The T

UPDATE, 4:30 p.m. The T reports regular service has resumed.

The T is warning Blue Line passengers to expect "significant delays" this afternoon following a train slipping off the rails at Orient Heights.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo reports the train was moving from the Orient Heights train yard onto the main tracks around 2:40 p.m., so it wasn't carrying any passengers. The T has swapped in buses for trains between Suffolk Downs and Airport.

Yesterday, the MBTA warned the tax increases proposed by the legislature were so small it could jeopardize $500 million or in anticipated federal aid for the Green Line extension. This morning, as A.P. Blake noted at 8:55 a.m.:

In the past two hours, every rapid transit line in Boston has suffered some delay due to mechanical/signal failure.

Transit Police report a man faces arraignment today on a charge of open and gross conduct for an incident last month in which he "directed his genitals" at a woman on the Orange Line.

According to police, around 6:20 p.m. on March 8, John McDonald, 48, dropped trou on an inbound train just before Mass. Ave. and then kept his junk pointed at the woman for roughly a minute. At Mass. Ave., he sauntered off the train, police say.

Police say McDonald was arrested yesterday at Ruggles after an officer recognized him from a wanted poster.

Innocent, etc.

The Globe reports T officials are telling legislators that their proposed ciggies and gas taxes won't be enough to convince the feds to give us $500 million towards the cost of extending the Green Line to Somerville, let alone Medford, sometime in this century.

The MBTA today begins a new campaign against sexual assault and harassment on its trains and buses. Unlike past ads, which featured either women or supposed undercover cops, this time, some of the ads feature men who don't want your physical attention.

The MBTA reports the Khan family's passports, stolen the other day at the Wonderland T stop, were found in a mailbox in Burlington:

No money - No bag or other property. Post Office clerk called after seeing it on TV.

Somebody is visiting every single MBTA subway stop and drawing a picture in marker for each.

Via Boston Reddit.

An MBTA spokesman said police are still investigating how the person came to be on the tracks before being hit by an inbound train shortly before 4 p.m..

Shortly after 4 p.m., a rider on one train e-mailed UHub:

Train stopped due to what the conductor said is an apparent suicide between the two stops. He said the police are going to be on the scene for a few hours, so now we're waiting for the train to turn back to West Concord to disembark the train.

Transit Police report the man was between 20 and 25. The investigation shut the tracks and caused lengthy delays in both directions.

Dennis Murphy was driving his Route 110 bus down Elm Street around 6 a.m. yesterday when he noticed a building on fire.

According to Sean Mills, his supervisor at the Charlestown bus yard:

He immediately called dispatch and secured the bus. He then went over to the house on fire and rang all the doorbells to wake everyone inside up. These people did not know the house was on fire. His actions may have saved their lives.

Mills adds he gave Murphy a commendation, but that Murphy declined to have a picture taken of him accepting it "because he says this is stuff we should just do naturally."

Meghan M. spotted a pair of cats by the South Station tracks today, wonders "Why are there a bunch of homeless cats hanging around the tracks?"

Earlier:
Remember Kenmore the Kitten?

A man Plymouth County prosecutors once said was the head of a large Oxycodone ring was arrested at Back Bay station last night after he allegedly sold some Oxycodone tablets to an undercover Transit Police officer.

Transit Police report Eric Simmons, 53, of Weymouth, was nabbed as part of an effort to crack down on drug sales at the commuter rail and Orange Line station.

Simmons is scheduled for arraignment today in Boston Municipal Court on charges of distribution of a class B substance and possession with intent to distribute a class B substance. He will then be shipped to Plymouth County to face drug charges there, police say.

Innocent, etc.

The folks at Railroad.net report the Grand Junction bridge over the Charles River - which connects rail lines north and south of the city - has had to be shut again, only three months after it was re-opened following extensive repairs.

The bridge is used for produce shipments to the Chelsea market and lets Amtrak and MBCR ferry trains to repair facilities on either side of the Charles (South Boston for Amtrak, Somerville for MBCR). With the bridge shut again, trains have to go on a circuitous route via Worcester County.

A couple years ago, state officials bought the Grand Junction bridge and East Cambridge rail line in the hopes of routing some Worcester Line trains to North Station. They've since shelved those plans.

Transit Police shut the Green Street stop on the Orange Line tonight and brought in the Boston Fire hazmat unit after discovering a white powder there. Police reopened the station around 8:20 p.m. after determining the powder was cornstarch.

A doctor from Dubai who got on a Blue Line train at Wonderland shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday with his family says whoever took the black bag he left on a bench can keep the $3,500 in cash and the international airline tickets that were in it - he just wants their passports back.

The bag contained the passports for Dr. Zeeshan Khan, his wife Yasmin, son Raiyan and daughter Sayeema.

The MBTA says an inspector managed to board the train and asked if anybody had seen the bag or who took it. One person said "he believes a male took the bag and got off at Beachmont station," according to a Transit Police report.

However, surveillance video did not show anybody at Beachmont, Revere Beach or Wonderland with a bag matching Khan's.

Anybody with information can contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or anonymously by texting 873873.

Four teens got into an argument with a Green Line operator around 4:45 p.m. at the BU West Station. The MBTA reports one of them threw a soda can at the driver. He missed, but T police nabbed him and now he faces a court appearance for assault with a dangerous weapon, an MBTA spokesman says.

A roving UHub photographer reports he watched young dude sitting on a D trolley between Kenmore and Hynes tonight as an old guy with a cane stood and struggled to stay upright:

Unbelievable. Man was clearly having trouble maintaining his balance while the trolley moved. The man even said: "I really need to sit down."

GM Beverly Scott in Hyundai-Rotem plant. Photo by MBTA.

"We're all in this together," Scott told workers at the plant in Philadelphia today.

According to the T, Scott "stressed the importance of MBTA staff and the Hyundai-Rotem team working cooperatively to step up the pace of production. The company is now more than two years late in delivering two-level coaches that will let the T expand capacity on its commuter-rail lines. The T says the first three of the new coaches, delivered last November, should go into service next month.

Transit Police are looking for this guy for an incident around 6 p.m. last Tuesday:

On Tuesday, 03/19/13, at approximately 6:05 PM, on an inbound Red Line train from Alewife MBTA Station, the male depicted within was photographed after attempting to initiate conversation with women while committing a lewd act.

Know him? Contact Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or send a tip to 873873.

When the bars close down, cabbies pull the no-cash, no-ride trick, apparently. A discussion going on on Twitter:

Of course, that would take some money.

Transit Police report arresting a Mattapan man on charges he masturbated on an Orange Line train on Tuesday afternoon.

Police say Ramon Antonio Baez, 25, got on an inbound train at Green Street shortly after 3:30 p.m., and sat across from a woman who'd boarded at Forest Hills:

UPDATE: Arrest made.

Transit Police report they are looking for a woman who allegedly threatened a man on the outbound side of the Central Square T stop with a knife and then spit on him around 11:10 a.m. on March 7:

The incident was a result of the victim asking the unknown female assailant to be courteous of her fellow MBTA passengers and not talk so loudly on her cell phone.

She's described as white, 50 to 55, 5'10" and about 250 lbs., with long red hair. She wore gray sweatpants and a beige jacket.

If she looks familiar, call Transit Police at 617-222-1050 or by texting 873873.

A Charlestown District Court judge set bail at $300 today for Antwan Crawford on charges he kicked an eight-year-old girl at the Community College Orange Line stop last month, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

According to the DA's office:

Witnesses at the scene reported that, just prior to kicking the child, Crawford had been engaged in a verbal altercation with another passenger whom Crawford apparently believed had stepped on his sneakers. It was in the aftermath of that altercation that the child reported to her mother that Crawford kicked her in the leg. Using her phone, the mother snapped Crawford’s picture, which was recognized by police at Bunker Hill Community College, where Crawford had previously been arrested for trespassing.

In addition to bail, a judge ordered Crawford, 33, of the South End, to stay off the Orange Line until his case is resolved.

Innocent, etc.

One of the constants of Universal Hub Twitter feed is that people regularly send me updates on the whereabouts of Sob Story Guy and Sob Story Girl (actually, should be plural, since there's more than than one of each).

People really, really hate being confined to a metal tube underground (or just sitting in a restaurant or theater) while an angry or seemingly distraught person demands money to see her kid in Portsmouth or his parole officer in Worcester - especially if story tellers are heading the wrong direction from the train station you'd take to get to those places or if they're repeating the same tear-laden spiels veteran Bostonians have heard for years.

But are these story tellers people with mental disabilities who shouldn't be pointed out and mocked in a public medium? Here's an exchange on Twitter yesterday:

UPDATE: Around 7:15, a Needham train inched through Back Bay while other trains got re-routed through Dorchester.

A switch just past Back Bay apparently decided to show MBTA officials what it thought of their idea to delay needed maintenance this evening, so now commuters get to enjoy the culinary offerings of South Station, or the two Dunkin' Donuts at Back Bay.

As commuters sat on unmoving trains, the T was endearing itself to the ones on Twitter with:

#MBTA GM Scott addresses @WalkBoston's Annual Celebration on growing all modes of transit together #choosegrowth