When your train is cancelled and you get to ride a bus into town, you get your choice of reasons why.

Train Rider provides the officialest of all the answers.

Train Rider relays a report from a suffering commuter on this morning's P508 Worcester train, whose riders got into Boston three hours after they left Worcester:

... Apparently, the MBTA has known for weeks that the P508 train has "flat wheels." Flat wheels can cause the train to de-rail. The maximum "Wear and tear" that's allowed by law is 1 1/2 inches. Some of the wheels on this train had flat spots of OVER three inches. So, they forced everyone off in Framingham and made us switch trains. I got into the office at 10 AM. ...

Ah, yes, summertime means heat-related speed restrictions on the Worcester Line.

Commuter-rail riders are coming home to find their cars smashed in:

... On the train last week, I was standing behind a couple of Grafton commuters who were talking about the break-ins. One woman was saying that she had filed a police report with the town of Grafton and that the police responded to her that there have been over 30 (!) break-ins in the last 4-6 weeks. ...

Eddie is a conductor on the Worcester Line whom everybody seems to like. So when the regulars heard he was taking a buyout, they sprang into action, Charles Glassenberg reports:

... I was slipped a little piece of paper and a woman whispered to me the cryptic words "it happens right after Wellesley Farms." The paper had the lyrics to "For he's a jolly good fellow," and instructions to sing once we heard the whistle. Once we pulled out from Wellesley Farms, a shrill whistle was heard, and both decks of my packed double decker car burst into song. Eddie was duly impressed, and touched. At South Station everyone stopped to shake his hand, and wish him well in his retirement. ...

Train Rider posts a letter from Bob Stoetzel, recently fired as head of commuter-rail operations over that Halloween-costume issue:

... To be quite honest, my termination would have been easier for me to accept if I was advised I was being held responsible for the overall decline in commuter rail service performance and the high level of dissatisfaction and frustration being experienced by commuter rail customers on all service lines, including the Worcester Line. ...

Train Rider reports that for the second night in a row, the doors on his train at South Station were locked:

... They announced the train, still the doors were locked. There was a conductor on the track, just walking back and forth. Finally, the majority of us standing on the platform, went through the front door and then back through the cars to get to a seat. While we were walking down the aisles, one of the conductors was coming through and getting angry (p*ssed) that the conductors couldn't get up the aisle. I said, "well, this wouldn't happen if all of the doors were open." Not sure they appreciated that! ...

It's amazing what some schedule lengthening can do.

Train Rider reports on the response a Worcester Line regular got from the MBCR when she complained about conductors not collecting fares on one specific train:

... I agree that the lack of fare collection is a matter of great concern. I know you have received one response already, but would like to tell you that we will have people monitoring this trains specifically, and if necessary will assign a spotter over a brief period to ensure that the conductors are in compliance with procedure. ...

They will have assign a spotter to one train to make sure the conductors collect fares. What exactly do conductors do all day? Oh, yeah, they also don't announce stops and don't open doors.

Seems a fed-up Worcester Line rider e-mailed some increasingly choice words to MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas, eventually escalating to descriptions of what Grabauskas could do to himself, and now Grabauskas is demanding the Patrick administration do something about this violation of his civil rights. The alleged e-mailer works for the Department of Corrections and was suspended - with pay.