Needham Line

Citizen complaint of the day: West Roxbury's gang problem

adamg — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 12:35:32 +0000

A concerned citizen filed this photo of a shelter at the LaGrange Street commuter-rail stop:

Gang tagging. West Roxbury MBTA station.

Where is the secret train burial grounds?

adamg — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:33:44 +0000

Dead trains on the Red, Green, Needham and Providence/Stoughton lines (so far) made for another interesting commute for many this morning.

UPDATE: "Significant delays" possible on the Fitchburg Line due to signal problems.

Today's worst commuter line: Needham

adamg — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:40:25 +0000

Kristina Cary reports from an inbound Needham Line train:

We're stopped right after Forest Hills with all power off.

The T estimated a 30-40 minute delay for the 8:30 train she's on. Steve Poftak, also on the train, though, tweets it took 50 minutes to get from Bellevue in West Roxbury to Ruggles.

Commute into South Station hosed by downed Amtrak wire

adamg — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:31:52 +0000

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.

Citizen complaint of the day: Taggers must really think Roslindale commuters are stupid

adamg — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:14:01 +0000

An incensed citizen posts a photo of a couple of obscene drawings at the Roslindale Square commuter-rail stop, one of which also has a text explanation, in case you couldn't figure out what the artist was trying to draw.

Lucky to be alive: Man suffers only broken leg when hit by train in West Roxbury

adamg — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 02:23:04 +0000

Brian D'Amico and Dan Adams report a guy was hit by a train around 8:30 p.m. on the Needham Line tracks between Home Depot and the West Roxbury Education Complex.

Another reason to quit smoking: You're less likely to walk into the side of a moving train

adamg — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:59:56 +0000

The 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

adamg — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:32:06 +0000

Commuters 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

adamg — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:18:26 +0000

Switching 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

adamg — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:23:35 +0000

The 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

adamg — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:15:28 +0000

Broken 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?

adamg — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:55:06 +0000

Anna 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

adamg — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:59:53 +0000

Boston 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

adamg — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:02:17 +0000

Early this afternoon near the Greendale Avenue bridge, Channel 5 reports.

Making tracks

adamg — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:45:31 +0000

Laura Scannell peers down the commuter-rail tracks in Roslindale.