There's a train at Charles/MGH with door issues.
But not all Red Line trains are stuck. Kat Nicole reports:
Stuck? My Alewife subway car is actually sliding backwards a bit on Longfellow bridge now. Hopefully we scrape across?
Around 2:50 p.m. at Charles/MGH as cops swarmed the station looking for somebody who might have robbed a bank in Central Square.
UPDATE: Cambridge Police report:
No, they won't be counting down to the rockin' New Year tonight, but will tell you how long until the next Red Line train. The T reports they blinked into existence today.
A roving UHub reader just checked in from Downtown Crossing, where a dead train is causing all sorts of ire:
The ire at Downtown Crossing is so strong you could hang your parka on it. "Moderate delays" per automated announcement, but this crowd is overflowing from the platform to the stairs and hallways.
A dead train at Sullivan Square around 8:20 a.m. quickly cascaded into commuting hell for Orange Line riders heading into the city from the north. At Malden, riders were told to abandon all hope get on commuter rail. At Community College, riders were told to just go home walk to North Station.
A train died earlier in the morning on the Red Line. Two trolleys were taken out and shot on the Green Line. A Silver Line bus suffered an existential crisis at Mass. Ave. and Washington Street and could go no further.
Prayer couldn't hurt. Kate spotted Jesus at Central Square this morning.
As of 8 a.m., there have been two dead trains: One inbound Red Line train (of course) from Braintree and one inbound trolley on the B Line.
Shortly before the southbound platform was evacuated as well. Photo by Fatty.
UPDATE, 4:45 p.m.: Transit Police report the package has been "cleared"- by an X-ray - which means service can resume soon. But expect "severe" residual delays, the T warns. WBZ reports the object was a duffle bag with wires coming out of it.
Transit Police have evacuated the three Red Line platforms at Park Street due to a suspicious package on an Alewife-bound train there. There is no service in either direction.
John Berg reports the Green Line is still running through Park.
The Globe reports MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott has ordered an audit of all the third rails on the Red, Orange and Blue lines to try to stave off the sort of problems that bollixed commutes on the Red Line Wednesday morning and Tuesday evening.
Carl Stevens reports the inspections will focus on the welds that connect sections of the third rail together.
More specifically, NECN reports, the T is blaming cold weather for the third-rail problem that waylaid Red Line commuters from the south this morning.
Riders from Ashmont trying to get onto train from Braintree at JFK. Photo by Jerome Leslie.
Updated, 7:50 a.m.
First it was signal problems inbound approaching South Station. Then, a third rail cracked in the area of JFK/UMass, which forced riders arriving from Ashmont to try to cram into already packed trains from Braintree.
Also, the Mattapan High Speed Line is more like the Mattapan No Speed Line due to a dead trolley.
Where's Waldo? Not getting on the Red Line at Park Street, that's for sure. Photo by Shumita Basu.
The T's now acknowledging that a dead train at JFK/UMass means "severe" delays. As in 30 and 45-minute delays.
UPDATE, 5:30 p.m. Problems persist - The Braintree-bound are being told to take any train they can jam into to JFK for a shuttle bus.
At South Station, Kate Birney reports:
just got pulled off braintree to alewife & routed to an ashmont car that’s not moving!
6:33 a.m.: Dead train on the Braintree line. Inbound, of course.
Mike, who took the above photo, asks:
Red Line failing during rush hour. On what planet is 8 mins ok? Full trains are full.
A T alert went out around 6:50 a.m. for a dead Red Line train at Downtown Crossing.
You get a delay! And you get a delay! And you get a delay!
Trains lapsed into unconsciousness on the Red Line and the C, D and E trolley lines. But the Orange Line saved the worst for last: A dead train at Ruggles that sat there for nearly 20 minutes before operators got the idea to get the train behind it to push it out of the way a little after 9 a.m.
Anna Lawless was on the pusher train:
After sitting outside Ruggles for 20 mins, we seem to be pushing the disabled train ahead of us.
MikeHeXt tweets:
Ugh Disabled southbound Red Line train at Kendall causing northbound delays too. Here we sit.
Some of the "pop up" performances on the T last week.
H/t Steve Annear.
Dead train reported at Ashmont at 7:13 a.m.
Also reported: Signal problems on the Reservoir Line and a wicked late train on the Franklin Line. " Free hot chocolate on board?" one commuter freezing at Walpole asks hopefully.
UPDATE: An Orange Line train froze to death at Sullivan Square around 7:40 a.m. An inbound train, of course. It was followed in quick succession by a dead inbound Mattapan trolley at Butler. Not long after that, an inbound B trolley refused to leave Boston College. And then the drawbridge at North Station got stuck or something, delaying inbound commuter-rail trains.
Transit Police report arresting somebody too young to have his name released for the botched robbery attempt last week that ended with him being chased out of Charles/MGH by a group of fed-up commuters.
The teen was scheduled for an appearance in Boston Municipal Court's juvenile session on a charge of assault with intent to rob, police say.
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