South Station

The MBTA wasn't running outbound trains between Park Street and JFK this afternoon because of "a power problem in the downtown area," according to announcements that played in between the usual announcements imploring riders to pay their fares and to say something if they see something.

I was at South Station when an inbound train pulled in around 2:30 p.m., emblazoned with "Out of Service" displays. But it stopped and then, after a minute or so, the doors opened. Like the well trained sheep we are, everybody got on - and suddenly realized the train smelled like burning garbage.

"It's just a trash fire on the tracks, not the train," an MBTA cop reassured us. "It's a trash fire, not the train."

More cops appeared on the platform. Then the doors closed and we left.

The Food Monkey considers those ads now gracing some stations (such as Government Center and Back Bay) with the chef sneering at the Pepsi drinkers of the world:

... It seems that Chef Colicchio suggests pairing your diet coke with something that appears a burger/seafood paella hybrid, with a pile of polenta covered in ketchup as a side. I am most glad to see this, as up until this time, I had believed myself to be alone in my Diet Coke and paella burger dining practices. ...

Speaking of T ads, what's up with the schizophrenia at South Station, which can't decide if it should promote Macs or Windows?

Brian Hopkins, a New Yorker up in Boston for a little barhopping a few years back, sued Amtrak in 2008, alleging the railroad failed to alert him that climbing on top of a train at 4 a.m. and grabbing hold of the overhead wires might result in such severe burns that he'd lose one of his arms.

Hopkins has since added the MBTA to his lawsuit (of course). As is often the case with federal lawsuits, the wheels grind slowly. Hopkins' lawyers now want Amtrak to hand over all the documentation they have on people who have ever been electrocuted by grabbing catenary wires in general and dating back to 1991 at South Station specifically. Read more

The MBTA says new Silver Line 4 service will get riders from Dudley Station to South Station in 30 minutes, with the first, ceremonial, run scheduled for 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

Buses are scheduled for every 10 minutes during rush hour and 15 minutes the rest of the day. T officials say federal stimulus money was used to get the service started.

The existing Dudley-to-Downtown-Crossing service is now SL5. SL3, which served part of the South Boston waterfront, was discontinued.

Natasha Lloyd tweets:

The inbound Worcester MBTA train just crashed into the platform at South Station. Several people were injured. Most are ok.

WBZ tweets 12 people are being treated for minor injuries, adds the injured were all people standing waiting to get off the train. Local 718 tweets two people had to be put on backboards, one elderly.

And, of course, last night, two Worcester Line trains almost collided head on near Back Bay.

Passengers being taken away outside South Station, by NECN:

Around 10 a.m., Boston Police tweet.

Jonathan Kamens reports an MBTA cop threatened him with arrest for trying to give reporters at this morning's Google Maps/MBTA press conference at South Station flyers about incorrect bus-route information at mbta.com.

Although the building is publicly owned, it is managed by a private company, a representative of which told Kamens he couldn't exercise the First Amendment without a permit. A few minutes later, a T cop told him to knock it off or she'd have to take him away, he says.

The Globe reports on the financial arrangement between the MBTA and the private company that leases South Station.

Dan Grabauskas blames Fred Salvucci, who hasn't been in office for 20 years. The Outraged Liberal asks:

... So if this is a problem of 20 years, why hasn't anyone noticed it before, least of all the crackerjack MBTA management that is trying to pinch every penny to avoid fare hikes?

Reader Chris Rich wonders just what is in the severance deal that Grabauskas negotiated for himself that leaves Deval Patrick unwilling to pull the trigger and dump Danny early? Obviously Grabauskas must has some contract skills.

Kate Adams forwarded this photo of people actually walking around in the sunshine at noontime today, at the South Station farmers' market.

Neighbors and patrons of the South Street Diner packed a Boston Licensing Board hearing this morning, asking the board to let the long-time eatery continue to operate around the clock.

Michael Flemming said he and his wife moved to the area exactly because it's a bustling area, thanks in part to the diner, which has been open 24 hours for more than 60 years. Read more

Today's fight-the-fare-increase day on the T as the T Riders Union, the Sierra Club and other groups attempt to get commuters riled up enough about looming fare hikes and service cutbacks to call up their state legislators to complain.

But Spatch reports it didn't go quite as well as it could have at South Station this morning, tweeting that:

MBTA fare protestors handing out flyers @ So. Station are upstaged by people giving out free Vitamin Water. Feels almost Machiavellian.

Chris tweets that there was a security checkpoint at South Station this evening, he declined to answer any of their questions, but they let him through anyway.

Carmen reports the cop didn't seem very happy about it, but he still ran a busker out of the South Station T stop last night for not having a permit - and that really annoyed all the people who'd been listening to him:

... One woman thought it was all her fault, that she had brought attention to the busker by asking him to play a song for her. She had been singing along when the mean cop came along. "I feel terrible," she said. "I've been working up my courage for weeks just to ask him to play that song for me."

The chain dredged up the guy who played Charlie in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" - the 1971 version - to help hand out one-ride Charlie Cards at North, South and Back Bay stations between 7 and 10 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 23.

One person will get a year's worth of free Dunkin' Donuts coffee and a pass good for a year's worth of subway ridin,' according to a company press release, which mentions how Oompa-Loompas are not eligible but which otherwise does not, as far as I can tell, explain the connection between kids getting stuffed down garbage chutes and greater Boston's transit sysem, except, of course that both the movie and the T have a character named "Charlie," and, presumably, Starkist wanted too much for a guy dressed up like a tuna and, besides, Dunkin' Donuts doesn't sell tuna sandwiches.

Pepsi-Cola has taken over South Station. Spatch is [url=http://derspatchel.livejournal.com/685222.html]not impressed[/url].

I think my number was five, although I could've gotten that down to one if I hadn't also tried to scrape off my wife's car in addition to mine.

Don Martelli, meanwhile, turns into one of those crabby bloggers the MBTA is always ignoring:

When conditions are icey, can you please alert bus riders on the 110
from Revere to Wellington Station in Medford that the bus will be
bypassing the Park Ave hill due to conditions? You have a website.
Use it. How about text alerts? ...

And Alison Driscoll tweets from South Station:

Nice, train late again and noone knows why. No T alert either. ...

After a few months away from Boston, Jim Kane arrives back at South Station to see an electronic signboard stating the next train to Fitchburg leaves from track 6.

Train Rider managed to get wet hair without even stepping out of South Station this morning:

... While I was waiting for the Silver Line, another commuter dropped their orange juice all over me and some guy. The person was walking down the stairs and the OJ fell over. It actually spilled on my head. So my hair is all crusty now. ...

Earlier:
In case you missed the crappy Natick story.

The Lone Rider adds them to his list of Silver Line buses he will never get on again. Latest on his list: Bus 1131, which broke down in the Ted Williams Tunnel, causing a horrific traffic jam that meant it took him 47 minutes to get from Logan to South Station.

Alicia, meanwhile, uses her BlackBerry to report that the driver on the 7 bus is actually going too fast:

... She is speeding like crazy and then slams on the breaks if she has to pick someone up. Everyone's heads are whipping forward when she finally decides to break last minute. If there is a service slowdown going on, this chick is definitely boycotting it. Ugh, I need a barf bag. ...

There's just something romantic about an old steam locomotive plugging along, those plumes of steam and smoke trailing behind it.

At least one commuter-rail train out of South Station brought those days back to life around 4 this afternoon, an alert e-mailer informs us:

[It was] belching humongous amounts of black smoke. Tons of black smoke. You'd have thought the darn thing was running on coal. Instead of stopping on past the platform or heading into the Red Line yard, I believe the train continued on its way towards JFK/UMass. The plume was very dramatic and ran the length of the post office building
and extended even behind the giant ventilation building on the south side. Folks on the street were gawking just like folks in office buildings.

Rajiv posts video:

After a tough day at work and all the dismal financial news this week, this guy brought me back to life with his trumpet. Thanks Mr. trumpeter!

Hanover and Prince wonders what happened to South Station on "Fringe:"

... The below station is on par with the Greyhound station in Ithaca, NY where we went to school. It's one room.

Pathetic! Lord, we hope people around the country don't think this is actually our major transportation hub ...

Due to derailment at South Station.

So this barhopping New Yorker up in Boston climbs on top of an Acela train at South Station late one night in 2006, reaches up and is promptly zapped with 27,000 or so volts, leading to serious burns and injuries, including the loss of his left arm.

Naturally, he's suing Amtrak for gross negligence, because it failed to do enough to keep idiots from climbing on top of trains and grabbing hold of electrical wires.

In his suit (original complaint), Brian Hopkins argues Amtrak should have known people routinely trespass at South Station and so should have turned off the electricity at night, parked trains away from the station and warned people that grabbing hold of high-voltage power lines could cause serious injuries.

In its reply, Amtrak basically argues Hopkins's injuries were his own damn fault.

Hopkins (and his parents) originally brought the suit in a Queens state court, because he lives there; Amtrak won a request to have the suit moved to federal court, because it was created by Congress and is still half owned by the federal government. The suit is now before federal district court in Brooklyn.

Via the Herald.

Paul Keleher happened to be in South Station yesterday when "Edge of Darkness" crews took over parts of the place to film their movie. He reports:

The South Station was full of electrical cables, equipment trunks, lighting arrays and cameras, not to mention a small army of the film crew. Security was very tight, yet polite. I was asked to stop photographing a few times.

Since South Station is a public place, Keleher declined.

Earlier:
Mel Gibson not welcome at one Roslindale house.