Northeast Corridor woes persist; Amtrak trains get priority as T commuters stew

A downed power line near the Rte. 128 station continues to frustrate MBTA commuters, who find their trains running way late, if not just canceled altogether.

Around 9:05 p.m., an Amtrak catenary-testing train slowly moved outbound on the inbound tracks at Readville. Not long after, an Acela train heading to South Station blasted through the station.

Around 9:20 p.m., an MBTA train for Providence pulled into Readville for an unscheduled stop - and then just sat there. Some passengers got off. After 15 minutes, one man hopped off, looked around like he'd never been there before, then asked somebody on the platform where he was - and then began to wonder if he should dial up an Uber or get back on the train and hope it would start moving soon towards his intended stop, Canton. He decided to stick with the train.

At 9:41, an Amtrak Regional train bound for Boston passed through the station. About a minute later, the outbound signal blinked green and the Providence Line train chugged away.

The T has canceled trains on the Fairmount Line due to the problems; some Providence Line trains are 50 to 55 minutes late.

Although the MBTA owns the tracks between South Station and the Rhode Island line, Amtrak handles dispatching on the line - an issue that currently has the two in federal court.