The T forwards this photo of the spot on the Government Center Green Line platform where the Dunkin' Donuts used to be as workers continue to tear apart the station as part of a two-year overhaul.
Also, the T reports workers uncovered another 100-year-old tile Scollay Under sign on one of the Blue Line platforms:
The goal is to keep it in place, and build the new stairs around it.
Ari floats the idea of a short elevated atop Cambridge Street to complete the fabled Red/Blue connector - an idea currently gathering dust on some state shelf due to its cost.
Late night at Park Street. Photo by MBTA.
Walkingbostonian reports on the first night of extra weekend service on the T:
B train totally crushed, busier than rush hour, after 2 am, and we had to leave many people behind on all the platforms.
ElmerCat also rode the early-morning rails:
Oh, they've been working on the railroad. Photo by MBTA. See it larger.
As noted earlier, some people left notes on the walls of the Government Center T stop in the hours before it was shut for two years of reconstruction.
Via the MBTA comes this ode, found penned on one of the walls:
Dear Government Center,
The current Government Center bunker, um, T stop went up in the early 1960s as part of the transformation of Scollay Square into Government Center.
ElmerCat catalogued the fond graffiti people left on the walls of the Government Center T stop in the hours before it shut for a two-year re-do.
Copyright ElmerCat. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.
Photo by MBTA.
Workers today carefully removed the "Scollay Under" tiled sign from a Blue Line wall at the Government Center station today. The T reports it'll be put in storage and then replastered to a wall in the renovated station when it opens in two years.
Paul Nutting provides a last glimpse of the Government Center T stop before it shuts tomorrow for two years of renovation work that will transform the1960s bomb shelter into a sleek glass paean to modern transportation - but one without popcorn.
Tim Lawrence shows us the scene at State Street around 5:20 p.m., where trains are being slowed by recalcitrant switches.
Oh, and by the way: Government Center shuts for two years this week.
But, sadly, the "demo wall" at Government Center is just an instruction to the workers who will begin tearing apart the station on March 22, rather than a place to see demonstrations of various things.
Artist's rendition by the MBTA
The T announced today Government Center will shut for its two-year makeover on March 22.
The T's posted some background info, including the answer to the question: "How will this affect my commute?"
Greg Hum snapped a photo of a dog on the Blue Line today. Oh, yeah, and some people who are also not wearing any pants.
Signal problems at Orient Heights are stalling trains along the line this afternoon. Tim Lawrence reports the driver of his train, stopped at one station, came on the PA to suggest:
Feel free to get out and stretch.
At the height of the storm, East Boston's connections to the rest of the world dwindled.
Around 9 p.m., three cars crashed on the East Boston side of the Meridian Street bridge. Police shut the span for their investigation, hindered briefly because two of the drivers chased the third driver over the bridge into Chelsea.
A fire at Aquarium shut Blue Line service at the end of the night.
Flights at Logan were canceled, which normally wouldn't affect most East Boston residents, except it might explain this:
Damien Bundu, 23, is scheduled for arraignment today in East Boston District Court on a charge of aggravated assault and battery causing injury for an incident Dec. 8 at the Orient Heights Blue Line station.
Transit Police report:
The Globe reports MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott has ordered an audit of all the third rails on the Red, Orange and Blue lines to try to stave off the sort of problems that bollixed commutes on the Red Line Wednesday morning and Tuesday evening.
Carl Stevens reports the inspections will focus on the welds that connect sections of the third rail together.
The morning starts with a dead train at Wellington on the Orange Line, a dead Green Line trolley somewhere on Huntington or South Huntington and a dead train outbound at Maverick on the Blue Line (say, aren't those the T's newest and freshest subway trains?).
Two of the four. Photo by Transit Police.
UPDATE, 12:10 p.m.: The MBTA reports three of the four have turned themselves in - they walked into Transit Police HQ just as Supt. Joseph O'Connor was briefing the media on the case. More to come.
Transit Police report a man and his 14-year-old daughter were beaten by four men on a Blue Line train around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 18.
After repeatedly punching the man in the head and his daughter in the thigh, the four sauntered off the train at Airport, police say.
If these guys look familiar, contact detectives at 617-222-1050 or send an anonymous tip to 873873.
Transit Police report they are looking for a guy who attacked another man on a Blue Line train entering Revere Beach on Sept. 17 after the two had had an argument at Maverick.
He's described as Hispanic, 30-35, about 5'7" with a heavy build and black hair.
If you see him, contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050, or send an anonymous tip to 873873.
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