Transitadvocate highlights some of the trains on various lines out of South Station that were canceled yesterday because of "crew availability issues." Read more.
Greenbush Line
The T reports riders on the 8:05 a.m. Greenbush train out of South Station is now 50 to 60 minutes late due to a little engine that couldn't near Weymouth Landing.
Our own Cybah had plenty of room to exercise social distancing on the Red Line around 3 p.m. today. He says his train the same time yesterday was full.
Mike Moody snapped a similar scene on an inbound Greenbush Line train around 7 this morning: Read more.
Keolis reports Train 076, the 7:50 a.m. from Greenbush, will be an hour late into town due to the trifecta of "late arrival of equipment, crossing gate and signal issues."
UPDATE, Thursday, 10 a.m.
Greenbush train 091 (which left South Station around 8:25 p.m.), hit somebody on the tracks just south of Savin Hill.
Transit Police report that the "trespasser," a 24-year-old man, was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries.
At 10:17 p.m., M.McG reported she and other passengers were still on the train, still not moving.
Train 078 is now in repose in Quincy Center; the T urges riders wishing to complete their journeys to hop on the Red Line.
Both the Haverhill and Greenbrush lines are having "track" issues this morning; in the case of the Haverhill Line, that involved an out-of-service train derailing. One Haverhill train, the 204, left Andover like 45 minutes late. Tim the Enchanter reports:
I'm sitting on the Haverhill line right now. We've traveled half a stop in 90mins. "Winter Happens", per MBTA signs.
WHDH has some details on the fight of the century on an outbound Greenbush Line train this afternoon.
MassDOT says Saturday and Sunday service will start up again on the Kingston/Plymouth and Greenbush lines, while the Needham Line will gain back the Saturday service it lost two years ago.
The restored service starts Dec. 27, thanks in part to funding by the legislature.
Remember the other day when the Globe reported on what seemed to be Yet Another Only at the MBTA Moment, i.e., that the T would have to tear down a brand-new bridge on the brand-new Greenbush line?
Today, the Globe ran the following:
Because of a reporting error, an article in Friday’s City & Region section about a bridge that needed to be replaced as part of the Greenbush commuter rail line project incorrectly reported the bridge's age. The bridge being rebuilt in Scituate is more than 100 years old and is downstream from a three-year-old rail-crossing bridge.
UPDATE: The Globe got it wrong. What needs to be replaced is a 100-year old bridge near the new bridge.
Seems a bridge on the Greenbush Line could increase flooding in a big storm.
Speaking of commuter rail, that story also mentions that the T yesterday extended its contract with the MBCR for another three years. The consortium gets $50 million more a year. There are penalties for bad performance, but that's capped at a maximum $1.9 million a year.
I've had two colleagues report the availability of WiFi on MBTA Commuter Rail trains this week, one on the Greenbush line, one on the Providence line. It seems legitimate enough, has a splash screen & requires one to agree to terms & conditions.
Has anyone else seen this? It's definitely not station-based.
The technology seems to be based on Parvus RiderNet.