Needham Line
Another reason to quit smoking: You're less likely to walk into the side of a moving train
By adamg - 9/23/11 - 7:59 amThe MBTA reports a woman was so intent on trying to light her cigarette at the Needham Center station last night she didn't notice how close she was to the tracks - and the train that was entering the station.
The woman, 44, a worker at the Center Cafe next to the platform, was taken to Beth Israel Hospital with a non-life-threatening head injury and a broken collarbone following the incident around 8:50 p.m.
According to an MBTA Transit Police report, the woman:
[W]as walking on the platform attempting to light a cigarette. While focusing on the cigarette, [she] did not notice the incoming train and walked into the side of the train, knocking her to the ground.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says the woman was not cited for smoking on the platform, since the reason she walked into the train was she wasn't able to get the cigarette lit.
Frustration: Seeing the station but not being allowed off your dead train
By adamg - 8/12/11 - 8:32 amCommuters on a Needham-Line train report they've now been sitting outside South Station for more than 30 minutes thanks to a dead engine.
Scott Katz tweets:
Waiting for push into station - could spit and reach platform now but stuck here going on 30 minutes.
Aaron Perrino adds:
If that fails they are going to send a pick up truck to save us.
Sometimes going forward means going backward first, at least, on commuter rail into South Station
By adamg - 6/10/11 - 7:18 amSwitching problems mean harried South Station commuters are even more harried than usual this morning. In at least one case, on the Needham line, commuters heading into Boston suddenly found themselves heading away from the city to get onto another track.
Falling leaves cause delays on one commuter line
By adamg - 11/3/10 - 4:23 pmThe Needham Line is experiencing delays tonight because of slippery tracks caused by falling leaves, Gvmiii tweets.
T alerts pages lit up like Christmas trees this morning
By adamg - 12/7/09 - 9:15 amBroken trains on the Red Line and Providence Line, signal problems on the Blue Line, a broken rail on the Needham Line (a broken rail? What'd they do? Taunt it mercilessly until it collapsed in a sobbing heap on the ground?), speed restrictions on the Kingston/Plymouth Line. Amazingly, no delays reported on the Green Line.
How long would it have taken to walk from Needham to Forest Hills?
By adamg - 8/17/09 - 10:55 amAnna B reports her train this morning was two hours late:
... My train died at my stop and we wound up having to be pushed into Boston by another train. On top of that, the conductors didn't even announce the correct stops. ...
Headless body found by West Roxbury commuter-rail stop
By adamg - 7/19/09 - 8:59 amBoston Police tweet officers are at the Highland stop this morning after a decapitated body was found on the train tracks.
Woman killed by commuter-rail train in Needham
By adamg - 7/6/09 - 2:02 pmEarly this afternoon near the Greendale Avenue bridge, Channel 5 reports.
The delicate lungs of commuter-rail conductors
By adamg - 7/15/08 - 7:51 pmAre MBCR conductors on another secret job action, or do they all just have sore throats? Charlie on the Commuter Rail reports what happened at Ruggles yesterday afternoon:
... An outbound train pulled up to Ruggles at 4:19; everyone got on. One passenger asked what train it was, and discovered that it wasn't the Franklin train after all; it was the Needham train, running very late. We all started shouting and warning people, and there was a mass exodus of Franklin passengers.
The conductors never announced the damn train. ...
