MassDOT and the MBTA today withdrew impending changes to the schedules of North Station commuter-rail line, saying they will come up with new proposed schedules next month to go into effect this spring - after public comment. Read more.
This just in from Keolis:
Keolis Commuter Services, which operates the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) commuter rail system, finished out the month of October with an unadjusted on-time weekday performance rate of 90.44 percent, the best performance for that month in nearly a decade.
A significant number of delays for the month were caused by trains that had to be operated at lower speeds for safety reasons because of slippery rail conditions. When adjusted for slippery rail and other conditions or incidents not under the control of Keolis, on-time performance was 94.44 percent.
Ari Ofsevit analyzes the new train times:
A consultant and a computer model were used for these schedules, but common sense seems to have been left by the wayside.
The most blatant example of this is the timing of the schedules: there are no trains - on any line - arriving at North Station between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m., and none which depart North Station between 6:30 and 7:25 p.m. So for anyone who works a 10 to 6 shift is completely hosed. This needs to be fixed. If no one rode these trains, I could see the logic. But people do.
Downtown Crossing bell ringer today. Photo by Craig Caplan.
It's barely the first week in November, and we already have a bell-ringer sighting.
MBTA North Station subway concourse about 3:40 pm.
Sure, the Army does some very good work. But do us all a favor and wait another six weeks before ringing your bells.
CommonWealth Magazine reports House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) has signed onto the Dukakis/Weld effort to build a tunnel between South and North stations.
Backers say the tunnel would not cost much more than the state's current plans to expand South Station and would provide far more benefits, including reducing the need for tracks at South Station, especially if the Postal Service decides to never move from its facility along Fort Point Channel.
The former governors say it's last time to connect the two terminals with a rail link.
He somehow wound up under the second car of an outbound train around 10:45 p.m. First responders pulled him out, alive, not long after, from the inbound side, after the power was shut off. Outbound train service remained halted until after 11:30 p.m., as police investigated the incident.
John Gage came upon U2 fans outside the Garden hoping for a glimpse of Bono's limo around 2:30 p.m.
The Zakim gets all the attention, but the old commuter-rail bridge next to it has its own charms, including a spiral staircase to the top. Molly Hester admired its form from North Point Park in Cambridge yesterday.
Shortly after 10 a.m., was taken away in bad shape.
Service was halted, causing severe delays.
that convinced the managers at Keolis that there was going to be snow in the forecast. Judging by the cluster that North Station became at the tail end of rush hour, it felt more like the bad old days of February than early May.
Finn reports:
The MBTA is playing a message at N Station this morning about how Shawn Thornton takes the T to work.
Keolis officials were at North Station this morning thanking commuters for their patience as the company restored all the trains it lost in the snows of February.
Probably just as well they weren't at South Station, where commuters were reporting delays and cancellations on the Providence Line:
Crazy - I'm now an hour and 15 mins behind sched. They cancelled the 6:42 and next train was late, too.
TD Garden officials found themselves before the Boston Licensing Board today, apologizing for being helpless in the face of a force like Garth Brooks.
More specifically, they were there to answer a police citation for "failure to disperse patrons in a safe, timely and orderly fashion" on the night of Jan. 24. Police say the area around and under the Garden - in particular, North Station - was so full of people exiting one Garth Brooks concert and people waiting to enter the next that the result was pedestrian gridlock that kept innocent commuters just trying to get home on commuter rail from getting to their trains on time.
Some kind of switch problem is wreaking all kinds of havoc at North Station this afternoon. Or as Sue puts it:
I got 99 problems and all of them seem to be switch issues at North Station.
from the fact you're cancelling trains. Just don't post the cancelled trains on your information board. At least that's what Keolis did this afternoon, as the board at North Station now shows fewer trains, instead of showing the full schedule with the notation "Cancelled" next to those trains they don't run under the "modified winter schedule".
Not sure if I totally approve of the idea, but it might be better if they indicated at the bottom of the board that they are currently running a limited schedule, lest some passengers look at the board and think "I could've sworn there was a train to Beverly at 5:55."
We started seeing reports of pleasant rides on the T today. Except from commuter-rail riders, who continue to find themselves jammed into stations waiting for trains that never come, or leave, or, who knows, even exist at all. Claire Blechman was among those trying to get into North Station this evening.
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