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Delays pre-announced for some commuter-rail lines tomorrow
By adamg on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 6:05pm
The MBTA reports that commuters on the Worcester, Fitchburg and Haverhill lines should expect delays tomorrow morning due to storm damage.
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Comments
Slippery Rail
Now with more slippery!
Once upon a time, railroad signal systems
included backup batteries so the signals could continue operating even when commercial power failed.
Another good idea that was apparently abandoned in the quest to reduce maintenance costs.
I was more thinking it had to
I was more thinking it had to do with downed trees, but who knows.
Most of the alerts I've received
over the past couple of days have mentioned both downed trees and power outages. Both would affect the movement of trains, but given Sunday's good weather, the majority of the downed trees should have been cleared away before this morning's rush hour.
A lot of signal lines went
A lot of signal lines went down as well from the trees. (Not lines carrying power, but carrying the status of signals and switches back to the dispatchers so they know where the trains are etc.) The MBTA website also explains that delays on one of the lines were due to the backed up freight trains that were unable to travel during the storm and aftermath. Seeing as much of the commuter rail travels on CSX right of way, they have to concede some of the schedule to the CSX traffic that got delayed.