2016 Commuter Rail Delay Discussion Thread

the 2036 was the problem child on 708-8...traction motor issues it states...Main engine kept shutting down as well....replaced with the 2020 few days old, but another HSP problem led to a mess on Franklin branch the other morning

Two 25-30 min mechanical delays on Haverhill this morning - 204 reported (T'lerts) that late by Malden (screwing up the early outbounds and the Reading locals), and 206 reportedly having issues of a similiar time frame at Lawrence.

Looks like 206's condition worsened before it got (maybe) better:

Haverhill Line Train 206 (6:46 am from Haverhill) is now operating and is 50-60 minutes behind schedule en route to Ballardvale due to a mechanical problem.

Affected direction: Inbound

Last updated: Jan 11 2016 08:09 AM

Edit/further update: As the logic of a single-track railroad would dictate, 208 is also now in the 25-30 late club due to "following late train ahead." Hopefully they won't be pushing the late train ahead.

Traction motor #2 on Loco 1059 died with a ground fault at Wellesley Square on the inbound P506 this AM on Framingham-Worcester.

Of course they cut out #4, #3, #1 and THEN #2 (in that order) trying to troubleshoot the problem, but at least they eventually got it. And kudos to finally having the conductor stay in the loco to do the cutting out while the engineer stayed in the cab car to keep trying to make us go. Saved us the time of having the engineer walk back and forth. On P506, the crew kept the passengers sufficiently informed with good announcements. Passengers on P508 complained about the lack of information from their crew.

P506 then operated ~27 min late inbound to Boston. P508 caught up and was right behind P506, but the T-alerts system blamed the P508 delay on "signal problems."

My response:

if by 'signal problem', you mean p508 can't get clear signals cause it would slam into p506, then ok, but that's not a 'problem'

The @MBTA_CR twitter person agreed I was correct that there were no signal problems....and then minutes later another alert went out again blaming signal problems. Ugh.

There may have been other signal problems that delayed P509 and P514, but those had nothing to do with P506 and P508.

The contingency plan was going to have 508 couple up and push the 506 to Boston. The passengers must be happy that 506 finally started moving again & they only caught bad signals in.

Reports of broken rail near Wellesley Square Tuesday AM on track 1. I heard an outbound get a stop and proceed at automatic 14 on track 1 at about 7:45 AM even though there was no train traffic ahead of it. That would be correct area and broken rail should be enough to cause a stop on an automatic signal.

All trains (outbound and inbound) after 8 AM appear to be using track 2. T-alerts blame "track work" for delays. No confirmation of broken rail, and no ETA to repair completion.

This rail was destressed prior to the end of the year (track 1 was added to the scope of the project in August, so the work was sometime between August and December. See this post for that story: http://dbperry.weebly.com/blog/rail-des ... ons-update" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ). Keolis confirmed on that Reddit AMA that the rail destressing has been completed in this area.

So the rail was destressed and not replaced. Could the 'stress' of the destressing project result in weaker rail? I think so. Might just be old rail also and would have happened regardless of destressing.

Interesting to note that there was a break on track 1 in this same area on July 30, 2015. But that was before rail destressing. Really lousy photo of repair:
https://twitter.com/N42_21_W71_04/statu ... 5828192256" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From the alerts and tweets, 102 died somewhere not that far into it's journey this morning. Cancelled outright, and everything up through 106 & 156 seemed to be taking delays as a result, apparently many due to crowding.

Lowell Line train hits MBTA bus: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/0 ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A commuter rail delay of something that will never (hopefully) move!

Sharon Station Notice: Mini-high platform closure at the Sharon Station has been postponed. Passengers will be alerted to the rescheduled date.

Affected stops:
Sharon

Last updated: Jan 15 2016 08:43 AM

Somebody has been hit by a train in Melrose. Trains in the area are stopped.

Needham Train 631 (8:10 pm outbound) is operating 15-20 minuets behind schedule between Bellevue and Needham Heights due to train traffic.

Nice typo. Did they decide to start issuing their alerts in French? If so, this alert makes no sense.

Type 7 3684 wrote:Somebody has been hit by a train in Melrose. Trains in the area are stopped.

Unfortunately, another fatality, per the MBTA Transit Police.

352, the 0655 Anderson/Woburn short-turn, cancelled again this morning due to mechanical failure. No spare set available. #LongWinterAhead

Sometimes I think there's more dead and dying rolling stock on the MBTA's commuter rail system than some agencies have in their entire fleets. The view of BET from the Lowell Line these days is astonishing.

You're not the only one! It is worrisome the amount of coaches stored in Yard 14 and just
the amount of locomotives on the Boston side of BET!

D

I couldn't believe it this week when I saw the long-dead F40 rebuilds (including 1028 which as been back there a long time) now starting to pile up on the Valley track too.

(Though I guess this should probably move back to the "status of equipment at BET" thread.