North Station

Boston Police report arresting Carmen Picardi, 39, on charges he came out of a Halloween party near North Station, smashed a woman in the face with a baseball bat, then rode away in a cab.

Police say they identified Picardi, allegedly clad in a baseball uniform, with the help of photos taken by other attendees at the costume party they say he was at.

According to police, officers found his victim unconscious on the sidewalk at Causeway and N. Washington streets around 2:15 a.m. on Oct. 31.

Picardi will be arraigned on Monday in Boston Municipal Court on charges of assault with intent to murder and mayhem.

Innocent, etc.

Inside the MBTA kiosk leading to the concourse under Causeway Street for the North Station Green/Orange Line subway. Observed at about 8:30 am.

MBTA Transit Police report this guy's been busy of late at both North and South stations:

The suspect tells the victim he just purchased a $1,000.00 winning lottery ticket, has to catch a train, and will take $200 for the ticket as he has no time to cash it. Thirty individuals have reported to Lottery Headquarters with these counterfeit tickets as victims of this scheme.

He's described as white, about 5'10" and 200 lbs. If you spot him, Transit Police and the Lottery Commission would like to have a word with him. Drop a dime to Det. Matthew Haney at 617-222-1178.

The Boston Fire Department reports that shortly before 9 p.m., a woman in a motorized wheelchair tumbled off a commuter-rail platform at North Station:

With no train on track 3 at the time, the victim fell about 7' on to the tracks.

Firefighters found her with multiple cuts and placed her on boards to be handed off to EMTs for transport to a nearby hospital. No immediate word on what caused her fall. The department adds it took several firefighters to lift her 600-lb. wheelchair back onto the platform.

The Boston Police Department has asked local newspaper distributors to remove all their honor boxes by tomorrow from the areas around North Station, Kenmore Square and Faneuil Hall - and to keep them out of those areas until after the NBA finals. The specific areas:

• North Station – Between North Washington and Merrimack and Causeway to Congress.
• Faneuil Hall – Between North Sudbury to State St. and from Cambridge St. to Atlantic
• Kenmore Square – Brookline Ave. and Commonwealth Ave.

does it take to diagnose a problem with the faregates at North Station?

Answer: No fewer than seven.

As I came into North Station subway this morning about 8:35, the faregates were really screwed up. There were very long lines waiting to get through, even though all but two of the gates were open. Even though none of the gates I could see read "Smart Cards Only" (which is an absurd concept in and of itself, given the number op people coming from the commuter rail), the gates were still randomly rejecting tickets and passes.

Finaly got to a working gate, which accepted my pass and gave it back to me. As I was waiting (over 30 seconds) for the gates to open, I noticed a group of at least seven T workers watching what was going on, with a CSA trying to explain to them what the problem was.

Dead train at North Station means 20 to 25-minute delays, the MBTA advises (both directions, though? The T doesn't say).

The state Attorney General's office reports obtaining a civil-rights injunction against Sarah Blackwell and Nichole Coscia of Wakefield for an alleged attack on an Orange Line train in January:

The train attendant witnessing the incident stopped the train, and the victim ran into the next car where the attendant was stationed. Blackwell and Coscia followed the victim into the car and physically attacked the victim by kicking him with their boots and striking him in the face multiple times. Throughout the course of the assault, Blackwell and Coscia shouted anti-gay epithets at the victim. According to the complaint, fearing for the victim's safety, the train attendant placed himself between the victim and the attackers who continued to hit and kick the victim, until he eventually helped the victim into the train attendant's compartment to wait for MBTA Transit Police to arrive.

If the two are found guilty of harassing anybody else because of their race, gender or sexual orientation, they could get up to 10 years in prison, depending on the severity of the attack. Separately, they face assault and battery charges brought by the Middlesex County District Attorney's office.

Innocent, etc.

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.

The T provided hree separate 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.

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.