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MBTA plans to run subways only for underground stations
By adamg on Sun, 02/15/2015 - 6:19pm
MBTA workers trying to clear Green Line tracks. Photo by MBTA.
The MBTA reports it "will operate services on the Blue, Green, Orange and Red Lines at underground stations, although the Blue Line will operate to Airport Station" on Monday,.
Commuter rail will try to run on a Saturday schedule, buses will do the same, but some routes won't run at all. The Silver Line will operate on a weekday schedule.
More details at the T's winter page.
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Comments
Silver line for the win!
I just need to find a new job and housing somewhere along SL2 and I'll be all set.
Nothing can stop this bus,
Nothing can stop this bus, nothing
Except the D Street grade
Except the D Street grade crossing.
So... How?
Do they expect those of us that need to work to get to work? 'Cause unless you use the Commuter Rail, you're screwed.
Talk to Gaia / God / Zeus / FSM / Mother Nature about it.
Hate to say it here but at least the T is trying this time.
FSM
We wouldn't be in this mess if more people believed in him (it?). He is smiting the non-believers.
FSM/FSschem
Mother nature bats last!
ATH0
*(&^^%*
NO CARRIER
I was just thinking "If you
I was just thinking "If you use the commuter rail, you're screwed"...since Keolis teases certain customers with scheduled service and then takes it away, particularly if you use the Haverhill or Fairmount lines. Weekend service schedules for some lines are probably...meh. For those trains that do run the delays can be 40 minutes, an hour, two hours in some cases, if you're lucky and your train shows up while you're freezing your butt off outside.
It's a paid holiday for many folks. Maybe the impact will be less apocalyptic than a normal work day.
For the last two weeks, every
For the last two weeks, every afternoon they've been announcing delays of 60-75 minutes. And then the train is usually an additional 30 minutes late on top of that.
I never would have guessed that when my office moved from a T bus line to a commuter rail stop, that my commute would get infinitely worse. Aren't trains supposed to be reliable in bad weather?
And why are the real-time predictions so much worse for the trains?
My favorite Commuter Rail alert from last week: "Train xyz from Fitchburg 3+ hours late due to freight train interference. Seek alternate transportation."
As much as I hate driving, and think non-car transportation should be the primary way of getting around in cities whenever possible, I'm seriously thinking of getting a car. It doesn't help that a commuter rail pass costs hundreds of dollars per month. That would go a long way towards buying and maintaining a cheap used car.
So, what about Charles?
Buses from Kendal to Park?
The T will attempt to run
The T will attempt to run trains across the Longfellow, just like they're going to attempt to run trains to Airport, and through the open-air portion between Back Bay and Tufts Medical, and on the viaduct to Lechmere.
Adam's headline is a bit misleading, since all 4 rapid transit lines will be running on portions of the line not in tunnels.
Yes, true
Changed the headline: The T will only operate service to underground stations, which, yes, involves running trains over some above-ground/above-water tracks.
Charles is above-ground, as
Charles is above-ground, as are Science Park, Lechmere, and Airport.
Now I'm just nitpicking though :P
Charles
But Charles/MGH is an above ground open air station that will remain open I believe.
On the viaduct?
Why not a chicken?
Longfellow bridge inbound travel lane closing tonight at 10 pm
for snow removal, according to a MassDOT press release I received. I don't know if this is necessary in order to clear the Red Line tracks, or unrelated.
"Limited" The common lingo of
"Limited" The common lingo of the T this month. They always capture the cleaning of the green line tracks. How about the Red or Orange lines? I may need to move closer to work or change jobs... No Braintree service is disappointing
Braintree
will have a Saturday commuter rail schedule, which is better than nothing. I wonder if they'll stop all commuter trains at Braintree instead of just some of them?
They always capture the
Hard to capture something the T really isn't doing as much of, or in case of Braintree, not really doing.
They've been working on stations
While walking down Comm I saw them clearing out Harvard Ave station as well as Packard's Corner (while still working on that vehicle stuck on the tracks). Seemed like they were doing alright (well, besides trying to figure out how to get that damn car off the tracks, it was stuck pretty good), so I'm a bit surprised they're not gonna run it. I guess they're taking it cautiously this time.
Wonder what yard they're gonna run Green Line service from though. Only from what's stored in Lechmere? Or they'll try to drag something from Reservoir?
Buses
They're running limited shuttle buses.
They have been storing
They have been storing equipment in the tunnels. They also have been running snow trains along most of the lines (not Mattapan, and they are still clearing out Braintree-North Quincy) so I think they can move equipment, but they don't want to chance something getting stuck, want more time to clear out platforms, and want more time to prepare for a regular weekday on Tuesday since Monday is a holiday with reduced demand.
There's a yard underground
There's a yard underground just outbound from North Station as well, which is where the C line is normally based out of.
Lechmere and North Station yards should be plenty enough to run service just from Lechmere to Kenmore.
Shuttle buses
You have to dig down into the individual alerts to find out they are in fact running shittle buses for the above-ground portions of the subway, for example:
Freudian slip?
I think you meant shuttle buses, but shittle does seem appropriate here.
Christ on a stick. I am so
Christ on a stick. I am so glad I have tomorrow off.
Its time for a new name
Politicians in an attempt to do something should change the name of the MBTA because citizens of the commonwealth are wakening up every day to news of this ongoing horror story.
More
Bizarre
Times
Ahead
They're running (limited)
They're running (limited) shuttle buses on the C and the D lines, with the 39 serving the E line between Northeastern and Heath Street. The B line, however, only gets the 57 making stops from Packard's Corner to Kenmore. So basically all the car-less folks who live further out on the B line than Packard's Corner will have to get a cab or hope that multiple bus lines are running well enough to get to Packard's Corner. That's just swell.
That is a good question
It does seem screwy. The B line has the most population density and ridership of the 4 surface branches. And it goes up a hill, unlike the 57.
What does "limited bus
What does "limited bus shuttle service" mean? Buses every 20 minutes? Hour?
????????????
What does "limited bus
That's just a longer way of saying "shittle buses" (the apropos typo I made yesterday).
Operational question: E branch
They say they are running Green Line service to Symphony but not beyond. Is there a track crossover between Prudential and Symphony? If not, I wonder why the terminal point isn't Northeastern.
according to this track map
http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/MBTA_Rapid_Transit_Track_Map
there would seem to be one.
Probably the same reason they
Probably the same reason they're choosing not to serve Blandford Street even though they are going to presumably use the Blandford Street yard to turn trains back. I'm guessing that they'd rather have the passengers go underground at Kenmore/Symphony or pick up the bus. Maybe they didn't even bother to clear those platforms yet.
Why not Blandford?
Blandford is a small stop in a windy spot. Between having few places to put the snow, and having a good chance the wind will push it back where you just removed it from, I can see why they might decide to focus on "just" keeping the turnaround track clear.
maybe not going to Blandford Street?
In an earlier thread here, someone described a way to reverse an outbound train to inbound by using the Kenmore loop (even though it wasn't designed for that move)
Normal holiday service
As Cybah has already pointed out, Monday is a holiday, President's Day, and the normal service for both modes would be Saturday service.
The bus routes listed by the T as not operating tomorrow are, I believe, the ones that don't operate on Saturdays anyway.
I'm pretty sure in the past
I'm pretty sure in the past they've run regular weekday service on President's Day, considering that while yes, it is a federal holiday, many private sector employees do not normally have it off, and running Saturday schedules does not allow for any regular commuting (the first train on some lines isn't until after 9 am).
The printed schedules say President's Day has Saturday service
so this isn't an on-the-fly decision.
Well Ill be, theyre running
Well Ill be, theyre running the exact service plan many people have called for, and naysayers said would be absolutely impossible...
I might have missed it posted
I might have missed it posted someplace else, but as of early Monday morning they were operating more than they had originally committed to:
Blue: Entire line is running (not just Airport-Bowdoin)
Green: They are running the entire D Line to Riverside as well as the promised Kenmore-Lechmere
Orange: They are running Sullivan-Back Bay, beyond the promised North Station-Back Bay
Red: Only Alewife-Andrew as they had said.
I have heard that some of the "snow trains" have been running on the other sections of the Orange Line but without passengers. I don't know if that means that Orange Line service might be expanded later in the day Monday or have to wait for Tuesday.
Why doesn't the MBTA just
Why doesn't the MBTA just call for volunteers to dig out the Green line? Would that violate union rules?
Likely, along with insurance
Likely, along with insurance issues.
EDIT: Which apparently are an issue the T has resolved, based on them hiring people to shovel the red line tomorrow.
Seriously, MBTA?
You cut out a huge part of your service today and you still can't manage to open one of the few stations you promised to operate?
What an unexpected joy to discover all the Symphony station entrances, inbound and outbound, padlocked at 6:15 AM. And such a pleasant walk to Hynes in the 25-degree-below windchill.
Ridiculous, but not surprising.
They never promised Symphony
They never promised Symphony would be open. All along it's said Kenmore to Lechmere only, and then they added the D branch as well.
Not true.
Here's what it currently says on the MBTA website:
"There will be no service west of Kenmore Station on the B or C branches or Northeastern Station on the E branch." Symphony and Prudential are EAST of Northeastern Station, and among the underground stations that were ALL supposed to be operational.
Ah see that's been updated.
Ah see that's been updated. Originally it only said Kenmore to Lechmere. The mention of Northeastern must have been added at some point today.
Last night's email alert
Last night's email alert about the Green line said:
It seems to say both. Way to go, T.
The sad thing is...
...despite what the website says, it turns out that outbound E-line service is terminating at Prudential rather than Symphony. Of course, they don't announce that until you're past Copley, in case you might want to switch to another train that's going to Hynes. No, better they should stop you at the Pru, where your feet or those under-scheduled, overcrowded 39 buses can take you the rest of the way.
I'd love to know what the point of stopping at the Pru is, if they're turning around the trains above ground at Northeastern. Don't they have to pass through Symphony anyway? Why not open the freakin' station? It's not like they'd have to pay an attendant -- that station is never attended anyway.
There is a crossover between
There is a crossover between Prudential and Symphony. The train can unload on the outbound platform at Prudential, then pull forward toward Symphony, change ends, and pull though the crossover and stop at the inbound platform at Prudential. Doesn't have to go through Symphony.
However, to your point, there is also a crossover between Symphony and Northeastern.
Stefan Wuensch's Excellent Ⓣ Tracking System
The website by Stefan Wuensch has the most complete and accurate information about what is or isn't happening on the Ⓣ.
In addition to the real-time map, you can display a detailed table of all the subway trains currently in service. So, for example when I took this screenshot, there were 6 Green Line trains in service (all on the D Line), 9 Red Line trains (sort of), and 4 Blue Line trains running all stops from Bowdoin to Wonderland. The Orange Line appears to have no service right now.
http://sites.harvard.edu/~wuensch/T/subway-map.html