A Red Line train at Ashmont had to be taken out of service at rush hour yesterday after some guy on the platform attempted to show his anger at somebody inside the train by slamming his shoulder and elbow into a window hard enough to crack it, Transit Police report. Read more.
Red Line
The family of Robinson Lalin, dragged to his death by a Red Line train leaving Broadway station last April, today sued the MBTA, alleging recklessness and wanton misconduct. Read more.
Update: GBH reports a transformer in South Boston failed, triggering a power surge that tripped a circuit breaker.
In the middle of rush hour, the MBTA lost power to the signaling systems on all its subway lines - and at some stations - leaving some riders stranded and others breaking out their phones to call a ride-share to work. Read more.
The MBTA reports what it says are 15-minute delays on the Red Line out of Braintree due to a deceased train at North Quincy. Riders, however, report 15 minutes in MBTA time is more like a half hour to an hour in real time. Read more.
WFXT reports the MBTA is now close to having the minimum number of dispatchers it needs to restore more frequent service on the Orange, Red and Blue Lines, but that now it also doesn't have enough cars and drivers for them.
WFXT reports the T had to run shuttle buses between Harvard and Broadway after some maintenance equipment derailed at Park Street. The Red Line is now back to as close to normal as it gets these days.
WCVB reports on the incident on the Alewife track around 12:30 this morning.
The MBTA yesterday announced its latest round of weekend shutdowns aimed at upgrading various things it didn't upgrade during last year's month-long Orange Line shutdown and to account for the continuing demolition of the Government Center Garage, which will also affect the Green Line. Read more.
Transit Police report they are seeking criminal charges against a man they say rammed his Civic into a barrier at the top of the Alewife parking garage and who almost killed himself in what they say was an intentional act. Read more.
The MBTA says it's resuming Red Line service to Alewife starting tomorrow - but that the trains will only be reachable via the Russell Field entrance, about a two-minute walk from the garage, where somebody rammed out a five-ton concrete barrier that fell onto large windows overlooking the main station entrance, which remains shut. Read more.
Transit Police have put out a BOLO for a man they say punched a 62-year-old woman after she said "excuse me" as she tried to walk past him in the concourse between the Orange and Red lines at Downtown Crossing around 2 p.m. yesterday.
If the alleged puncher looks familiar, contact detectives at 617-222-1050.
The MBTA announced today that all but the topmost level of the Alewife garage will re-open tomorrow, but that the Red Line will continue to end and begin at Davis as engineers figure out how to get people onto trains without having to pass under a metal framework damaged when some guy in a Civic rammed into a concrete barrier on the garage's top level, sending the five-ton concrete slab down towards the station atrium - only to be stopped by the metal supports for large window panels. Read more.
Updated with new shutdown time.
The MBTA reports workers overnight removed the five-ton concrete barrier a guy in a Civic knocked loose from the Alewife parking garage yesterday but that the station will remain shut until engineers can figure out how to create a safe passageway from outside to the fare gates - which could take the rest of the week. Read more.
The MBTA had to stop the Red Line between Broadway and JFK/UMass this morning because of "a downed fence blocking the track area" near Andrew Square. And then there were the disabled trains it had to push/shove/somehow remove from the tracks on the Braintree branch.