UPDATE: The T says buses will run instead of trains between Airport and Suffolk Downs at least through this evening as workers replace the downed power lines.
Local 718 tweets the train stopped 500 feet short of the station when the power went out this morning; firefighters were called in to help passengers get to the station.
MBTA Transit Police tweet the overhead power lines fell down between Orient Heights and Suffolk Downs.
Blue Line commuters no doubt are hoping not to see a repeat of last night's chaos at Government Center. Faegirl is among them.
UPDATE, 5:15 p.m.: Whatever the problem was, it's fixed now and trains are starting to roll again.
A broken (still under warranty?) train at Government Center is raising heck with the Blue Line commute this afternoon.
At 4:45, Glenn Tremblay tweeted that there were "swarms of people waiting outside Government Center."
Shortly after 5 p.m., David Guarino reporte: "Blue Line at standstill. Broken down train, speakers say, shuttle buses between Aquarium and Maverick."
State officials said today they'll spend $47 million in federal stimulus funds and state bonds for a new garage at Wonderland station on the Blue Line.
At a ceremony there today, Gov. Patrick and other officials said the new nine-story, 1,900-space garage will be the first step in construction of Waterfront Square, a proposed development of 902 residential units, office and retail space and a hotel.
Roughly $23 million of the garage cost wll come from the feds, the rest from an MBTA bond that will be repaid through revenue from the parking lot.
Broken trains on the Red Line and Providence Line, signal problems on the Blue Line, a broken rail on the Needham Line (a broken rail? What'd they do? Taunt it mercilessly until it collapsed in a sobbing heap on the ground?), speed restrictions on the Kingston/Plymouth Line. Amazingly, no delays reported on the Green Line.
Fabulously Out There reports she was on the Blue Line this morning when a woman in her car began to collapse onto the floor just past Maverick inbound:
... At which point I dropped my purse, tore the iphone out of my ears and dropped on the ground into the hot tea said girl had just dropped and softened her fall.
All I could think was "don't let her head hit the ground, woman. Don't drop her!” Next thing I know, 80% of people step back and the lady on my other side totally stepped up too.
Dead train near Central Square for you Red Line fans; broken train at Airport inbound for you Blue Line loyalists.
District A-7 relays a report from Transit Police about a woman who couldn't shake an alleged weirdo as she walked home from the Wood Island T stop around 1 p.m. yesterday:
The victim boarded a Blue Line train at MBTA Government Center Station along with a male who stared at her while on the train and followed her as she changed seats. The victim exited the train at MBTA Wood Island Station and the subject continued to follow her. The subject then approached the victim and asked her name. As the victim entered her home, she realized the subject was still watching her. The victim states the subject frequently boards the Blue Line train at MBTA Government Center and stares at her.
Staring Man is described as 28, 6'4", Hispanic or Middle Eastern, stocky build with a long scar on his face toward his neck. He was wearing a knit cap and a brown corduroy jacket.
The Orange Line remains above water and so is still stopping at State Street, where the main burst, according to reports from Channel 4 and the MBTA Transit Police Intelligence Unit.
An Illinois man is being held in lieu of a total of $25,000 bail for allegedly treating Orange and Red Line trains as his own personal canvas, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says.
Jim Clay Harper, 24, of the well-to-do Chicago suburb of Wilmette, was arraigned today in West Roxbury District Court on two counts of vandalizing property for allegedly spray-painting "ETHER" on trains at the Forest Hills T stop. He was already being held on similar charges involving Red Line trains in Dorchester, and is also suspected of tagging Blue Line trains at Orient Heights, according to the DA's office.
$2.8-billion project cut from state wish list, Wicked Local Cambridge reports.
Also gone forever: The long-fabled Blue Line extension to Lynn, our own Arborway reports.
On the plus side: The Silver Line is still going to become an even longer bus route.
Compressing all MBTA subway service for an entire day into a four-minute video:
James Kebinger explains how he created the video using MBTA scheduling data recently released by the state.
Alex Howell is impressed by the new Maverick station on the Blue Line, now, finally, open.
Copyright Alex Howell. Tagged as universalhub on Flickr.
If the state can pay to study extending the Blue Line at one end to Charles/MGH, even though it has no money to actually build the extension, the least it can do is pay to study extending the Blue Line to Lynn at the other end:
Remember this the next time you go through one of the T's bag screenings: Betsy reports that when she got on the Blue Line at Government Center on Friday, she saw an unattended bag under the seat across from her. After years of being barraged with post-9/11 warnings, she reported the bag to the driver. Who proceded to do absolutely nothing. She couldn't stand it, so she got off the train at Aquarium, just in case. And then she called the MBTA safety department, which, when she finally got through, did nothing.
... I am disappointed. I am not happy. And you owe not only me an apology, but you owe an apology to every person who was on that Blue Line train yesterday headed to Wonderland at 3:00 p.m. You compromised not only my security, but that of each passenger and employee on that train and the stations, and you compromised the security of Boston. ...
Oh, you know: Stuck train at Harvard. Nothing new. But signal problems at Wood Island on the Blue Line? The Blue Line?
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