Blue Line

Disoriented in East Boston

adamg — Sat, 19 May 2012 20:31:38 +0000

Where's the station?

Lisa S. photographed the remains of the Orient Heights stop on the Blue Line today. The T is bustituting this weekend as it renovates the station.

New addition to MBTA menagerie

adamg — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:14:54 +0000

Erin Sullivan reports from the Blue Line today:

Dude next to me on the MBTA had an iguana on his shoulder and I didn't notice until it tried TO CLIMB ON ME. There goes 10 years of my life. I fear reptiles as much as I fear birds only I SHOULD NEVER ENCOUNTER A REPTILE.

Stabbing at State Street T stop

adamg — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:28:16 +0000

Alert New England reports somebody was stabbed in the throat by the Old State House entrance to the State Street T stop around 9 p.m. The T shut down the station to let police investigate the incident.

Christopher Baer tweeted not long after:

I saw a man holding a cloth to his throat getting into an ambulance outside State St. T station a few minutes ago.

Update: Suspect described as black male in 20s, in a black sweatshirt, dark jeans, black shoes and a black hat with a purple brim.

Government Center T stop evacuated after escalator catches on fire

adamg — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 23:19:09 +0000

Firefighters quickly knocked down a fire in an escalator at the Government Center T stop shortly after 7 p.m., but heavy smoke forced them to evacuate everybody from the station and ask the MBTA to have Green Line trolleys bypass the stop until the smoke could be cleared.

4/9/12 - 7:10 pm

DA: Blue Line rider attacked into unconsciousness by man enraged at demand he put out his cigarette

adamg — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 20:56:08 +0000

A Medford man and his Winthrop girlfriend were arraigned today on charges of armed assault with intent to murder for a March 24 incident on the Blue Line that left a rider unconscious and with serious injuries that might have been even worse if the man had managed to get access to his knife, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

According to prosecutors, Paul Mucci, 48, became enraged that morning when another rider on an outbound Blue Line train told him to extinguish the cigarette he'd lit just past Revere Beach. Mucci allegedly head-butted the man, then kicked and punched him repeatedly as he tried to get the knife he had clipped to the back of his belt:

The T doesn't like getting up on Monday morning any more than you do

adamg — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:12:29 +0000

Broken trolleys on the Green Line, borked signals on the Orange Line, non-functioning lights on the Red Line at Park Street. But at least the Blue Line was working just fine.

Oh, and don't be so smug, morning drivers: Storrow inbound was FUBAR.

Crumbling Orient Heights T stop to get rehab; work will mean service disruptions

adamg — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:42:51 +0000

The East Boston Times-Free Press reports the station will be completely replaced by the spring of 2014 and that work to begin later this year will mean the station will be shut for six months and that buses will replace trains past Airport on weekends for four months.

Police finger man for MBTA pervishness

adamg — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:14:44 +0000

Updated with arrest information.

A Roxbury man was ordered held in lieu of $5,000 bail today on charges he used a special slit in his pants to masturbate and expose himself on a Blue Line train as it traveled under Boston Harbor on Dec. 24, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Abdelhakim Rezzoug was arraigned in East Boston District Court on a charge of open and gross lewdness for the incident. A rider captured him on video as he got off the train at Airport around 5:40 p.m., MBTA Transit police say. The DA's office says that not long after MBTA police released a wanted poster, a Boston Police sergeant reported he knew that guy - he was a resident of a DMH facility.

The DA's office says Rezzoug was arrested today on the Blue Line and that he will also be charged for a similar incident earlier on Dec. 24 on the Red Line.

The video taken by a passenger:

Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh?

adamg — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:21:54 +0000

Orange Bird tweets:

Nothing perks up a bad day like hearing the Sammy Davis Jr. doppelganger at Gov Center sing "Candyman"

Cell service coming to all T stops, tunnels, but not all cell users will have coverage

adamg — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:54:14 +0000

The Daily Free Press reports the company that's built cell antennas along the Red and Orange lines is extending the service to the underground portions of the Green and Blue lines.

Whether you can actually take advantage of that depends on whether your carrier has signed a contract with the company. AT&T and T-Mobile, for example, will have systemwide coverage; Verizon has only signed a contract for four downtown stations, the Globe reports.

Remember when local highways used to have signs advertising the T as "the alternate route?"

adamg — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:23:02 +0000

The MBTA just reported:

Blue Line. Expect significant delays due to a wire problem. Seek alternative transportation where possible.

The Blue Line sure seems to have a lot of wire problems.

Nice day for a walk

adamg — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:27:01 +0000

Joel Barciauskas photographed Blue Line passengers being evacuated at Orient Heights late this afternoon. The T blames "wire problems."

Man with knife charged with threatening to kill Blue Line worker, getting into it with T cop

adamg — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:30:51 +0000

8/18/11 - 9:30 pm

A Jamaica Plain man got cut over his left eye during a struggle with an MBTA Transit Police officer investigating threats against a worker at the Wood Island Blue Line stop last night.

According to a police report, officers got a call around 9:30 p.m. from a customer-service agent at the station about a "loud and disruptive" man whom the CSA said had threatened to kill him. The officers were able to get Gentyrus Gibbs, 36, out of the station, but when they told him to sit down, he instead jumped up and came at one of the officers - who noticed he had a sheathed knife on his right hip. The two battled and both fell to the ground, with Gibbs getting a cut open above his right eye, the report says. As another officer grabbed his legs, the report says, the first cuffed him.

Police say Gibbs refused to let EMTs - or medical personnel at Mass. General - treat his cut and the hospital eventually put him in four-point leather restraints, the report says.

The report does not state what allegedly set Gibbs off.

Innocent, etc.

State wants to drive stake through heart of undead connector between Red and Blue lines

adamg — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:59:29 +0000

In addition to announcing more delays in the Green Line extension, the state Department of Transportation wants to make sure the dormant proposal to extend the Blue Line to Charles/MGH stays dead.

In a filing with state environmental officials, MassDOT says spending another $49 million to study finishing what is now a $748 million project it has no intentions to build is pretty damn stupid, so it wants to be released from any obligations to do more studies.

As a matter of policy, MassDOT believes that it is irresponsible to spend precious public funds to design and permit transportation projects for which there are no identified construction funds, particularly given the need to continually refresh planning and permitting materials for major projects. To pursue final design of the Red Line/Blue Line Connector project at this point would be to squander resources that could otherwise be spent on projects for which construction funds are already committed.

Therefore, MassDOT is initiating a process to amend the [State Implementation Plan] to permanently and completely remove the obligation to perform final design of the Red Line/Blue Line Connector.

MBTA to run 'near rush-hour' subway service on Saturday

adamg — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:37:07 +0000

The T says it's beefing up service on Saturday for the Bruins victory parade, which kicks off at 11 a.m. at the Garden.

All four subway lines will run at "near rush hour" schedules during the day. The T says it will also have extra orange-vested workers stationed throughout the system to help riders unfamiliar with how to use CharlieCards or get to the parade route.

The T said commuter rail will run on its normal Saturday schedule, but that it hopes to announce some additional service tomorrow.

Because of the expected crush of fans at the Garden, the T is urging people who want to be right there to use other stations, such as Haymarket and Government Center, or even Park Street and Downtown Crossing, and then walk over.