Interim MBTA General Manager Jeff Gonneville says the T is continuing to work through a morass of track defects across all four subway lines and that he hopes to lift the "global" speed restrictions on the Green Line with the start of service on Saturday. Read more.
The MBTA announced this morning it's lifted most of the speed restrictions on the Mattapan Line, but adds it still has "block restrictions where necessary," so not quite 100% back to being the Mattapan High-ish Speed Line.
Fans of more leisurely trolley rides can still hop on the Green Line, which remains a "global" slow zone as inspectors continue to look for both new track problems and old ones that the T isn't sure if they were actually fixed.
In 1875, Richard Doyle anticipated the T in "Triumphal March of the Elf-King."
The T sounded the alarm tonight: Nearly a third of the tracks on the Red, Orange and Blue Lines remain subject to snailish speed restrictions, which are in place along all the tracks on the Green and Mattapan lines. Read more.
Rapid transit back in the day. See it larger.
The MBTA began slowing down all its subway trains around 5:30 p.m. yesterday after state inspectors filed reports that they found track problems on one Red Line stretch this week and the T couldn't assure them that repairs had actually been made because of problems with paperwork and decided it needed to check all its tracks. Read more.
Open, non-functioning Green Street station at 7:44 a.m. Photo by Sunsan Ellsbree.
Update: GBH reports a transformer in South Boston failed, triggering a power surge that tripped a circuit breaker.
In the middle of rush hour, the MBTA lost power to the signaling systems on all its subway lines - and at some stations - leaving some riders stranded and others breaking out their phones to call a ride-share to work. Read more.
A man walking on the Mattapan Line tracks between Capen Street and Mattapan Square on Tuesday night died after he was hit by a trolley, Transit Police confirm. Foul play is not suspected, they add.
Most of the T excitement today is over the new service past Lechmere on the Green Line, but Mattapan High Speed Line fans are loving this morning's reintroduction of car 3265, the first ever modern PCC car, and the first to finally get back on the rails as part of an MBTA refurbishing program.
CommonWealth talks to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak, who says the T will likely hire 80 to 120 new employees to roam bus lines and above-ground trolleys to make sure they're paying their fares. The new system could speed up buses and trolleys by allowing people to board through both front and rear doors, but will mean a level of trust that people are boarding in the back with actual CharlieCards. The new workers will make random spot checks to make sure people are doing that.
The MBTA holds a hearing next week on a proposal to reduce the fine for piggybacking and other forms of fare evasion from $100 to $50 for a first offense. Read more.
State officials today cautioned residents to hunker down and not go out if they have to tomorrow as we brace for Ol' Man Winter to deliver a roundhouse punch of a foot or so of white stuff driven by gusty winds. Read more.
Downed tree at Newton Highlands. Photo via Ian Lamont.
Isaias may only be giving the Boston area a glancing blow, but it's enough to snap trees like matchsticks on the Mattapan Line between Milton and Butler and on the Riverside Line near Longwood and Newton Highlands. Buses have replaced the Mattapan trolley and D Line trolleys from Kenmore all the way to Riverside. Read more.
WBZ reports Ride drivers and the comapny that runs the Ride reached a contract deal; the T says the Ride should be back to regular operations today.
Separately, the T's put in new barriers and signs on buses and trolleys, which means riders once again can board at the front on buses and at street-level trolley stops - so break out that CharlieCard The move also means more seats for riders.
New shielding on the Green Line
The MBTA announced today that it's returning to front-door boarding on buses and on trolleys at street-level stations, including on the Mattapan Line, on Monday - in a move it says will also mean more seats available for passengers. Read more.
The MBTA tries to assure Mattapan Line riders that buses are on the way now that the trolleys have ceased to move due to "an overhead power problem," but allows as to how they should expect delays.
The Dorchester Reporter updates us on the T's latest thinking on what to do about the Mattapan Line - which will start with renovating stations, bridges and tracks over the next five to ten years, at a cost of up to $115 million, followed by replacement by the current 1940s-era PCC trolleys with some of the bigger trolleys now in use on the Green Line.
The Dorchester Reporter reports the collision happened at the Central Avenue grade crossing in Milton around 7:18 p.m. The injured were taken to Milton Hospital.
The Dorchester Reporter reports the T has a $200-million, ten-year modernization plan for the Mattapan Line that includes getting rid of the current PCC trolleys rolled out in the 1940s with versions of the newer, bigger trolleys being rolled out now on the Green Line.
The Dorchester Reporter reports a state study of the city's cutest public-transit line shows that tracks and bridges along the line are in dire need of repair.
Byron Nash took the photos of the former Hendries plant at Central Avenue in Milton, which was reduced to rubble to make way for condos. Nash got there on a trolley driven by Tim Murphy after the Mattapan line was started up again after a week-long cancellation due to the demolition.
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