Yes, that pretty much sums up what happened on commuter rail out of South Station last night: a train died at a critical track junction. But it's also a phrase from a report written in 1999 about capacity problems at South Station.
9:26 update: Geoffrey Brownell reports operator on his Alewife-bound train just announced: "Worst delays I've ever seen."
Some Red Line riders spent close to two hours on a dead train between Porter and Davis while many more found themselves stewing in other trains or on platforms - or just giving up and walking.
Take a look at Chris Spanring's photo from the Red Line near Porter tonight. Now read Spanring's evacuation tweets:
We could find out tonight thanks to rush-hour delays and a cancellation on commuter rail. Steve Poftak tweets:
S. Station concourse impassable. Mult. Delays. DefCon 5 meltdown.
Down the line, John Valerio reports from Back Bay:
Broken down train causing delays at Back Bay. Nothing on T site; short-tempered station announcer yelling updates.
MBTA Transit Police report arresting one of three men who allegedly held a woman up at knifepoint just past midnight Sunday at the Sullivan Square T stop - after a police dog bit him in the ass.
According to a police report, a woman was standing by the upper busway when three Hispanic men approached her, pulled out knives and demanded her money. For good measure, they called her a "nigger." She told them, in Spanish, that she was Hispanic herself, but that didn't work. After they fled, and police arrived, she got in an cruiser with an officer - and Marco, the police dog.
MBTA Transit Police report they are looking for a guy who responded to a woman's request to put out his cigar at the State Street Orange Line stop by blow
N. forwards this photo, which he took around 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday on the Red Line. "Good time and place for a dog walk," he writes.
The Globe reports the MBTA board decided today not to change its policy and ask parents to fold up strollers on T trains and buses.
The vote came after mothers showed up at a board meeting today to express their displeasure at the idea.
Dan Lord reports the Best Buy vending machine at Downtown Crossing was smashed. MBTA Transit Police say the machine was broken into last night, but that nothing was taken.
The Best Buy machine at Forest Hills was broken into in March; policy say they were able to grab the alleged perp when he returned for more goodies.
Average weekday ridership on the T went up 5% in March compared to last year, the state reports.
The Green and Mattapan lines saw the biggest jump in ridership; buses the smallest.
From MBTA Alerts. Note the time.
Green Line B experiencing 10-15 min delays due to intoxicated male on train. 5/3/2011 6:26 AM
The Herald reports the T is readying a policy that would require parents to fold their strollers while on trains.
MBTA GM Richard Davey: "There are some that are like SUVs."
Carla, mother of two, however, is aghast:
On busy train, parent should stand holding baby in 1 hand, stoller in other, & not be able to hang on to anything? Unsafe.
The MBTA posted this video from the re-dedication of the Kendall Band at the Kendall Square Red Line stop today.
A roving correspondent forwards this photo from the Green Line today. Proof the T's clean-up efforts are working?
Paul McMorrow explains the rock and the hard place: On the one hand, the T is legally required to extend the Green Line to Somerville and Medford, at a cost now approaching $1 billion. On the other hand, shaky finances and any construction delays could jeopardize $760 million in federal funding for the project, leaving the state to figure out how to make up the difference.
Don't worry: They'll be painted silver and purple.
MBTA General Manager Rich Davey was in Korea this week, touring the Hyundai-Rotem plant in Changwon, which is building four test coaches for the MBTA. The T reports Davey paid his own way.
The T has a $190-million contract with the company for 75 of the double-decker cars, some of which are expected to begin rolling on local rails in December for testing, with the rest slated for delivery between next summer and the winter of 2013. Aside from the four test coaches, all will be built in a Hyundai-Rotem factory in Philadelphia - which, with any luck, will have solved the labor and manufacturing problems it's now having with coaches meant for the Philadelphia equivalent of the MBTA.
Picture this with seats and lights and windows. Photo by Rich Davey.
The Salem News reports on the suit filed yesterday by Samantha Mattei, who suffered a broken back and a concussion when Quinn he crashed his Green Line trolley into a stopped trolley because he was too busy texting to notice it.
Mattei filed her suit the same day the National Transportation Safety Board released its final report on the 2009 crash, basically concluding that texting trolley driver was texting. However, the board also said the accident could have been avoided if the T had an automated system to stop trolleys that go through red signals, like the ones in place on the T's other lines.
In the aftermath of the crash, which did an estimated $10 million in damage, the T banned cell-phone use by train drivers and other employees.
ED NOTE: Jacqueline Church filed a complaint with the MBTA over events she witnessed on a southbound Red Line train at Park Street around 3:15 p.m. yesterday. The following is an edited copy of her complaint, which she prefaced with: "Seeing someone nearly die in front of you can really put a damper on your day. Watching public transportation employees impede swift care, then deny the need for better emergency medical procedures, is worse. Then having no one in subsequent calls show one iota of accountability or sense of responsibility is infuriating. As a taxpayer I'm incensed.
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