The T

Yesterday's troublesome Green Line junction box, covered in foam. Photo by BFD.

No cable fires (so far) on the Green Line this morning, but delays caused by dying trolleys. Meanwhile, on the Red Line, one train, and its riders, wheezed into South Station around 6:45 a.m. Fatty tweets:

My train smells like it's on fire. ...

My train WAS on fire. It is no longer my train. We are in a smoke cloud at South Station because the brakes have been on since Dorchester.

I'm going to start slow chanting "refund" as soon as the smoke clears and I can breathe again.

Another "power problem" between Arlington and Copley tonight - yes, cables are burning - and riders are finding themselves stranded. Emily Munroe tweeted shortly after 9:50:

Just got kicked off Bgreen line before Kenmore and was told there are no shuttles.

Last Wednesday the 64 bus I was on had to turn right on Parsons street to detour around minor construction near the IHOP at Birmingham Parkway. However, instead of course correcting by turning left at the next available cross street... he kept going...and going.. straight....across Faneuil, across Arlington. I finally roused from my half-awake daze when I realized that he was going all the way up to Washington street, where he FINALLY made a left into tons of traffic.

Bostonians had their choice of venues for standing around this AM, such as Andrew. Photo by Chris Wright.

Fire on the inbound tracks between Arlington and Copley around 7:40, Jay Joynes tweets. At first, the T shut Arlington station because of heavy smoke, but shortly after 8 a.m., it shut down all Green Line service downtown. And shortly after 8:30, the T began evacuating trolleys stuck in the tunnel near Hynes and Copley stations.

The T eventually sent in some shuttle buses between stations to the west and downtown, but many commuters didn't wait. As Gracetopia tweets:

I now feel like one of the army of the commute, as I walk from Kenmore to downtown with my fellow MBTA refugees.

Lindsay Douglas, though, was one of the people who stayed behind at Kenmore:

I've never seen chaos like this. Coldest day of the year + the MBTA shuts down the green line. Yelling+angry people.

And because misery loves company, an inbound Red Line train died not long after at Charles/MGH, Rob Grover tweets. Later, another train died at Porter. Around 9:20, another train died, inbound at Andrew.

No, not that we're only ever shown as under the thumb of violent thugs from Southie or the Town, but that nobody in Boston movies ever takes the T.

Ed. note: Well, aside from Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting," who loved the Red Line so much he would always ride it through Dorchester on his way home to Southie from MIT.

The Walking Bostonian reports MBTA officials promised at a meeting Thursday to install the equipment and software needed for real-time tracking on the Green Line by 2015 - similar to the tracking that lets riders known when to run for a train on the other three subway lines.

H/t Boston Zest.

MBTA Transit Police have followed up their pot FAQ with some answers to other questions, including:

Q.) Last week while riding my train and minding my own business, a very disgusting, disheveled type person sat next to me. Their body odor was so unpalatable, it was an assault on my nostrils. I was overcome with nausea. I demanded they move to another seat. He rudely refused. I called 911 and sent a message using SeeSay App to have him removed or arrested. I provided you with the train car # and the stop we were approaching. You NEVER responded !! Why ?

As a general rule, we encourage good personal hygiene habits be practiced by all. However after extensive research we were unable to locate any laws in Massachusetts which compels a person to have the pleasant aroma of rose pedals and lilacs billowing about their body before they can utilize a public conveyance on the MBTA. Body odor can be such a subjective topic, are you certain it was not your own breath blowing back in your face?

Max Grinnell asks:

Policy wonk moment: which T bus route has the most affluent residents? Anybody know?

Brockton24_7 reports somebody jumped in front of an inbound Red Line train at Shawmut around 5:30 a.m. and that she was pulled out from under the second car alert and conscious. The T substituted buses between Ashmont and JFK/UMass.

Photographynatalia photographed Park and Tremont streets this morning. Melissa Gibson watched an Orange Line train pull into Sullivan Square:

The T is alerting inbound riders that there's plenty of Orange Line service at Ruggles, should they wish to get off the train there.

The Globe reports on a proposal by state officials to spend an extra $10 billion over the next decade to keep our roads and public-transit systems from collapsing. Naturally, we're talking new taxes to pay for it all.

Read the plan yourself.

BostInno interviews the Five Star Day, Action Jackson Square Orange Line driver, who moved over recently from the Red Line.

Seems people want to know:

Q) Is it okay to smoke a "joint" while waiting on the platform for my train?
No.

Q) Is it okay to smoke a "joint" while riding on the bus with my friends?
No.

Q) I have a warrant for my arrest and just wanted to smoke a "little weed" while riding my train. My warrant had nothing to do with my marijuana, what's the problem?
If you have a warrant out for your arrest and DO NOT want to go to jail you should (a) not utilize the MBTA, if you ignore this suggestion (b) when entering our stations and buses pay your fare (c) do not roll a joint, pack a bong or any other means of inhaling cannabis while on the T and lastly DO NOT commit crime or disorder within the system which would draw attention to yourself

People up at the crack of dawn this morning got to see a beautiful sunrise. Gregory Schlisson watched the sun come up over the Saugus River while on a Rockport Line train into town.

Today's sunrise from a skyscraper in downtown Boston.

The Globe reports that with 75 commuter-rail coaches already more than two years late, the MBTA is pissed off enough about shoddy construction by the Korean company it hired to build them to think about looking for a new builder.

Neville Williams took this photo of smoking Green Line tracks at Coolidge Corner around 12:40 p.m., around the time the T was issuing an alert about delays due to "fire department activity" in Coolidge Corner.

MBTA Transit Police report officers on patrol at the Central Square Red Line stop yesterday morning spotted a couple making their way onto the platform without paying. Police report this was the third time the male half, Christopher Reed, 26, of Cambridge, has been caught fare evading. He did, however, get a free ride - in the back of a cruiser to T police headquarters - because, police say, he was also wanted on a Cambridge drug charge. The woman? With no outstanding criminal charges, she was captured and released.

Innocent, etc.

Rosina Lucibello reports she was waiting for an Alewife train on the Red Line around 7:15 p.m. tonight when an apparent drunk fell onto the tracks on the other side:

Watched a drunk guy fall. Then immediately another commuter jumped in and got him. Simple as that. He never hesitated. We were speechless. The guy went down on tracks. Grabbed him and helped him up. Then pulled himself back up. Very heroic and quick! We got nervous because they announced train approaching. Tense moment.

Riders on the 5:40 train to Fitchburg tweeted their train came to a sudden stop in Cambridge after hitting a car at a crossing there. AsianKerr reported the conductor came on the PA not long after:

Sorry folks, we have struck a vehicle.

After getting the remains of the car out of the way and after the train engineer was interviewed by police, the train started back up around 6:24 p.m.

Peter Dunn, who last year gave us a subway map based on estimated travel times, has done it again with a time-based commuter-rail map.

Since commuters probably already know their schedules, the diagram is potentially more useful to new riders. Car commuters can see where they might save time by taking the train. Newcomers looking for a place to move in the region can quickly compare how much of their day they'd spend commuting from various stations. (If you choose the home another six minutes away, that's an extra hour a week you'll spend getting to and from work.)

Kat G. says she was pretty surprised to see graffiti on an inbound train this evening at Walpole.

Very hard to hit an MBCR train. Guaranteed it will be buffed by tonight.

Commuter-rail lines that share the Northeast Corridor with Amtrak (Providence, Franklin and Needham) are reporting delays thanks to an overhead Amtrak wire that came down somewhere between Forest Hills and downtown.

The Wandering Jew reports he isn't wandering all that much on the Green Line this morning:

This T driver is giving me whiplash. Impressive given how slowly we're going.

Joy. Alarms going off on the T. Driver using the emergency brake/door release to let passengers off.

Passengers on board urging the T to move with encouraging chants of "come on, come on" and "you can do it..."

I am not chanting encouragements. I'm muttering curses.

Kinda sorta driving forward (I could walk faster). And only front door operational - and only by the emergency release lever.

MBTA Transit Police have released photos of two guys they say approached somebody at the Bremen Street entrance to the Airport T stop on Dec. 22 and "offered to sell him a .40 caliber and/or a .380 caliber firearm."

One is black, about 6'2" with a Pirates cap, dark parka with a fur-lined hood, jeans and sneakers. The other is Hispanic, 5'6" to 5'8" with a small mustache, wearing a blue leather jacket with white stripes down the arms and across the chest with some type of symbol on the upper left chest.

Know them? Contact T police at 617-222-1050 or send an anonymous tip via the SeeSay app or text to 873873.