commuter rail

The Boston Business Journal reports the Department of Transportation's Finance Committee this week approved a plan under which New Balance will build a new Worcester Line station near its impending new Brighton complex. The stop will be called Boston Landing.

Case in point:

Haverhill 213 10:30 AM OB experiencing 30-45 min delays due to residual delay 5/13/2013 11:46 AM

Are the people who write these things really that dumb? Oh wait, I guess that's a rhetorical question.

The T begins express-train service between Worcester, Framingham and Boston next week that will shave roughly 23 minutes off a Worcester rider's trip.

A morning express train will leave Worcester at 6:20 a.m. each weekday, stop at Framingham at 7 a.m. and then pull into Back Bay at 7:37 a.m. and South Station at 7:43 a.m. In the afternoon, a train will leave South Station at 5:35 p.m. and Back Bay at 5:41 p.m. and pull into Framingham at 6:13 p.m. and Worcester at 6:43 p.m.

The state is planning to increase the total number of round trips on the Worcester Line to 20 by October.

Bomb threat at the federal courthouse, following wrong reports about an arrest. Suspicious vehicles checked at Brigham and Women's and in Maverick Square. Sirens all over. After somebody went on Twitter to warn people to stay away from Harvard Square, Cambridge Police had to tweet:

The area is SAFE

On the return-to-normalcy side, people are returning to Twitter to complain about the T, stuff like switch problems on the Red Line and Massholes on commuter rail:

Manners-free MBCR rider visibly annoyed by having to move newspapers/share 3-person seat. just threw papers on the floor.

Derek McLeod was among the passengers on the P512 train into Boston shortly after 8 a.m. today when everybody was ordered off in Framingham and then allowed back on only after going through a gauntlet of police, firefighters and dogs.

On commuter rail to Worcester this morning.

Looking out the window.

Earlier:
Furor on the Red Line over Strollercat.

An MBTA spokesman said police are still investigating how the person came to be on the tracks before being hit by an inbound train shortly before 4 p.m..

Shortly after 4 p.m., a rider on one train e-mailed UHub:

Train stopped due to what the conductor said is an apparent suicide between the two stops. He said the police are going to be on the scene for a few hours, so now we're waiting for the train to turn back to West Concord to disembark the train.

Transit Police report the man was between 20 and 25. The investigation shut the tracks and caused lengthy delays in both directions.

Meghan M. spotted a pair of cats by the South Station tracks today, wonders "Why are there a bunch of homeless cats hanging around the tracks?"

Earlier:
Remember Kenmore the Kitten?

A man Plymouth County prosecutors once said was the head of a large Oxycodone ring was arrested at Back Bay station last night after he allegedly sold some Oxycodone tablets to an undercover Transit Police officer.

Transit Police report Eric Simmons, 53, of Weymouth, was nabbed as part of an effort to crack down on drug sales at the commuter rail and Orange Line station.

Simmons is scheduled for arraignment today in Boston Municipal Court on charges of distribution of a class B substance and possession with intent to distribute a class B substance. He will then be shipped to Plymouth County to face drug charges there, police say.

Innocent, etc.

GM Beverly Scott in Hyundai-Rotem plant. Photo by MBTA.

"We're all in this together," Scott told workers at the plant in Philadelphia today.

According to the T, Scott "stressed the importance of MBTA staff and the Hyundai-Rotem team working cooperatively to step up the pace of production. The company is now more than two years late in delivering two-level coaches that will let the T expand capacity on its commuter-rail lines. The T says the first three of the new coaches, delivered last November, should go into service next month.

UPDATE: Around 7:15, a Needham train inched through Back Bay while other trains got re-routed through Dorchester.

A switch just past Back Bay apparently decided to show MBTA officials what it thought of their idea to delay needed maintenance this evening, so now commuters get to enjoy the culinary offerings of South Station, or the two Dunkin' Donuts at Back Bay.

As commuters sat on unmoving trains, the T was endearing itself to the ones on Twitter with:

#MBTA GM Scott addresses @WalkBoston's Annual Celebration on growing all modes of transit together #choosegrowth

In addition to the Lowell guy charged with kicking a woman in the throat at Downtown Crossing, Transit Police report arresting two young men for whom the lure of the big city proved too enticing yesterday:

At approximately 10:22 pm Transit Police officers from Area 1 were at South Station MBTA Commuter Rail assisting and monitoring crowds who had attended the Saint Patrick's Day Parade when they were alerted to two males, later identified as Mathew Heney, 22, of East Wareham and John Stackable, 21, of Worcester, engaged in a fist fight with one another. Upon arrival of officers they observed a large crowd gathered around the two combatants just outside the men's restroom. Officers intervened and restored peace. Both subjects were placed under arrest for Affray and Disorderly Conduct and transported to TPD HQ for the booking process. They are expected to be arraigned sometime today in Boston Municipal Court.

Innocent, etc.

Watch video of Beverly Scott kissing MassDOT highway administrator Frank DiPaola on the head as thanks for the money MassDOT will give the T to buy new commuter-rail locomotives.

Head-kissing came at a MassDOT meeting yesterday. MassDot will use a $45-million federal clean-air grant to buy the new, cleaner, more efficient locos - about 80% of their total cost. The T currently has a contract to buy 27 of them, with delivery starting next year, but is looking at buying 13 more - at $5.4 million apiece.

A concerned citizen filed this photo of a shelter at the LaGrange Street commuter-rail stop:

Gang tagging. West Roxbury MBTA station.

Emmie reports from the 4:40 p.m. train to Lowell, which confidently rolled out of North Station, then promptly suffered a fatal heart attack some sort of problem and now the brakes won't release.

UPDATE, 5:36: Emmie reports the T has offloaded passengers to the 5:10 train, which, obviously, is a bit late.

The T's started soliciting bids from companies willing to bolster WiFi service on the Purple Line and ferries in exchange for advertising opportunities, starting with painting over the AT&T logos now on the sides of commuter-rail trains (unless, of course, AT&T bids and wins). According to a T press release:

Video by Tailgate Jones; shot on Saturday.

Via Julie Cordeiro.

Transit Police report arresting a Boston man on charges he openly masturbated on an inbound Lowell Line train yesterday evening.

According to police, a woman on the train, due into Boston at 6:25 p.m., was minding her own business when she noticed some movement in the seat across the aisle from hers:

[Mehmet] Beyaztas was masturbating and looking in her direction. Beyaztas made no attempt to conceal and/or be covert in his actions and his penis was fully exposed. The reporting party moved away from Beyaztas and reported the incident to train personnel.

Police say they were waiting at the station when the train pulled in and that Beyaztas, 24, made an unsuccessful effort to run away. He's scheduled for arraignment today on a charge of open and gross lewdness.

Innocent, etc.

A concerned citizen reports this morning he doesn't feel like he should have to buy a construction helmet just to board commuter rail at Forest Hills.

UPDATE: The T reports a maintenance crew is on its way to the station.

Dead trains on the Red, Green, Needham and Providence/Stoughton lines (so far) made for another interesting commute for many this morning.

UPDATE: "Significant delays" possible on the Fitchburg Line due to signal problems.

The T is alerting inbound riders that there's plenty of Orange Line service at Ruggles, should they wish to get off the train there.

People up at the crack of dawn this morning got to see a beautiful sunrise. Gregory Schlisson watched the sun come up over the Saugus River while on a Rockport Line train into town.

Today's sunrise from a skyscraper in downtown Boston.

The Globe reports that with 75 commuter-rail coaches already more than two years late, the MBTA is pissed off enough about shoddy construction by the Korean company it hired to build them to think about looking for a new builder.

Kristina Cary reports from an inbound Needham Line train:

We're stopped right after Forest Hills with all power off.

The T estimated a 30-40 minute delay for the 8:30 train she's on. Steve Poftak, also on the train, though, tweets it took 50 minutes to get from Bellevue in West Roxbury to Ruggles.

Riders on the 5:40 train to Fitchburg tweeted their train came to a sudden stop in Cambridge after hitting a car at a crossing there. AsianKerr reported the conductor came on the PA not long after:

Sorry folks, we have struck a vehicle.

After getting the remains of the car out of the way and after the train engineer was interviewed by police, the train started back up around 6:24 p.m.