Red Line

Transit Police report they are investigating three attacks by "rowdy and unruly youths" on Red Line riders between Ashmont and JFK over the past week. Patrols on the line have been increased.

All but Orient Heights on the Blue Line and Charles/MGH now have electronic countdown clocks to let passengers know when the next train should arrive, the MBTA says.

The T adds it's improved the algorithms used to calculate arrival times, in particular at stations right at the beginning and end of lines, for "an elevated Countdown experience."

Orient Heights, currently under renovation, should get its clocks when overall renovations are done in 2014; Charles/MGH this fall.

The Green Line could get countdown clocks sometime before the end of the century.

Eric Kaminsky reports T workers are telling people to walk over to Downtown Crossing if they want to get anywhere.

Transit and Boston Police are looking for three suspects for a shooting at the busway at Ashmont station around 10:20 p.m. The victim was taken to Carney Hospital with a grazed leg.

Two of the suspects are black, in black hoodies, both about 5'8" with slim builds. The third is white, in a gray hoodie, also about 5'8" and slim. They may have run onto either Carruth Street or the Mattapan trolley line.

Major delays in both directions after a switch near Park Street mistakenly puts on a red shirt. Dr. McCoy can only sigh: "I'm a doctor, not a track worker!"

Transit Police report arresting a Quincy man on charges he displayed what he had below the waist while wearing a tea-bagging T-shirt above it on May 19.

Thomas Higgins, 21, was arrested today and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow in Quincy District Court on charges of open and gross behavior. Transit Police say they received "received several tips" regarding his identity.

Transit Police report they're looking for this guy for going balls to the wall on a hurtling Red Line train Sunday night.

According to police, the dude exposed himself to passengers on an outbound Red Line train between North Quincy and Wollaston around 9:50 p.m. He complemented his display with lewd comments - and a hairy-sac "Tea Bag" T-shirt.

If he looks familiar, contact detectives at 617-222-1050 or text an anonymous tip to 617-222-1050.

Move it!

Happened around 11:10 a.m. at 5 Cambridge Center, AlertNewEngland reports.

Robert Love, who took the photo, reports:

Leak so big, it sounded like a fire hose.

UPDATES: NStar got the gas turned off around 11:40 a.m. Robert Love reported at 12:40 that the streets were re-opened and that people were being let back into their offices - except 3-5 Cambridge Center.

The excavator that caused the commotion. Photo by Robert Love.

Transit Police say a Quincy woman learned Saturday it's also against the law to assault people selling food inside MBTA stations

Transit Police report Tina Drouin, 49, of Quincy, grew upset around 2 p.m. when she ordered a steak and cheese sub at the Nathan's Famous stand in the Quincy Center Red Line stop, because the worker allegedly loaded up her steak and cheese sub with too much "shit," specifically, too many pickles.

Police say that when the worker refused to refund Drouin's money, Drouin punched the worker in the face, then "pushed two large very heavy jars filled with pickles and pickle juice into the sub maker knocking her to the floor and shattering the jars."

Drouin, police say, then ran out of the station. But the worker decided she wasn't going to put up with Drouin's alleged shit and so got up and ran after her. Police say the worker caught up with Drouin on Hancock Street near City Hall and held her until Transit and Quincy police arrived. Police had to summon an ambulance to transport Drouin to a local hospital after she complained of neck pain.

Innocent, etc.

A somewhat stationary yet still roving UHub photographer noticed T workers dealing with a couple of Red Line cars that slipped off the rails in the Cabot yard around lunchtime:

All these T workers have just been standing around for the past 90 minutes while one guy saws away on something between the 2 cars. Do they think they're going to pick it up?

A T spokesman said the workers know what they're doing and figured out how to get the cars back on the tracks. He added that because the two cars were in the yard, they were not carrying any passengers and did not delay any service.

Get the handle fixed now, they implore.

It was only a couple of years ago that MIT fixed up the musical installation.

Via Boston Reddit.

Transit Police say a South Boston man was charged with disorderly conduct Friday after officers discovered him "train surfing" from the back of an inbound Red Line train in Quincy.

Police say they found Justin Green, 29, hanging onto the top roof rail from the rear of the train, as it was pulling out of North Quincy around 5:30 p.m. A witness then told police he had seen Green doing the same thing at Wollaston.

Police say Green objected to being charged because he has "a God given right to do anything he wants" and that the only person that would have been harmed was himself.

Police, however, say Green forced a halt in Red Line service while they got him off the train.

They add that in addition to disorderly conduct, Green was packaged into a cruiser for a ride to Transit Police headquarters because he was wanted for evading jury duty.

Innocent, etc.

MBTA cops with automatic weapons rushed into the Kendall Square Red Line station to pull some alleged fool off a Red Line train at lunchtime. A spokesman reports:

A customer reported that a man aboard a northbound Red Line train had made comments of a threatening nature. The train was held at Kendall while police investigated. The man was removed from the train and questioned by police.

Transit Police report charging Jose Murillo, 27, of Cambridge on charges he stabbed two men at Downtown Crossing on April 10.

Police say Murillo turned himself in yesterday. He was arraigned today in Boston Municipal Court on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; Judge Annette Forde set bail at $25,000 and ordered Murillo to stay away from his two victims, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

The DA's office provided this account:

Around 11:30 a.m., Sean Olson reports. The T reports it's the Ashmont line that's affected.

UPDATE: Firefighters off the tracks around 11:50 a.m.

National Guard watching Red Line entrances. Photo by Gedalia Pasternak.

The heart of Copley Square remains shut down. Boston Common resembles a military encampment. Cafe tables along Newbury Street remain uncleaned as police comb the area for possible evidence.

Kirty Lee took the Green Line into work today:

Held it together until I rode through Copley station pitch black. Haunting.

A.P. Blake reports:

Transit Police have released photos of the man they say ended an argument on a Red Line platform Wednesday night by stabbing two other men. Police say the stabber reached for his knife on the platform after accosting the victims and other passengers on a southbound Red Line train around 10 p.m.

Police say he's white or Hispanic, in his mid 20s, with a full beard and carrying a black back pack. His victims, one stabbed in the chest, one in the wrist, are expected to survive.

The flute.

Transit Police report they recovered the $4,000 flute a Berklee student left on a bench at Park Street and returned it to her.

No word on whether they found the guy spotted on surveillance video walking off with the flute. The MBTA instead reports:

The flute was turned over to the Transit Police Department by a person who wishes to remain anonymous.

Amanda Fakhreddine snaps a Zipcar ad on the Red Line that promotes the company's utility for booty calls:

Kid sitting next to me asked his mom what that meant #keepitclassy #adfail

Just yesterday:
McDonald's didn't approve those Orange Line ads that got some people upset.

One in the chest, one in the hand, around 10:00 p.m. on the southbound Red Line platform, Mike Moura reports. Red Line trains continued to run, but weren't stopping at Downtown Crossing.

UPDATE: The MBTA reports both victims are expected to survive. The stabber got into an argument with them at the front end of the southbound platform and fled before police arrived.

At South Station. Boston Magazine interviewed them.

H/t Faye.

Transit Police report they are looking for this guy, on charges of musical thievery:

On Monday, March 25, 2013, at approximately 11:40 AM, a female placed a flute, $4,000 in value, on a bench at Park Street MBTA Station, Red Line northbound center platform. She boarded a train, leaving the instrument behind. The subject depicted above retrieved the property and boarded the next train. The instrument is still missing.

If you know him, or see a guy trying to sell an expensive flute, contact T police at 617-222-1050 or send a text message to 873873.

UPDATE:

The owner of the Flute is a 21 year old student at the Berkeley College of Music. She personally owns the flute and is devastated by this incident. She is on a scholarship, as part of the scholarship agreement she needs the instrument to fulfill her obligations to the school. She also teaches music and requires the use of her flute to do so. The loss of her instrument has significantly effected her personally and she would be grateful to anyone who facilitates its return.

Earlier:
MBTA strikes right chord with Berklee professor who lost violin on trackless trolley.

Yesterday, the MBTA warned the tax increases proposed by the legislature were so small it could jeopardize $500 million or in anticipated federal aid for the Green Line extension. This morning, as A.P. Blake noted at 8:55 a.m.:

In the past two hours, every rapid transit line in Boston has suffered some delay due to mechanical/signal failure.

Transit Police are looking for this guy for an incident around 6 p.m. last Tuesday:

On Tuesday, 03/19/13, at approximately 6:05 PM, on an inbound Red Line train from Alewife MBTA Station, the male depicted within was photographed after attempting to initiate conversation with women while committing a lewd act.

Know him? Contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or send a tip to 873873.

UPDATE: Arrest made.

Transit Police report they are looking for a woman who allegedly threatened a man on the outbound side of the Central Square T stop with a knife and then spit on him around 11:10 a.m. on March 7:

The incident was a result of the victim asking the unknown female assailant to be courteous of her fellow MBTA passengers and not talk so loudly on her cell phone.

She's described as white, 50 to 55, 5'10" and about 250 lbs., with long red hair. She wore gray sweatpants and a beige jacket.

If she looks familiar, call Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or by texting 873873.