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Red Line train crosses River Styx; riders left in quite the fix
By adamg on Fri, 11/14/2014 - 7:53pm
Kendall Square, 6:20 p.m. Photo by Mark.
Not long after 6 p.m., the Red Line did what it does so well: Fail. Specifically, a train got to the Longfellow Bridge, looked down and grew so terrified it would fall in the river, or something, that it just died right there, as Devin Cole shows us:
The driver somehow managed to coax the beast into Charles/MGH just long enough to disgorge its load of passengers around 6:30 p.m., with the help of another train summoned to push it out of the way, or at least get it to the South Boston yard.
Meanwhile, service stopped in the other direction as well.
At 6:44, Reed reported:
Been waiting for a Braintree train at dtx for almost an hour...An empty train just came in and left
By 7:20 p.m., Mike got to North Quincy, to see "20+" as the estimated time of arrival for the next two inbound trains.
It got so bad that even a Keytar Bear sighting outside Harvard Square station was not enough to lift most spirits, as Chrissie Mac explained:
With all due respect having been stuck on #mbta too many times Keytar Bear is the last thing I'd want to see... #sorrynotsorry
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Comments
Why is there no accountability!
Trains that don't run
Bus drivers used as punching bags
Stations that smell of urine and cheap booze
A police department that spends more time above ground instead of the subway
Surly employees smoking butts and on their cell phones
no one pays its the MBTA
Employees who park their cars in stations
An invisible management team
TIME FOR A FARE HIKE
No hike. Charlie promised he
No hike. Charlie promised he wouldn't raise taxes or fees.
He could very well shelve
He could very well shelve South Coast rail and put the cash into fixing the core system. Maintenance isn't sexy but to a boring nuts and bolts governor it could be.
Can't spend "capital" monies
on "operational" needs like maintenance and repair. That's what Charlie needs to fix first.
Oh, and eliminating the needless and draconian "environmental" and "civic engagement" regulrements so the MBTA can make needed repairs and upgrades in a more timely and cost-efficent manner would help as well.
How much you wanna bet
"Sorry" Charlie doesn't count "fares" as part of his pledge not to raise taxes or fees.
Yes hike.
Notwithstanding the result on Question 1, the T already has authority to regularly raise fares per the 2009 transportation reform bill and subsequent legislation.
The Train "Died On Its Rails"
I was on this ill fated train! It stopped abruptly on the Longfellow Bridge. Every few minutes the operator would announce that we'd be moving momentarily, but ultimately she came on and said:
Eventually, another train came up from behind and pushed us across the bridge to Charles Station where the train went (officially) out-of-service.
I was on another train last week that stopped in a similar way, at the exact same place on the Longfellow Bridge. Although the lights went out in some of the cars, the train did manage to get going again after just a few minutes that time. I had intended to get off at Downtown Crossing and then get the Blue Line at State, but with the train acting up, I decided to bail at Charles and walk up Cambridge Street to Bowdoin instead. (it's six of one, half a dozen of the other anyway)
I don't think there are any sidings where trains can be parked until you get to Columbia/JFK Station, so I'm guessing tonight's disabled train had to be pushed all the way down there, which resulted in the lengthy service delays. Since we're not getting new Red Line trains anytime soon, it's too bad there isn't another place to stick them when this happens.
With the Longfellow Bridge getting a "lane diet" through its reconstruction, I wonder if a third Red Line track could be added. It would be the perfect place to park disabled trains, and also keep a spare healthy (or, at least working) train that could be placed into service in either direction when (not if) needed.
Your seatless bike
Time to lock it up at Bowdin so you can shuttle back and forth to the Blue Line?
I've Been Locking It At Wonderland Lately ...
... I'm just not as brave as you, to ride amidst city traffic all the time! Biking over the Longfellow is kind of fun though, so I'll have to get my courage up again.
Anyway, it's Friday night, and thanks to the Late Night Ⓣ service, I'll be boogieing back over to Wonderland now, to go out dancing in Boston!
We apologize for any
At this point, they should preemptively begin each trip with "We apologize for the T."
Sounds interesting but
I don't think adding a third track is in the approved project's scope and, honestly, I don't even know how practical or workable the addition of a breakdown lane would be. The Longfellow Bridge is not a train yard where on can switch off trains to place where they can be repaired (like the repair facility at South Station).
There are also very steep
There are also very steep grades at the bridge, not the best place to park a train with air-brake problems.
Very interesting point
This is a great point about the lack of pocket tracks/redundancy on the Red Line. Right now, if a train dies southbound, it has to be pushed all the way to JFK, going northbound there is nowhere to store a set so you have to push a dead set in to the tail tracks at Alewife. Most of this stems from the fact that much of this infrastructure was built 100 years ago, although it could be argued that the T missed a good opportunity to improve things when they built the extension to Alewife; a pocket track north of Harvard would have shortened this distance somewhat. (Here's a track map of the T, ICYWW.)
For comparison, the Blue Line is short and has a yard mid-line, so any pushes would be relatively minimal. The Orange Line has a similarly long section between Community College and Forest Hills (north of which the maybe-in-service express track could be used in a pinch). There seem to be several locations in the Southwest Corridor where there is enough width for a pocket track to be built, which is certainly not the case for the Red Line. And the Green Line has a lot of redundancy—depending on the direction of travel a dead train can be laid up at North Station (eastbound), Government Center (westbound), Park (both) Kenmore (wb) and on the surface at Blandford (B), Northeastern (E), Fenway or Reservoir (D).
As for the Red Line, a pocket track somewhere between Alewife and JFK would certainly be helpful for situations such as this debacle. Even with new cars (in, uh, 2020) things may still go awry. Being able to move a dead set off the main line without fouling the rails for an hour would help in this regard. As other posters have commented, while the Longfellow would be a perfect part of the line for one of these facilities, it would have some major constructability issues, not limited to the grade of the bridge. It would be damn near impossible to construct anything downtown even with all the money in the world. The only feasible option, I'd think, would be under Main Street between Kendall and Central (where I think there should be a new station to connect to the Grand Junction and serve the growing employment center there, but that's a long digression). It would require closing Main Street, relocating utilities and disrupting service on the line at times to relocate tracks, but in theory it would be possible to build some sort of pocket track within the current right of way in that part of Cambridge.
Best use of resources? Probably not, since by the time this sort of project was built we'd have new cars anyway. If money was no object and operations were the only concern? Sure, it would help. It's kind of too bad that no one mentioned this when the Longfellow was first being discussed; there would have been some potential to build this sort of facility in the middle of the bridge (in the area of the salt and pepper shakers) although it would have probably added quite a bit to the scope of the project (and required taking a lane from the eastbound side of the bridge between Cambridge and the top, although that would have allowed a wider climbing lane for bikes and still would have allowed two lanes down to Charles Circle).
In any case, good thinking OP!
That was by far the most
That was by far the most disastrous Red Line commute! Being packed on a train with people whining and complaining happy Friday'
It is all on a matter of perspective, I guess
I was stuck on the same train but it sounds like you and I were on different cars? Too bad. My folks were having a good time, laughing and making light of the aggravation.
I ride the Red Line daily, from South Station to Kendall, going on for about four years, to and from work, and I have to say that I have been extremely lucky as this delay was the longest for me.
I felt sorry, though, for the folks stuck waiting on packed platforms. That does indeed stink.
Just an aggravating, long clusterbang of a ride
I arrived at Harvard around 6, and the train came in and gave its usual "we're standing by until Central Control releases us" spiel, so I went and got something to eat. I returned, and the same train was there - that train finally departed at 6:30. Another train arrived, I got on it, got stuck on the Longfellow, announced it had arrived at Quincy Adams ("How the hell did we get to Quincy Adams? Time warp? The Tardis?") when it got to Charles MGH, and finally arrived at South Station at 7:20. I waited for the 8:10 Needham train, playing some games on my cell phone. The Needham train departed South Station late, and I finally arrived home in West Roxbury at 8:47.
And no, Keytar bear didn't help.
45 mins, an hour
Tops. By bike.
I think I might have been on
I think I might have been on the same train as Cleary Squared, at Porter...that's where my train sat, and sat, and sat, and sat. Then we moved on to Davis, where we sat and sat and sat for not quite as long, but long enough for a very irate drunk individual to stroll along the platform to the head of the train and commence screaming and banging and telling the conductor to just !#$% move it. Words were exchanged, belligerent drunk got onto the train, train started to move, belligerent drunk continued to carry on to a car full of people who had already had quite enough aggravation already, thanks very much. When we pulled into Alewife a couple of T cops converged on our car, as our self-appointed champion of the transit riders of Boston yelled, "I'm the guy! I'm the guy you want!" They know, man. I left so I don't know what level of trouble they had with him, but he was not cooperative.
So, some of your commuting delay was caused by a dead train, and some was caused by a jerkwad who had to act out in the mistaken belief that he sure was stickin' it to the MBTA.