Providence Line

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.

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.

The little engine that could helps the little engine that couldn't on the Providence Line

adamg — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 11:54:21 +0000

It's heartwarming how the little choo-choos help each other out. When the 6:33 into Boston belched its last and died in Sharon, the train behind it agreed to help out and push it all the way into Boston. Good train, good! Of course, that does mean 30-minute delays, but at least Providence Line riders get to have a nice warm feeling, unlike their counterparts on the Newburyport/Rockport line, facing lengthy delays due to boring signal problems, and riders on the Fitchburg Line, facing long delays because, well, it's the Fitchburg Line.

'What about a town car? Can you send a town car?'

adamg — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:50:46 +0000

Amelia Sutton recounts a recent four-hour train ride on commuter rail from Providence to Boston. For those unfamiliar with that route, no, it's not supposed to take four hours:

Perhaps I should have seen a blacked-out train with no AC or electricity to be a bad omen when boarding in Providence. But no. The conductors assured us that the engine was functional thanks to "reserve batteries." We would be fine!

Northeast Corridor vanishes into pit of dispair

adamg — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:33:45 +0000

Downed power lines somewhere in the Canton area mean no Amtrak service between Boston and New York and, of course, massive delays on the Providence/Stoughton Line that have left stranded commuters hoping for the buses the T is promising.

Another person struck and killed by train in Hyde Park

adamg — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:34:04 +0000

This time by an outbound commuter-rail train on the Providence Line, about 5:20 p.m. just outbound from the commuter-rail station, AlertNewEngland reports.

Channel 4 reports the woman, whom the MBTA said was trespassing on the tracks, was hit next to the Boston Renaissance Charter School. The school sent out e-mail to parents and staff that the woman had no affiliation with the school and did not get onto the tracks from school property.

Trains in both directions were stopped, and extensive delays persist as of 7:30 p.m. As passengers sat and grew restive, one Providence Line conductor went on the PA, Lauren Gallagher tweets:

The conductor simply announced "I apologize for you losing 2 hours of your life, but this girl lost all of hers."

In August, Benjy Barlatier, 28, of Hyde Park, was killed by an inbound Amtrak train while standing on the tracks at the station.

Person found shot near commuter-rail tracks in Canton

adamg — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:00:25 +0000

MBTA Transit Police report finding somebody with an apparent gunshot wound this afternoon. Two outbound Providence/Stoughton trains from South Station were delayed; service is back to normal otherwise.

In the dark on commuter rail

adamg — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:14:13 +0000

Mary McVeigh took this photo around 4:50 p.m. from her seat on the 811 train to Providence. The train that stopped all of a sudden when the engine died 30 minutes earlier. The train with no lights or heat. But, she adds:

At least we can watch the snow fall.

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.

It's bad when the T tells you to find another way to get to work

adamg — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:09:40 +0000

The Providence Line inbound is all messed up this morning due to a disabled train at Ruggles.

Live report from a dead train

adamg — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:33:42 +0000

Benjamin Morton is onboard the 7:35 a.m. train from Providence, which as I type is at least 30 minutes late. He tweets:

"we got another couple things to try, but no progress yet, hopefully we get it moving soon" - 32min late

Add concrete ties to the list of things to worry about on commuter rail

adamg — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:53:07 +0000

Over at CommonWealth, Jack Sullivan reports the ties that keep MBTA commuter-rail trains on the tracks south of Boston are falling apart:

... The concrete ties were supposed to last 50 years, but many are falling apart after less than 10. ... MBTA officials say they have identified defects in about 4,000 concrete ties on the two Old Colony commuter rail lines to Boston and on the Providence-to-Boston line, but they admit the problem could affect as many as 150,000 ties, equal to more than 56 miles of track. The cost of repairing the ties is unclear, but projections using numbers from similar projects elsewhere yield an estimate that could run as high as $100 million. ...

WiFi prankster on the Providence Line

adamg — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:29:11 +0000

Looks like somebody with a grudge changed the name of the wireless access point on one train out of Providence.

Super-angry commuter-rail conductors

adamg — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:08:02 +0000

Michaela reports:

I've taken the commuter rail from Providence to Back Bay several times in the past few weeks for internship interviews, and one thing constant with my trips are that the commuter rail workers, especially female, are super angry and pissed off at everything! ...

MBCR conductor disregards personal safety, goes after dangerous criminal on his train

adamg — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:15:23 +0000

Imagine: Dude was taking photos out the window of a Providence Line train:

... Shortly after taking a few pictures, a conductor came along and told me I wasn't permitted to take photos on the train. 'Why not?' I asked politely, turning off my camera and putting it away. The answer was along the lines of 'Because.' ...