The T just sent out the following alert for South Station commuter-rail riders:
Expect significant delays in the PM commute after incident impeding tracks.
Might be due to a train that kind of derailed after a collision in the yard south of the station.
Riders from the south and west got to enjoy the scenic vistas of the South Station rail yards this morning when Amtrak's signals failed yet again, and trains were unable to pull into the station. America's Railroad fixed the problem shortly after 9:15 and trains began pulling in.
Last month:
T says South Station problems not their fault, riders go 'Oy, gevalt!'
Transit Police report they're looking for a guy who sauntered out of the Tavern in the Square late on June 20 with somebody else's purse.
They've posted several photos of the Where's Purse-Snatching Waldo and ask anybody who know where he is to call detectives at 617-222-1050 or text an anonymous tip to 873873.
The T and Keolis say Amtrak's signal system failed on the Northeast Corridor this morning, and since Amtrak and the T's commuter trains share some of the same tracks and stations, that led to massive delays and exhortations to riders that they just get off at Back Bay or JFK and ride the subway into town - with assurances their commuter-rail passes would get them onto the Orange and Red Lines.
A Keolis spokesman explains:
Yesterday it was an Amtrak train going where it had no business going. Today, weary, hot, grime-covered South Station commuters have issues due to "track problem."
The afternoon T woe report: A Red Line train somewhere north of Charles/MGH is stuck with doors that won't close and switch problems on commuter rail just outside South Station are doing wonders for Tavern in the Square.
Ami Chitwood spotted the gobbler this morning, wonders if it was trying to hop on the 705 to Framingham.
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.
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.
They opened the new airport-grade men's room at South Station the other day, a couple months after the new women's room opened. Any gents have reports on its quality?
Meanwhile, Jesse Waites posted a photo of the station's brand-new Bitcoin ATM, handy for when you need to stock up on a digital currency that doesn't involve shiba inus.
The evening rush started with a Red Line train dying at South Station around 4:20 p.m., followed by a trolley dying somewhere on the Riverside Line.
Around noontime, Kerry Tubbs photographed the line at the CharlieCard store in Downtown Crossing, where dreams go to die all the people whose CharlieCards expired on Friday have to go to get their remaining value transferred to fresh new cards that don't expire until 2021.
Meanwhile, Red Line riders are queuing up in novel places at South Station this afternoon because the traditional stairway down to the subway is shut for repairs. But, Jesse Tokarz reminds us, at least there's still five different coffee shops inside. At least there's a bar now.
Boston Metro reports a transportation financing bill now wending through the legislature would rename the terminal the Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station.
It would be a fitting tribute for the former trolley-riding governor and one-time Amtrak board member, both for his longstanding support for public transit in general and because, as governor, he stopped the BRA from tearing down South Station altogether.
UPDATE: Seems Amtrak is even worse than the T at handling cold weather, so she reports from Ohio she's had to book a flight from Chicago to Vancouver in order to make a lecture there on time.
Like Paul Theroux in The Old Patagonian Express, Julie Campoli yesterday started an epic train trip at South Station. Unlike Theroux, though, she's tweeting the whole thing:
Transit Police report a Mainer headed for New York City by way of South Station was packing a Ruger 9-mm gun and a Taurus .22-caliber. gun - and a magazine containing 15 rounds of 9-mm ammunition.
Transit Police officers, alerted by law enforcement in Hancock County, Maine, were waiting for Christopher Loucks, 28, and promptly put him under arrest after he got off the bus around 6:30 p.m. yesterday.
State officials urged people to stay home this morning, and it seems like a lot of people heeded that.
Paul Villanova put on his warm clothes this morning to take photos of an empty Summer Street in Fort Point (above) and an equally empty and windswept Dewey Square:
Maybe it's track problems. Maybe it's langoliers. Whatever the reason, Rob is in the midst of a last-train-out-of-Paris scene at South Station this rush hour.
Transit Police report they are looking for the guy captured on video swiping an unattended bag - with a laptop inside - from near the McDonald's in the South Station bus terminal around 5:20 p.m. on Dec. 2.
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