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Once again, Red Line service dismal; riders find that abysmal

By adamg on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 7:31am

UPDATE: T workers had to corral the train because it was coming down the tracks with no driver.

A train left its earthly body at North Quincy this morning, leaving the Red Line no choice but to immediately go into "severe delay" mode in both directions. But, hey, at least it wasn't signal problems today, amirite?

Neighborhoods: 
Quincy
Topics: 
The T
Free tagging: 
Red Line
North Quincy


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Comments

By lbb on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 7:33am.

At this rate, it's going to be torches and pitchforks by New Year.

A helpful link for those wanting to get an early start.

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By maria c on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 7:41am.

I always wondered which button the MBTA Wiz presses to intercom such generic boilerplate while the misses wait clueless and helpless. ???

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By anon on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 10:10am.

Last year someone posted a photo of a cardboard wheel they'd made (sort of like one of these things) of the MBTA's few-dozen standard excuses. I'd repost the image if I could find it.

They probably have one of these the size of Wheel of Fortune's wheel in their communications facility.

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By octr202 on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 7:47am.

...but let's focus the torches and pitchforks at the right target.

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By cybah on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 8:04am.

It's to easy to throw pot shots at the T, rather than place the real blame

(I agree with you 100% tho..)

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By anon on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 10:21am.

One of the wonders of democracy is the diffusion of responsibility to the point no one is really to blame for anything. The political parties blame each other, individual legislators just say they're doing what their voters wanted, voters will say well at least I voted for someone else, agencies will blame the legislature for not giving them enough money, advocates will blame the legislature for giving too much money to something else, opponents will blame the agencies for wasting what they were given, and no one can be definitively pointed to as the source of the problem. So around and around it goes and nothing gets fixed. And every few years you have a change in political leadership which alters or outright cancels whatever meager attempts the previous administration had made to improve things. This is not a problem with the MBTA specifically but one of the nigh-inescapable facets of bureaucratic/democratic government.

In absolute monarchies and dictatorships, when the peasants revolt at least everyone knows whose head they want on a spike.

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By Chris77 on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 8:11am.

I'm so glad to be a bus commuter(moved recently from Waltham to Newton). I'd hate to live in Quincy and have to deal with the Red Line every day.

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By joheyjude on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 8:25am.

First of all, Red Line Day started out immediately with T alert about a signal problem, then a power problem at Braintree, THEN a disabled train. Anyway, T employee at Wollaston station stated there was a LOT more to the story and it involved a disabled, then runaway train without a driver and a heroic passenger. Not sure if it's true, but it made a heck of a story!

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By Michael on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 9:40am.
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By roadman on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 10:08am.

a version that people can read without incurring eye strain. From BDC:

An MBTA train left Braintree Station without a driverThe MBTA says a Red Line train departed from Braintree Station Thursday morning without an operator, and officials are investigating an initial report into whether the train had been tampered with.

According to a statement from the MBTA, the driverless train—with passengers on board— traveled north past North Quincy Station before MBTA operators de-powered the third rail, bringing the train to a stop.

T personnel then boarded the train and brought it to JFK/UMass Station where passengers were asked to exit the train on to the platform, according to the statement.

No passengers were injured, according to the MBTA.

Investigators are looking into an initial report that a safety device in the train’s cab may have been tampered with, according to the MBTA statement.

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By M on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 10:06am.

The workers at Wolly are my favorite. The art on the signs reminding you it's the first if the month always made my day.

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By joheyjude on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 8:20pm.

I DO like Wolly. Same tall grey guy every morning and he's a straight shooter who gives the passengers the true story. The T could use a lot more guys like him. I think he's behind the fresh month T pass reminders. :)

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By anon on Thu, 12/10/2015 - 10:21am.

Story I heard frm a T employee friend was there is an ongoing signal problem at Braintree that requires trains to be put in signal code by-pass (means a train can move even if it has a stop signal). The train motorperson has to leave the cab and place the train on by-pass at a switch on the outside of the car. The motor person on the incident train this morning did that and the train took off on its own, knocking the moterperson down. Dispatchers had the train in front of it run express to get it out of the way and kept on killing power sections in front of the run away train to try and stop it. It made it all the way past North Quincy before it finally was stopped. I have to wonder how long it took to get those power sections killed, because that seems like a long way for a train to go just from the momentum of a take-off from Braintree.

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