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Why people turn to cars for hire: Orange Line tracks erupt in fire
By adamg on Fri, 05/04/2018 - 8:39am
Boston firefighters, not waiting for the next Oak Grove train. Photo by Amelia Mulligan.
Around 7 a.m., tracks on the Orange Line burst into flames at Downtown Crossing, creating delays of up to 30 minutes as power was shut to let Boston firefighters do what they do best.
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Comments
World class city!
Yup! All day long!!
Yup
Because New York City definitely does not have this problem.
But seriously, MBTA. This is a problem that does not need a lot of equipment to solve. Get people out there cleaning the tracks, and perhaps remind riders that the tracks are not a trash can.
Sigh....
We live in NYC now? Your point?
Now tell us of all the years you watched Bobby DeLeo and Bob Travaglini get absolute morons and degenerates lifetime jobs at the T. Then put two and two together.
And your point was?
My point is that even in "world class cities," there are issues with transportation infrastructure. New York is the easiest reference point for two reasons. First, their transit system is in really, really, shitty shape. Second, people tend to love comparing Boston to New York, so since the nearest "world class city" has a subway system that has a lot of trash fires on the tracks, I would say it is worth mentioning. But I suppose if I wanted to put the effort in, I could find issues in European "world class" cities, too. New York is just that easy.
I don't live in New York ...
as I suspect most of the people standing on that platform sweating their asses off yesterday don't either.
And people who compare NYC to Boston are usually the people trying to line their pockets by trying to convince the people that just moved here that we are comparable to that teeming metropolis.
The T is a transit system where do nothing employees have lifetime jobs where they get to to do the same with the backing of a union that scares the shit out of most of the corrupt pols in this state. That's why this shit keeps happening.
My dude
He was just saying that track fires can happen on any transit system. Quit being so dense.
Well, Mr. Carr
The days of Mr. Bulger's Transit Authority are gone, but it takes time for turnover. Heck, they contracted out the cleaning functions of the cars and stations over a decade ago. When's the last time you've actually taken the T?
NYC's subway is far from
NYC's subway is far from world class.
NYC
Everyone says NYC is just as bad as Boston, but having been in NYC recently, and having taken trains just about everywhere, all over the city, and over multiple days, I did not encounter a single delay like we get on the the MBTA. Not to mention, there are actually employees at stations.
There were no track fires, or signal problems, or broken down trains. Yet somehow, we get a problem on almost every line almost every day. We've had several track fires in the past few weeks, and red and green line trains dying every day. As far as I've experienced, the MBTA is significantly worse than the MTA on a daily basis.
Good for you
I'm not going to lie. I got caught in the aftermath of this fire this morning, but I can go weeks without being affected by a signal, train, or trash fire problem on the T. Going by your metric, I can say that the T is in great shape, much better than the horror stories I hear about from New York and Washington DC. Objectively, one can see in the articles I linked to data about fires on the MTA. That's right, it's common enough that there is data on it. They have a signaling system that makes the T's system look brand new. Admittedly, they have better rolling stock, but I did ride in cars built before the Orange Line stock was built my last time in Gotham. I also was involved in the aftermath of some sort of delay on the 7 Line, and I was there less than 24 hours.
out of your mind.
You’re totally out of your mind if you think the WMATA is as bad as the MBTA trains in Washington come every 2 to 3 minutes during rush hour they’re extremely clean and they just gave their entire fleet of trains a brand new upgrade the train is efficient there is minimal fair of Asian it’s on an entirely different level than MBTA an entirely different level and playing it’s not comparable the only problem with the WMATA is that it now stops running at midnight. You’re totally out of your mind if you think the WMATA is as bad as the MBTA .trains in Washington come every 2 to 3 minutes during rush hour they’re extremely clean and they just Implemented brand new trains SYSTEM WIDEthe train is efficient there is minimal fare evasion because you have to pay when you exit. There is peak hour surge. Rapid transit extends 25 miles from city center, it’s on an entirely different level than MBTA an entirely different level and plain it’s not comparable the only problem with the WMATA is that it now stops running at midnight. I’ve been coming to DC since 2011 and I have not once heard of a track fire or dead train.
I moved to DC a year ago.
You might want to do some research
In 2016, a woman died of smoke inhalation on a train stuck in a Metro tunnel for 35 minutes.
Oh and there's also this (written in 2017 by a reporter who used to cover the T up here):
Um, okay
So everything I’ve read in the Washington Post, Trains magazine, and heck in the Boston Globe was just fake news, right?
You do know that they had to close down large sections of the Metro since after 2011 for major repairs after incidents like the one Adam describes, right? Trains hitting other trains because the PTC didn’t work is another tale of the oh so vaunted WAMTA.
World Class City means the World ....not another American City
I was just in Hong Kong for a week with friends, a group of 8 taking the public transportation system all over the City and countryside with 2 children and a baby stroller. The trains were all spotless, everything worked, everything ran on time, never had to wait more than a few minutes, elevators took the stroller up and down, staff was friendly and courteous. Flawless cellphone and internet service hundred of feet below the ocean. The dirtiest car I saw (none really) was cleaner than any subway car I've seen anywhere in the USA.
Just think someday we could aspire to be as good as the Chinese !!!
This isn't a one off. Travel to Shanghai, BKK, Japan or to UK or Europe, (generally not as good as HK or Tokyo but better than USA). This is what as meant as 'World Class'. Let's break it down....the CLASS OF THE WORLD, meaning the best or as close to the best as anywhere else in the World. We simply are not that good. That is why some of the people who comment on this board use the term "world class" sarcastically because they have been outside the USA and seen how some things are done in other places and they work better than here. (Or maybe they haven't been outside the country but they know how to do research) So they understand that saying that it is possible to have clean reliable trains, pleasant staff, on time service, expanded hours, integrated service, etc. are not pie in the sky things to ask for. It has been achieved.
Let's not even start to talk about health care systems and outcomes ......
We do many things very well in America, other places do some things better, many places are much worse. The ideal of America to me is of taking great ideas from wherever they come from and adopting them or making them even better. The shame is that we aren't doing that enough and that collectively we seem not to insist on higher standards anymore.
In Hong Kong you can check
In Hong Kong you can check into your flight and drop your luggage off at a train station...downtown! No need to drag your luggage around all day if you have an evening flight. It is awesome.
America is a joke when it comes to public transit, largely because one of our two political parties has been bought by the oil industry. I'll let you guess with one.
Depends on where you're flying
I've done it several times. Some trips, easy peasy. Others. horrible porrible
And actually providing trash receptacles
on the platforms would help. And maybe even in those new trains being constructed as well.
There are trash cans on that platform
Along with hanging bags for some reason. The tough part is convincing people to use them and spending money on staff to clean the surroundings when said people don't use them.
Metro receptacles
Unless I'm mistaken, those are actually for people to toss out their Metro papers, and I think the Metro logo is even on the green top of the bin. The T could do better with putting more proper waste/recycle bins on platforms. Doesn't mean people will use them, though...
Oh, yeah
I’ve been following Geoff Marshall’s “Least Used Stations” series on YouTube. The plastic bag receptacle is an archetype. Thankfully, when I see the Metro receptacle I do remember what it is there for.
Something tells me you haven't been to NYC in a while
There are moments on the NYC subway. but nothing compared to Boston. If a NYC train goes down, you typically have another subway option, a commuter rail option, a ferry option, or a walking option. Ever since NYC tied together several subway lines in Lower Manhattan via one concourse, life has been good for me. In Boston, you can't even walk between the Blue and Red underground. Instead fifteen self-proclaimed transit experts pitch billion dollar Red-Blue subway schemes while Big Dig debt hovers around $20 billion. NYC is flawed. Boston is a cluster-f disaster
So
Each article linked is a lie?
If we scaled it, it might be comparable, but the MTA has a lot of trash fires. Just saying.
Boston Fire Department
It seems that the Boston Fire Department fights more fires underground than above ground these days. The photo above captures the soul of the MBTA. No employees anywhere and the battle tested passengers calmly going about their business riding the worlds most dangerous subway.
Wow
What a complete asshole comment
Sad
If only we had agreed to let the city move forward with bidding for the Olympics we would have seen investment into the MBTA. But, thanks to NIMBY’s like me, there’s no reason to invest and the whole thing will just decay into grim oblivion. Sad.
Like it would have ever happened
Like they wouldn't have cited failures as an excuse to just commandeer the newest buses for private, event pass only loops and shut down the rest of the system.
The Olympics?
Love to see that being brought up in yet another story on the sad state of the T. As if helping Mahty's pals to rob the city was somehow a good idea.
Sarcasm?
Isn't maintaining a reliable and safe mass transit system for the region reason enough to invest? Employees, families, and residents of all kinds depend on the T. You really think the Olympics would have changed anything?
100% sarcasm
Forgive my omission of what I was alluding to, but when Marty was selling the Olympics real, real, real hard he and the team behind it kept citing all the things that could be done to benefit the region IF we were chosen as a host city; i know that he didn’t really mean that the T would never be improved if there wasn’t the Olympics to push it, but that very much felt like the gauntlet that was being softly tossed to the ground.
Perhaps if Baker didn't slash
Perhaps if Baker didn't slash the MBTA janitorial service there would be less trash to cause fires on the tracks.
Nah
There were plenty of trash track fires even before Charlie Baker got into office. We're all just slobs.
It's true
It really angers me when I see trash on escalators, too. Any time someone complains about escalators being our or being serviced, it's the first thing that comes to mind. You can't complain about outages like that when we (collectively) don't respect them in the first place
Conversely
How well were the stations, tracks, and trains cleaned in the 90s compared to now? I would say that I can remember those "your tax dollars pay to keep this clean" signs 25 or so years ago.
Doing my bit of research for my earlier comment, I ran across a New York Times piece that asked why the transit system doesn't blast ads reminding riders not to be slobs, or at least don't be slobs while in the system. Sounds like a simple step that could pay dividends.
They tried that once
Back in 2011/12 when there was a rash of trash fires.
yes
Wednesday, the first warm day of the year ushered in sticky spilled drink season on the Orange line. Many times in the evening during the summer someone has spilled a drink, you step in it, and your shoes accumulate other detritus during the walk home. I see a nice person cleaning the Orange Line trains in the morning, no one cleans them during the day, but the responsibility is on the passenger to be respectful of his fellow riders and not leave drinks on the floor where they can be kicked over.
Even hits commuter rail...
orange peels, water bottles, pieces of paper. I usually will take it off with me when I leave the train. I am not a slob, Adam (careful with that collective "we").
Trash cans are usually overflowing on the Commuter Rail
platforms at South Station after the morning rush. I really don't know why they are unable to empty the trash cans on the platforms more than once a day.
Great headline!
I can just imagine the UberLyft vultures banging u-ies and congregating, double and triple parked, at station exits.
Good luck everyone!
It's called the Orange Line
to name it after the color of all the flames showing up there lately.
The value of comparison
The value of comparison is to see how another American city has solved the same problem with American budgets and American workers.
Remember a few winters ago when the T leadership was saying, "We didn't realize we could de-ice the 3rd rail. We didn't realize we could clear snow from the tracks."
The same thing is now happening with trash and trash fires. I don't have time to do the research, but it sure seems like the MBTA, with about a tenth of the route mileage of NYCTA, has MORE TRASH FIRES.
NYC has deployed vac trains and vac trucks, as well as station pressure-washing crews, to combat trash and grime (not perfect, but it helps). To my knowledge, the MBTA has none of those things. But they sure do have a lot of fires.
The other day, there was a pile of leaves on fire on the Orange line. Why is there a pile of dead leaves on the tracks in MAY?