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Commuter rail

By adamg - 10/19/12 - 10:28 am

Kaid Benfield looks at what's going on in Codman Square, including the impending upgrade to commuter-rail service along the Fairmount Line:

The most striking improvement, of course, is the neighborhood’s new commuter rail station at Talbot Avenue, providing far better access than residents have previously had to jobs, services and amenities in downtown Boston and points along the way.

By adamg - 10/17/12 - 10:51 pm

Shortly before 10 p.m., by a commuter-rail train on the Northeast Corridor tracks, just south of Canterbury Street.

MBTA Transit Police report the victim, a white male who appeared to be in his 20s, was hit by an inbound Franklin Line train.

By adamg - 9/22/12 - 6:55 pm

A man was fatally struck by a train this evening on the Worcester Line by the Massachusetts Turnpike and Community Rowing. Lawrence Crook at WCVB tweets the train was the outbound P563, with 450 to 500 people on board.

Newton firefighters, Boston and MBTA police and state troopers are on scene. Police have shut the rail line down to allow for body recovery and investigation.

By adamg - 9/12/12 - 8:26 am

Brian Cummings reports via e-mail on the horsey set in Weston this morning:

Well, this is a first. Around 7:00 or so, going inbound to Boston saw a beautiful chestnut horse running toward Boston alongside the tracks, followed by a woman running behind, followed by a panting MBTA cop. Between Silver Hill and Hastings. Train delayed for 10-15 minutes. All three none the worse for wear.

At least we weren't robbed by outlaws.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo reports train 406 was delayed 11 minutes as Weston and Lincoln police corraled the wayward equine.

By adamg - 9/11/12 - 6:55 am

Davis looks at a coach in Korea. Photo via MBTA.Davis looks at unfinished coach in Korea. Photo via MBTA.

By adamg - 8/28/12 - 7:54 am

It's heartwarming how the little choo-choos help each other out. When the 6:33 into Boston belched its last and died in Sharon, the train behind it agreed to help out and push it all the way into Boston. Good train, good! Of course, that does mean 30-minute delays, but at least Providence Line riders get to have a nice warm feeling, unlike their counterparts on the Newburyport/Rockport line, facing lengthy delays due to boring signal problems, and riders on the Fitchburg Line, facing long delays because, well, it's the Fitchburg Line.

By adamg - 8/27/12 - 9:00 am

A dead trolley at Reservoir, dead trains at Kendall and somewhere on the Ashmont line, signal and track problems on the Fitchburg Line and, oh, yeah, a freight-train derailment on the Haverhill line meant all sorts of fun for commuters this morning.

By adamg - 8/23/12 - 10:12 am

Seems a guy decided the commuter-rail tracks near Back Bay was a great place to take a nap yesterday.

Ed. note: No, he was not wearing an oversized Fedora and a blue suit.

By adamg - 8/20/12 - 8:47 am

WBUR explains the delays on the Newburyport/Rockport line this morning.

By adamg - 8/14/12 - 8:25 pm

BostInno reports on the ever slipping schedule for 75 new double-decker coaches for commuter rail. The Korean vendor blames US regulations, which apparently it didn't bother to consult before winning a bid to build the cars.

By adamg - 8/14/12 - 10:14 am

An incensed citizen posts a photo of a couple of obscene drawings at the Roslindale Square commuter-rail stop, one of which also has a text explanation, in case you couldn't figure out what the artist was trying to draw.

By adamg - 8/14/12 - 9:20 am

MBTA Transit Police report an outbound train derailed a bit in Belmont Center. MBTA and Belmont Police helped passengers off the train and back to the station to await buses to take them the rest of the way. "NO INJURIES," Transit Police tweeted.

Channel 25 reports T officials called the wheel slipping off the track "a relatively minor incident."

By adamg - 8/10/12 - 8:42 am

Fortunately for passengers on the belchy commuter-rail train at Ruggles around 8 a.m., they could all de-train and continue on their way on the Orange Line. Interestingly, not long after, Anthony Bonaceto tweeted, Back Bay station began filling with smoke. Maybe Puff the Magic Loco was on its way to the yard?

By adamg - 7/18/12 - 7:34 pm

Desperate riders on the 5:35 p.m. train to Worcester were left wondering what they did to deserve the hell they found themselves in as they sat motionless on the tracks in Newton for more than an hour as inbound trains kept passing them.

At 7:08, the appropriately named Disgruntled Rider reported the train was still sitting in Newton - more than an hour after the train would normally be pulling into Natick.

A few minutes later, he added:

By adamg - 6/14/12 - 2:24 pm

Firefighters rushed to North Station around 1:40 p.m. today on reports of flames shooting out of an exhaust stack on an MBCR commuter-rail engine on track 1. After initial efforts to douse the flames, MBTA engineers advised firefighters to back away in case the engine exploded. At one point, the Boston Fire Department reports:

The area of the engine and the stack rising from the engine were bright red from heat.

Around 2:20 p.m., the department declared the fire out. Firefighters continued to pour water on the diesel, however, to keep it cool.

By roadman - 6/8/12 - 9:25 am

that the T hailed as a temporary solution to the commuter rail's reliablity problems.

Well, I've learned from a reliable source (retired MBCR employee who's a friend of mine) that, at the direction of T management, the MBCR has taken all those locomotives out of service, and they will be heading back to Maryland early Saturday morning.

The reason for this - mechanical problems that made the locomotives too unreliable to operate.

By adamg - 6/7/12 - 10:17 am

New Balance will pay to build and maintain a Worcester Line stop off Everett Street as part of a deal with the state Department of Transportation.

New Balance is planning a $500-million development off Guest Street that will include offices, a hotel, a sports complex and stores.

The stop will be called New Brighton Landing. A construction date has yet to be set. Brighton and Allston both once had train stops, both lost service decades ago.

By adamg - 6/7/12 - 7:11 am

WBUR reports on the increasing delays in delivery of the new commuter-rail coaches the T agreed to buy from a Korean company that had never built trains for the US market before, already two years behind schedule.

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