North Station
Dead Orange Line train at North Station. Phil R. reports in from Reservoir:
No working signals & MBTA personnel at every stop between here and (at least) Newton Ctr. NOT A GOOD SIGN
MBTA Transit Police tweet somebody left a threatening message on a North Station restroom wall this afternoon, but that a search that started just as the evening rush was getting underway found no device and that as a result, "all service resuming normal operations."
Current alert from the T web page:
Green Line service is experiencing 10-15 minute delays due to a switch problem at North Station. 12/2/2009 3:59 PM
My sources indicate that the problem is due to a train that derailed on a switch. As a result, all eastbound service is currently being turned at either Park Street or Government Center , and that passengers on trains entering Park Street are being advised to take the Orange Line to Haymarket and North Station.
They are currently setting up a Lechmere to North Station shuttle train, and buses will be put in place between North Station and Government Center.
Update as of 4:40 pm - My sources now indicate they will be running shuttle buses, not a shuttle train, between Lechmere and North Station.
Channel 7 reports a driver in a westbound trolley stopped short tonight, sending passengers flying. Interestingly, the trolley continued to Government Center, where some passengers were removed on stretchers, the station says.
UPDATE: The video made the news around the world. See examples in the comments.
Maybe the author of this Missed Connection will have more luck than the reporters who tried finding Our Lady of the Pit on Twitter yesterday.
Via Chessie Monks.
Still from an MBTA surveillance video just as the train stopped.
Channel 4 posts copies of three separate MBTA videos (three? Yes, three) of the woman falling off the platform - looks like one of the people waving at the oncoming train almost fell on the tracks himself.
Onlookers waving at the train to get the driver to stop: Read more
Rick Sawyer reports he was on the inbound Orange Line platform at North Station last night when a woman fell on the tracks - just as a train was approaching:
... It was like a movie. The train stopped inches away from the woman's unstirring body, the frontmost part actually hanging over her. For a nauseating moment, we thought she had been killed—by the train or by the third rail. The conductor burst out of the front train compartment, the color draining from her face, repeating "Oh my God." ...
on the end of the Garden-side entrance to North Station Orange/Green Line subway? It's been removed and the hole covered over with plywood.
If and when it is eventually replaced, I hope the T puts in a pair of normal swinging doors instead.
Mitch Blum tweets:
bummy kid shaking down commuters for cash on the [Newburyport/Rockport] train at N. Station...he scored $11.
Delays inbound as a result, the T reports.
Boston Police tweet an "electrical fire" at North Station has shut down the area and that Green Line passengers are being evacuated from the tunnel. "Expect delays," they laconically advise. The T reports no Green Line service north of Government Center, blames "a disabled train" and power problems. Look in the comments below for an eyewitness account and a possible explanation of what happened.
No Green Line service north of Government Center thanks to "a wire problem" at North Station.
Revives flashbacks of Saturday's Green Line mess.
Passengers being told to take the Blue Line to Wonderland to get a shuttle bus to Lynn. Did a train hit somebody? Yes, in Everett.
Apparently, it's a fun new game: Try figuring out if the trains are really going where the signboards say they are. Guess correctly and you win a trip to your destination. Make the wrong choice and you get to get off at the next stop and take the Orange Line back to North Station for another try.
The good news today was that all the faregates and Charlie machines at North Station subway appeared to be working properly today.
The bad news is that North Station has been given over to the latest attack of "station domination" (the T's really obnoxious way of raising revenue). In this case, it's really hard to tell you're actually in a subway station and not an airline terminal, thanks to all the JetBlue posters and ads and banners and decals plastered everywhere there's a blank space - yes, even on the FLOOR of the station as you approach the faregates.
This morning, NONE of the faregates at North Station subway were accepting monthly passes. Instead, they had a single CSA manning the 'Reduced Fare' faregate, and you flashed your pass at them as you went through.
Also, the ticket machines were apparently not accepting debit cards today, as the single CSA at the gate was yelling to people who were having problems with the machines. And yes, there were no other CSAs in sight near the machines to actually help those people who had trouble.
Sean Sullivan photographed one of the train bridges over the Charles behind North Station.
Copyright Sean Sullivan.
Actually, it was a man in a mosquito suit greeting commuters making their way through the concourse under Causeway Street. The man in the suit, and a group of people, were promoting a charity that is working to reduce the spread of malaria in Africa.
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.
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.
The Commutant reports from North Station:
Apparently the elders of North Station, in their wisdom, have decided that the low bass voice of the text-to-speech PA system is too easy to understand in the cavernous space that is the waiting area for trains. So, added to the mix is a bunch of ethnic folk song rejects caterwauling their oh-so-politically-correct holiday songs that I don't recognize.
And lucky for him, he got to listen even longer because at 4:48, he posted a photo of an empty platform where the 4:40 express was supposed to have just left from, only it hadn't even pulled in.
Lori Magno got to Wedgemere station this morning to see a sign (taped to a trash can) telling riders that track work meant they need to board the inbound train on the outbound track.
Guess which track the train came on?
... When the conductor stepped off I asked him what he knew about the sign and he just shook his head (trying not to chuckle) and suggested I speak to customer service at North Station. Feeling up for a challenge, I did stop by customer service and spoke to a nice young woman who asked me to forward the photograph so she could send it to her supervisor. I left my business card too in case they want to respond.
Lori Magno has started a Flickr group to chronicle late MBTA trains and buses and the signs that (sometimes) announce their lateness (the ultimate MBTA lateness announcement). She describes her inspiration:
... So last night I arrive in time for the 6:25 only to have the sign say "Late 10 min" and then the sign changed to say "Late 15 min" with no announcement and North Station was left to ponder "15 minutes from now, or 15 minutes from 6:25?" GAH! ...
But thanks to a screamy conductor who forgot to check tickets, she at least got a free ride.
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