening due to either some sort of switch problem between there and Belmont or a train that gave up the ghost, depending on which MBTA alert one chooses to read.
Regardless of the reason, "no outbound train has left Porter in 90 minutes," Saul Blumenthal reports.
The Orange Line suffered delays due to signal problems at Oak Grove, while the Red Line slowed to a crawl because of a dead train at Davis earlier this morning.
Meanwhile, over on commuter rail, a dead train is causing problems on the Fitchburg Line, which is not one of those coastal routes where that was supposed to happen.
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