Just to switch things up a bit, a Red Line train died in the middle of the day, at South Station, leading to what the T describes as "severe" delays. At 1:22 p.m., Flea reported:
30 minutes and I haven't made it from Wollaston to North Quincy yet.
JosieGL updates:
There was a disabled train then a disgruntled moron who started walking on the tracks.
Red Line at Broadway around 9 a.m. Inbound, of course.
Not one, but two Red Line trains groaned and left this plane of existence this morning.
Matt Laskowski captured the scene at Broadway around 9 a.m., reports:
Had to unload train, nearly 30 minutes waiting so far. Scrambling T workers. Doors were closing on passengers as they were exiting over and over.
Earlier, around 7:20 a.m., another inbound (natch) train pushed up some daisies at Quincy Center around 7:20 a.m., leading to scenes like this.
Mike Moura reports the Peoples United Bank branch at 485 Mass. Ave. in Central Square was held up around 3:15 p.m. by two guys - who then had to deal with an exploding dye pack.
The T stopped one train at Central Square, but after police didn't find any dye-covered people on it, service was allowed to resume.
WHDH reports an MBTA inspector is charged with having sex at Ashmont station while on duty yesterday.
The woman whom he was allegedly inspecting in his T vehicle denied she was a prostitute but allowed as how "she needed money for her hair," WHDH reports.
A Brockton man out on bail after he allegedly exposed himself in January was ordered behind bars yesterday at his arraignment on charges he punched, kicked and verbally attacked a man with cerebral palsy on the Red Line Tuesday afternoon, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
Thomas Kennedy, 63, was arraigned in South Boston Municipal Court yesterday on charges of assault and battery on a disabled person, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and a civil rights violation.
Transit Police report that when a woman dropped her wallet on an inbound Red Line train between JFK/UMass and Broadway on March 27, this guy:
Intentionally sat on her wallet to conceal it. The subject fled with the wallet at Broadway MBTA Station.
If he looks familiar, contact detectives at 617-222-1050 or text an anonymous tip to 873873.
For the second time in a week, Transit Police report arresting a Red Line rider for allegedly selling drugs on a train.
Police say plainclothes detectives watched as Kevin Hembrough, 37, of New Hampshire, sold somebody some Oxycodone pills on a train stopped at South Station around 1:20 p.m. on Friday.
On March 28, detectives arrested a Dorchester woman for allegedly exchanging Klonopin pills for cash on a train at JFK/UMass.
An outbound train breathed its last at Harvard Square around 7 a.m., causing non-expired trains to back up all the way down the line to Quincy.
Ashley stunned us:
I've been riding the T for 26 years and this is my first ever disabled train. I feel like I'm finally a real Bostonian!
Shortly after 9 a.m., it seems, fare machines at Red and Green Line stations stopped accepting credit and debit cards, hosing monthly passholders who thought they could just waltz right in, replenish their cards and get on the T.
Just in case riders failed to appreciate the humor of the situation, the T stationed a particularly jocular CSA at Davis, according to Sweetadelinevt:
So if six fare machines don't work, and no one can buy a new pass, shouldn't the operator let them through gate? He said, "not my problem."
Nahani Otien reports Keytar Bear was killing it tonight at Downtown Crossing.
Ari floats the idea of a short elevated atop Cambridge Street to complete the fabled Red/Blue connector - an idea currently gathering dust on some state shelf due to its cost.
Transit Police report arresting a Quincy man on charges he pretended to be a cop during an incident at the Quincy Center Red Line stop earlier this month.
According to police, Michael Murray, 33, went up to a car parked in the pick-up area at the station around 5:25 p.m. on March 17:
Transit Police report arresting a man they say was brought to ground by Red Line riders who heard a woman struggling with him as he tried to grab her purse.
Cesar Gonzalez, 26, police say, followed a woman off a Red Line train around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday and reached for her purse:
The victim held tightly onto her purse and was yelling for help. At this time several good Samaritans heard the victim screaming and came to her aid tackling Gonzalez to the floor and restraining him until the police arrived.
David Finnerty had some time to get to know fellow riders at South Station.
A train died at Downtown Crossing around 5:30 p.m., as of 6:15 p.m., riders trying to head south were still being thwarted.
Mike Long reports his train just sat outside Charles/MGH for 10 minutes before finally pulling in.
Party Orca surveyed the human gridlock at Downtown Crossing:
Traffic onto the Red Line southbound at DTX is backed up to the escalator to Orange Line to Oak Grove. Turn back now and have a beer.
UPDATE: The DA's office reports Capuzzo was not arraigned today. He instead faces a clerk's hearing to determine whether authorities have probable cause for a criminal complaint. A date has not yet been set for that hearing.
Michael Capuzzo, 20, of South Boston is scheduled for arraignment today for his alleged involvement in a Red Line brawl that sent a man to the hospital, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
Capuzzo is no stranger to law enforcement.
An inbound Red Line train checked out at Wollaston shortly after 8 a.m. Dave Curran reports from the station:
Operator outside hitting something with hammer
Four of five suspects in the Red Line beatings that sent a man to the hospital on March 9 were arraigned yesterday on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Among them, Kevin McCarthy (booking photo on right), about whom the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says:
Davis, Joyce and Mullen. Photos by Transit Police.
Transit Police report arresting two South Boston residents and a Dorchester man on charges they beat a man on a Red Line train and two women who tried to come to his aid on Sunday.
Police add they obtained an arrest warrant for another South Boston man for his alleged role in the attacks on a train entering Broadway station.
NECN weatherman Matt Noyes received an unusual plea: A woman who had just bought a bag of rare coffee beans as a gift for her husband lost them on the Red Line yesterday and is seeking their return:
Yesterday at 4pm during rush hour a polite passenger traveling south on the redline from Kendall Square stood up to give an older woman her seat. At JFK the polite passenger got off the train leaving behind a brown paper grocery bag with $100 of rare coffee bean inside. 8 bags of small batch rare coffee bean from the FlatWhite. Mostly rare coffee bean from Africa and Ethiopia.
He says the woman even tried to catch up with the train at Braintree with no luck.
Ed. note: FlatWhite and not Flat Black?
An inbound Red Line train refused to go past its expiration date at Wollaston, causing what the T called "moderate" delays at the start of rush hour this morning. Or as Sara put it:
Been waiting over 20 min for a train at #wollaston. #commute #freezing
UPDATE, 9 a.m. Another Red Line train saw a bright white light, this time at Harvard, and immediately caused what the T calls "severe" delays. Signal problems at Boylston plunged Green Line riders into a snail-like existence.
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