Subway Delay Reports and Discussion (2011-2017)

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... story.html reported this morning that half the Red Line cars aren't working today. But as of right now, there are no Red Line alerts at http://mbta.com/rider_tools/transit_updates/ .

Does this mean they expect to have things under control for the PM rush?

Might be working - or they're just making general "all lines delayed" alerts. From Twitter, lots of photos of 20+ min arrival predictions on the Orange Line Wednesday morning.

Present Red Line snapshot shows 13 trains in service (14 scheduled) with 3 01800s and the remainder older cars. Looks like the older cars are doing better. The missing train may be at a terminal.

The blue line is having problems. I'm not sure what the problem is, but all outbound blue line trains crawl through the few blocks before Orient Heights station, and stop at every block. Trains are also stopping at the platform for a long time before departing. I saw that a crew was working in one of the bungalows, the one west of the station. Possibly a signal issue?

diburning wrote:The blue line is having problems. I'm not sure what the problem is, but all outbound blue line trains crawl through the few blocks before Orient Heights station, and stop at every block. Trains are also stopping at the platform for a long time before departing. I saw that a crew was working in one of the bungalows, the one west of the station. Possibly a signal issue?

Amplified by the timers approaching the station. The system allows the 'tower' to pull a train off if needed, thus it takes forever to clear a train into the station if the signal leaving is double red. In the old days you got greens up to the last two signals.

Descending to the Red Line at South Station this morning I saw the fire brigade departing. Uh, oh.

Just as I arrived at the Alewife-bound platform, service resumed after a brief power interruption. In about ten minutes, a packed train approached the packed platform. I squeezed on the train. The friendly operator had the Quote of the Day:

PLEASE let me close the doors. Due to the delay in service, there are a MILLION trains behind us.

We should only be so lucky!

B Line is reopened and has moderate delays from earlier Trolley vs. Dump Truck accident ...

http://www.wcvb.com/news/mbta-warns-of- ... s/31128468

At noon, the MBTA was replacing B Line Green Line service between Boston College and Washington after a crash involving a dump truck and a trolley at Commonwealth Avenue and South Street in Brighton.

http://www.whdh.com/story/28044362/truc ... n-comm-ave

A crash along the Green Line shut down rail service between Boston College and Washington Streets Friday.
The MBTA said a truck made a turn and struck a trolley on the B branch.
There were no injuries. The MBTA did replace train service with shuttle buses between the two stops.

UHub reporting a Red Line train dead in the water between Quincy Center & Quincy Adams. The T website indicates that they've already started Braintree-JFK busing.

csor2010 wrote:UHub reporting a Red Line train dead in the water between Quincy Center & Quincy Adams. The T website indicates that they've already started Braintree-JFK busing.

The fire dept. had to assist in the evacuation. Lost the third rail again.

It appears the T is giving up on service Sullivan-north and JFK-south. Tweeted that there'll be busing the rest of the day. And there are reports of 30+ min waits.

Additionally, B service is (was?) suspended due to a car making it a significant way down the tracks.

In the Globe (article beyond paywall), the T is saying that both the original stuck Red Line train and the rescue set are now stuck as the third rail is completely buried in the snow. Live shots from the noon news on Ch. 5 showed it was still stuck on the main line in Quincy.

All MBTA rail services will be suspended at 7:00 p.m. This means no Subway, Trolleys or Commuter Rail trains will depart Boston after 7:00 p.m.

All MBTA rail services will be suspended at 7:00 p.m. This means no subway, trolleys or Commuter Rail trains will depart Boston after 7:00 p.m. Limited MBTA bus service will continue until the end of regular service hours, but customers are advised that connections to subway and Commuter Rail lines will not be available.

Last Updated: 2/9/2015 4:01:07 PM

Gerry6309 wrote:

csor2010 wrote:UHub reporting a Red Line train dead in the water between Quincy Center & Quincy Adams. The T website indicates that they've already started Braintree-JFK busing.

The fire dept. had to assist in the evacuation. Lost the third rail again.

They fully gave up on trying to rescue the train (actually two, as it appears a second train came along to give a shove but got stuck as well), as there are reports that it is still there with no hope in sight...

nomis wrote:All MBTA rail services will be suspended at 7:00 p.m. This means no Subway, Trolleys or Commuter Rail trains will depart Boston after 7:00 p.m.

All MBTA rail services will be suspended at 7:00 p.m. This means no subway, trolleys or Commuter Rail trains will depart Boston after 7:00 p.m. Limited MBTA bus service will continue until the end of regular service hours, but customers are advised that connections to subway and Commuter Rail lines will not be available.

Last Updated: 2/9/2015 4:01:07 PM

Latest word is no rail service tomorrow - all day!

If you look carefully at the third rail, you will see that the standard third rail on the Orange line is 85 pound ASCE T-rail with an aluminum conductor bonded to the sides. The contact surface is about two inches wide.

Prior to 1971, the Red Line used a similar rail section, without the aluminum conductor. When the South Shore Extension was opened, it had a new style of third rail, with a squat cross section and a wider contact surface. The new rail was welded into quarter mile sections. As far as power distribution was concerned, it was a success. However, when passing trains brushed snow off the rail, it partially melted and froze, leaving a patch of ice, an electrical insulator. This was corrected by adding heaters at intervals, but you can't heat every inch of third rail. If a six car train is running with two unpowered cars (common), and they stop on the heated spots, you have a dead train. Dead car roulette? Until 1980, this was confined to the extension, but starting in 1980, reconstructed sections got the new style of third rail, including JFK to Ashmont and the Longfellow Bridge. As a result, powerless trains became more common. Expansion of ATO made random stops more common, lowering the odds on a dead train. The replacement of ties on the South Shore Line about 10 years ago was an ideal opportunity to replace the third rail with the more reliable standard variety, but the troublesome variety was retained. The standard variety did appear in a few spots like Park Street Station, safely underground. The rail was responsible for today's problems. Scrapers will work on the narrower standard rail but not on the wider flatter surface. Gravity shoes, used in Chicago on uncovered third rail, may be a cheaper solution, but require new hardware on every car.

Something has to be done!

Gerry6309 wrote:Scrapers will work on the narrower standard rail but not on the wider flatter surface. Gravity shoes, used in Chicago on uncovered third rail, may be a cheaper solution, but require new hardware on every car.

Here are some examples:

Chicago gravity shoe: Boston type shoe gravity with spring reinforcement: Present type of spring contact loaded contact shoe: Gerry6309 please make any corrections if needed.

JoeD