Hey, there! Log in / Register
Smoke in the tunnel shuts the Orange Line at DTX; smoldering tracks not up to specs
By adamg on Wed, 10/19/2016 - 3:04pm
The Orange Line is shut due to something smoldering on the tracks between Downtown Crossing and Chinatown. The Chinatown station was evacuated due to the smoke.
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
A fireman's biggest fear
A friend of mine who is a Boston Firefighter told me that evacuating hundreds to thousands of passengers in train tunnels and stations is extremely difficult. He also said the T often delays calling the fire department because they want to keep service running. Unfortunately he said one of these days the notification delay will cause a major disaster.
MBTA website
Shows no delays now.
No alert
Exactly. I was in DTX when this happened and the PA system was telling us about this with severe delays re-route via the green line while police and fire crews were throughout the station.
But I did not receive any text alert - before during or after.
While I did receive one later for the VP motorcade and the red line.
It's not the first time I noted this problem with them and some alerts not ever going out while others do.
MBTA did send an alert
after service resumed. IIRC, it read
. Shortly thereafter, they then sent the obligatory "All Clear (now we're going to force you to re-read the initial alert to figure out the original problem that we're issuing the all clear for)" notice.
And it is not uncommon for some problems to never be acknowledged with an alert, for other alerts to be sent out after the fact, and for other alerts to never be given the "all clear'"message.
We better hire a consultant
We better hire a consultant to figure out if hiring a janitor is feasible. Or, see if there are alternative ways to assess the smoke before extinguishing any possible fire.
Quick question
When have janitors EVER cleaned the tracks between stations? Never you say, great point buddy.
The Janitors Continuously Remove Trash From The Platform Areas
Despite their efforts, some items fall onto the tracks where they can't safely remove it. Without the janitors, you can be certain the problem would be much, much worse. With more janitors, it could be better.
Where does most of the trash
Where does most of the trash on the tracks come from though? A lot of it is thrown there by passengers in stations, and carried along by trains. The cleaner you keep the stations, the cleaner the tracks will be.