Green Line

The Globe reports commuter-rail performance is at its worst in three years. Sure, you can blame the weather and antique equipment, but an MBCR honcho is quoted as saying, yeah, they could do better.

Meanwhile, things aren't looking all that rosy on the subways, either. Yesterday, Brian Fluharty posted this chart of Green Line performance, as based on delay alerts sent out by the T:

Samantha Rajotte tweets the announcement the conductor on her C trolley made at St. Mary's this morning:

Due to the extreme weather, this train will be going express to Aruba.

By 6 a.m., the T was already reporting two dead trains on either end of the Red Line. Now, an hour later, there are two dead trolleys on the Green Line and dead trains on the Blue and Orange lines. And the snow hasn't even started.

Our Eye in the Sky shows us a Honda CR-V being towed off the Green Line at Longwood and Huntington about 1:30 this morning (and no, there was not an even larger tow truck to the right pulling the tow truck that was pulling the tow truck that was pulling the car).

Dead trolley at Chestnut Hill this morning.

7:35 update: One could ask the same thing about commuter rail: As I type, there are 17 alerts about delays at the MBTA Web site.

9:00 update: Probably should have written "What is it about the T?" since switch problems at Oak Grove AND a dead train are causing agita on the Orange Line. Or as Boon Sheridan tweets: "Orange line from inbound from Oak Grove dead in the water. Seek alternate routes and aspirin."

Buses along the D this morning after a trolley decided it couldn't stand being on the tracks any longer (Ed. question: At Reservoir?).

People who want updated T alerts should follow the MBTA on Twitter.

8:45 update: MBTA.com is back up with delay information.

Daniel Jourdet, captured on an Internet video taking a swing at a T inspector at Copley station last April, pleaded guilty today to assault-and-battery and civil-rights charges, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Jourdet, 52, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail, with six months to actually serve for his attack on Tariq Muhummad. Muhummad, who served two years as an Army MP in Iraq. did not return Jourdet's blows while escorting him out of Copley on April 1 for creating a disturbance with a pal.

The victim asked Jourdet and his associate to stop their disorderly behavior or leave the station. Instead, the evidence would have shown, Jourdet poured forth a stream of invective based upon the victim's ethnicity. The evidence would have proven that Jourdet threw a punch at the victim before leaving the station. The victim was not injured, but his hat was knocked to the ground.

"During the assault and throughout this case, the inspector kept his cool,” [DA Dan] Conley said. "He's poised, perceptive, dignified, and intelligent - in short, everything this defendant is not."

A man banned from the T in 2008 for groping women was arraigned today in Boston Municipal Court on charges he groped a woman on the Green Line Thursday afternoon, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

According to an MBTA Transit Police report, Jacob Shin, 36, of Newton, and his alleged victim were on an outbound D trolley around 5:45 p.m. when Shin moved closer to her as the train approached Hynes. Police say Shin then put his hand high up on her inner thigh. Shin allegedly said "Sorry," when the woman told him to knock it off. He then got off the train at Hynes, the report says.

The report continues that police showed the woman video of passengers leaving through the station fare gates. When she picked out a suspect, police were able to call up his CharlieCard information, which said it was registered to Shin. He was arrested and charged with indecent assault and battery around 5:45 p.m.

Shin pleaded innocent at his arraignment. Judge Tracy-Lee Lyons set bail at $5,000 and ordered that if Shin makes bail he has to stay off the T and wear a GPS monitoring device, the District Attorney's office says.

Innocent, etc.

Dead Green Line train at Newton Highlands. Photo by Jenny Mackintosh.

Update, 8:10 a.m.: There's a dead train at Wollaston on the Red Line now.

Dead trains mean lengthy delays on the Green, Blue and Orange lines this morning; well, except the T is urging Orange Line riders to just forget it exists and seek alternate routes. Delays on the Silver Line to Design Center, too, due to a dead bus. Jennifer Musso tweeted from Oak Grove on the Orange Line:

Hundreds of people waiting for shuttle buses at OkGrv sub0 weather! Station worker says he's not answering "any more questions"

Commuter rail? How 'bout those 30-40 minute delays on the Worcester line? Erin Bowles checked in:

At Framingham, there was a woman on platform nearly in tears. Hoping she'll be OK, but there's no way she doesn't have frostbite.

Not that North Station lines were immune from problems. Matt Hrono tweeted:

T alerts failed. Haverhill 208 cancelled, people waiting in record cold for 45 mins, no alert. What gives? Safety issue much?

As in all the lights have gone out, so the Green Line is now bypassing Hynes.

An inbound trolley at Kenmore had smoke coming from its roof around 7:30. Boston Fire reported the all out at 7:43. Traffic through Kenmore Square is a mess.

Meanwhile, there's no E service past Brigham Circle because of a trolley/car collision.

Where to begin? Oh, yeah, with the fire at Chinatown on the Orange Line that stopped service. Then there's the downed wire at Wood Island, leading to premature termination of the Blue Line at Maverick. The Red Line had a recalcitrant switch at Alewife. And the Green Line has turned into the Snail Line.

On a positive note, no delays reported on the Mattapan Line.

Ed. Note: Photo has been taken down.

MBTA Transit Police are looking for a man whom a Twitter user says was attempting to take photos up a woman's skirt on the Green Line this morning.

Shortly after noon, a Green Line rider tweeted:

this disgusting man was trying to take cell pictures up a woman's skirt on the B train at 10:45.

MBTA Transit Police put her in touch with a detective.

In August, police arrested a Dorchester man on charges he fondled himself based on an investigation that started with a disgusted fellow rider posted his photo while the train was still traveling between stations.

Following that arrest, MBTA police urged riders to keep snapping photos but added that arrests and convictions will take additional and traditional investigative work. Police are asking anybody who knows more about the guy poppyandleo photographed to call them at 617-222-1212.

Dead. Sorry, no joke here.

This comes after D service was interrupted by a dead train at Fenway and C service by an equally non-viable train at Kenmore. No reports from the E yet, but it's early.

The Herald reports on what happens when you rely too much on technology.

Meanwhile, the Globe reports the T itself is cracking down on actual scofflaws at its parking lots.

BostonTweet snapped his photo at Park Street.

BosGuy, meanwhile, shot some video:

Boston Fireman tweets a Green Line trolley began leaking hydraulic fluid at Boylston station this morning. It began to smoke and three people required treatment after breathing that in.

MBTA Transit Police report the first arrest of the year for a smartphone theft, off a woman on a Green Line trolley at Arlington Street station yesterday afternoon.

According to a Transit Police report, Emmanuel Castro, 17, of Roxbury, grabbed an iPhone right out of a woman's hands when their inbound trolley stopped at Arlington around 2 p.m. Police say the woman chased after him from the train and then up the stairs to the street, where where she lost him. But an unidentified man, spotting the two running, figured out what was going on and began chasing Castro himself, calling police as they ran all the way to Fairfield and Beacon streets.

Police say they caught up with Castro at Fairfield and Comm. Ave. where, on a pat frisk, an officer felt something hard and pulled an Apple iPhone 4G in Castro's right front pocket. The officer then called one of the numbers on the phone and was, police say, connected to the woman's aunt.

Castro was charged with unarmed robbery.

Innocent, etc.

T. Rex eating the Green Line birthday cake.

H/t Matthew Cote.

The T forwards a report from one of its workers on an incident around 2:50 p.m. yesterday on the Green Line platform at Government Center:

A 14 yr old male was walking while on his cell phone and he walked right into one of the columns that holds the ceiling up. He is bleeding from his face and is requesting medical at this time. Boston H&H dispatched, Transit Police dispatched.

Kid was taken to Tufts Medical Center with a small laceration on his forehead.

The pillar he walked into:

MBTA General Manager Rich Davey collars a fare jumper at Park Street yesterday. Davey explains to WBUR what happened in the video.

Abbey Niezgoda wondered what would happen if the train took a sharp turn.

Signal problems between Park Street and Kenmore mean the Green Line is dead, Jim. It's particularly bad news for Katie Del Angel and other people on an E trolley trapped between Park and Boylston. At 10:46 p.m., she tweeted:

911 - legit - someone please save us from the tunnel between park n boylston? We've been here about an hour!!

MBTA Transit Police report arresting a Brighton man on charges he ended a fight that began on a Green Line trolley late Friday night by smashing his opponent in the face with a bottle of tequila.

According to a police report, Espinoza, 28, got into a punching match on an outbound B trolley around 11:30 p.m. that seemed to end when his opponent opened up a gash above Espinoza's left eye (which police say took five stitches to close).

But then the two got off the train at Warren Street, where, police say, Espinoza whipped out a 1.75-liter bottle of tequila and applied it directly to the other guy's face, opening up his lip (police say that guy needed three or four stitches).

When police arrived, they transported both guys to St. Elizabeth's, where they charged Espinoza with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a bottle). Police took the tequila as evidence.

Innocent, etc.

The carmen's union offers a different interpretation of that surveillance video, says the worker "felt afraid for her life" and that the guy hit her in the nose with his phone.