The T

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.

MBTA Transit Police report arresting a woman they say stole a Silver Line inspector's bag, threw it into Fort Point Channel and then announced to officers that she couldn't help herself because she's a kleptomaniac.

Nyllabrii Raikou, 20, was arrested shortly after 10 p.m. yesterday on the Summer Street bridge - where they found her being pursued by the inspector. Police say the inspector arrived at the inspector's booth at the Silver Line platform at South Station to find Raikou inside:

Upon noticing the victim Raikou exited and began to walk away. The victim immediately went inside the booth and noticed his personal bag was missing containing his cell phone and other items as well as a MBTA radio battery.

Upon noticing the victim still following her and seeing the flashing blue lights of a Transit Police cruiser less then a block away Raikou tossed the victim's bag with all its contents into the Fort Point Chanel. Officers made several attempts to recover the bag however the currents were moving too swiftly.

Innocent, etc.

Cactus on the Stair reports on how one Sob Story Guy's night ended with him on the train harassed by a panhandler.

Utile reports on an interesting proposal by a couple of Yale architecture students: Drain Fort Point Channel south of Summer Street and put the tracks underground there - under a brand-new South Station:

The benefit is a fully subterranean train station, allowing for the redevelopment of both the existing and new track areas for urban development that can knit the Leather District directly to the loft buildings in the Fort Point District.

Just as importantly, the new South Station headhouse will provide views north across Fort Point Channel and Boston Harbor to visitors first arriving in Boston. Only the train station in Venice provides a comparatively dramatic view. Commuters and visitors would find water taxis and ferries directly across Summer Street. Importantly, the new tracks and station could be built while the existing station is fully operational. With only a flip of a switch, trains could be directed into the new station, freeing up the old facility for demolition - except for the historic headhouse, which would be saved as part of a redevelopment plan.

Sounds cool, although, of course, there are some pesky details that would need some attention, beyond the whole idea of building a dam at Summer Street: Gillette uses vast amounts of water from Fort Point Channel at World Shaving Headquarters (although presumably that's why God gave us pipes) and part of the Ted Williams Tunnel goes right under the channel.

Bonus fun fact: There used to be a looped train tunnel under South Station, but it was only used once and later part of it became a bowling alley.

In 2013, the Red Line is now 3 for 3 for morning delays, this time due to signal problems at North Quincy.

The Green Line also had problems, outbound on the B branch, due to a dead train.

Matt Karolian looked at a wall display at the Arlington stop on the Green Line. And then he looked closer.

They've been workin' on the railroad at Central. Photo by MBTA.

UPDATE: The T reports service resumed around 2:10 p.m., with, of course, residual delays.

Ruddy S. reports a broken rail. The T says it's now busing between Kendall and Harvard.

Dani B., who took the photo below, tweets:

One lousy bus waiting for us at Kendall #shocker

Red turns yellow at Kendall.

UPDATE: A second Red Line train died at Alewife; another Green Line trolley gave up the ghost, bollxing up outbound C and E service. Commuter rail? You don't want to know.

In this young year, the Red Line is now 2 for 2 in morning-commute delays due to dead trains, this time at JFK/UMass, but today has the extra bonus of delays due to "weather-related issues."

Meghan C. reports it took her 75 minutes to get from Braintree to MGH.

The Green Line was also having problems, due to a recalcitrant train at Kenmore. There was also a dead train on the Blue Line.

It was a different story on the Orange Line. At 7:24, Joe Growhoski tweeted:

Orange line nice warm and smooth ..... So far

The MBTA today released this photo of brand-new two-level coaches being tested on the Lowell Line, between Anderson and North Billerica. The four coaches, part of a larger order that's now two years late, should go into service this winter.

The coaches will let the T expand capacity by eliminating the current single-level coaches, but will not help with the sort of locomotive and switching problems that caused up to 60-minute delays on some lines into South Station this morning. The T has a separate order with a different company for new locomotives.

Dead train at Broadway and those residual delays just killed the last part of the morning commute. Erika Gordon reports on how she and some fellow commuters put their left foot in, they put their left foot out, they put their left foot in and they shook it all about:

And now we're playing musical trains. "Everyone get off of the train, there's a problem." "Alright, everyone back on, we fixed it."

At Davis, Adam Schmucker tweets:

Announcement at Davis "delays due to disabled train at Broadway." Performer on platform is singing "On Broadway."

The T did its part to encourage bike riding in 2012.

On a big system like the T (several hundred thousand riders on a weekday), you'd expect a certain amount of weirdness. You'd be right. Some examples from 2012:

Crash aftermath. Note cluster of meter maids on right. Photo by Susan Zalkind.

A lot of angry people take the T, including a T driver in Kenmore Square, who angrily responded to a BTD supervisor who wanted her to move her bus by flooring the accelerator, hitting the supervisor and several parked cars.

More anger on the T:

Woman claimed her GPS made her drive on the C line. Photo by MBTA.

The Green Line has always stood apart from the other three T lines - and only partly because it's the only trolley line. Which other line would suffer service delays due to turtle? Here are some highlights from the Green Line, 2012 edition:

Red Line service was halted when a shirtless guy jumped on the inbound Red Line tracks at Andrew and went for a jog down the tracks underneath South Boston. He was never found.

A man wound up under a Red Line train at North Quincy.

A woman failed to stop walking at Broadway station until she fell onto the tracks:

John Stephen Dwyer put together two videos imagining what it would be like if Iron Man attacked the CSA booth at Forest Hills station (top) and if a giant wrecking ball plunged into the station lobby:

MBTA and Boston police are investigating whether a woman struck by some sort of pellet around 1:45 p.m. today on Washington Street near Arboretum Road was shot by the same people who shot at an inbound 35 bus in the same area last night.

MBTA Transit Police report the driver of the bus last night "observed two individuals standing in a driveway who appeared to be holding a firearm," as the bus passed Archdale Road on its way to Forest Hills.

Police say two of the buses windows were "intact but completely fractured" after apparently being shot at with "an air powered BB gun."

The T is busing Riverside riders between Reservoir and Riverside because of a tree that fell on the tracks.

Sarah M. tweets:

Little kid asks dad why toy train at South Station isn't moving, "because it's just like real life."

MBTA Transit Police report arresting William Gwiazda, 33, on charges he went up to an undercover cop at the South Station bus terminal around 7:30 p.m. yesterday, started chatting him up, then offered to sell him some methadone:

What do you make of this, Johnny? Trains on the Orange, Green and Blue lines slowed due to a power problem the T has yet to identify. Officials report power had come back at several locations by 1:45 p.m., however. The Blue Line was reported back up and running about five minutes after that.