2019 Commuter Rail Delay Thread

[johnpbarlow]

Apparently there were a number of delayed trains due to communication issues between dispatchers and northside train crews on Saturday. Anyone have any details?
https://www.wcvb.com/article/communicat ... y/29747704

[FatNoah]

Lowell line trains (306, 308) this morning were delayed 20+ minutes due to a "switch" problem. That naturally led to a packed train as 306 ended up picking up many of the passengers for 308. That was annoying, but a) still beats driving and b) sh*t happens. What _really_ annoyed me was arriving at N. Station, only to have one of the doors from the platform to station blocked for construction. It took over 5 minutes to get into the station as a result. Perhaps the door closure could have waited until after the morning rush.

[sonicdoommario]

842 died in Attleboro today, so 808 had to tie on and push it all the way into Boston, caused delays for everything behind it. Since both sets are normally 8 doubles, that's 16 cars in one giant set!

[RenegadeMonster]

Update: Newburyport Train 173 (6:05 pm from North Station) has departed South Station and is operating 5-10 minutes behind schedule due to the late arrival of the inbound train.

huh?

I even saw this message scrolling on the electronic displays at Salem station tonight.

Did I miss out on a ride on the grand junction?

[sonicdoommario]

806 broke down near TF Green Airport, 808 had to push it all the way to Boston. 842 was also sent down to South Attleboro instead to pick up stranded passengers.

[sonicdoommario]

842 died in Attleboro. 808 actually zipped passed it, didn't stop at Attleboro and went to make all stops, 810 was the rescue train, went past Attleboro and tied on from the front (or is at least the current plan).

[sonicdoommario]

The 1823 derailed on the Worcester Line near either Boston Landing or Yawkey, so that jammed up the entire afternoon rush hour for the Worcester line.

[johnpbarlow]

Thursday evening's derailment near Lansdowne (still not cleared 5 hours later at 11pm) may cause 20-30 minute delays for Friday AM commute as track repairs are completed per WCVB.

Cause of low speed derailment is believed to be a human being:

"MBTA and Keolis crews are investigating the incident, believed to be caused by human error in not setting a switch properly, and are working to re-rail the coach and determine alternative transportation for impacted passengers," officials wrote in a statement.

From Sky5, workers were seen shining flashlights on the wheels of the train. It appeared to have come to a stop at a switch in the tracks.

Isn't the switch in question part of a remotely controlled crossover (ie, CP-4)? Not clear to me how a human error could cause the switch to be set such that it leads to a derailment? Could the switch have been thrown while cab car was on the switch? Was train an inbound crossing from 1 to 2 or an outbound crossing from 2 to 1?

What's up with the MBTA/Keolis?

https://www.wcvb.com/article/low-speed- ... e/30338140

[GP40MC1118]

There are several things that could've happened here.
Switch failure
-failure turned in to C&S. C&S not on site yet to fix the switch failure.
-Dispatcher instructs conductor to take the switch off power and hand throw/line
it for the desired route. Switches left "off power".
-once that is done, dispatcher notified and the train is given a Rule 241, which is
permission to pass the stop signal.
-Evidently both ends of the crossover was not lined OR it was and the points were
slightly open. But who knows? C&S could've arrived and maybe the maintainer
ended up hand-throwing the switches.

And that's just one scenario...

[Disney Guy]

News reports mentioned that single track operation was used while the derailment was being taken care of. Would it have improved train movements and performance if trains in both directions had expressed past the Lansdowne/Kenmore station ? Was that possible? Would the T been able to handle the public relations consequences?

[nomis]

The location of the incident at the east end of CP-3 within the interlocking had the leading end of the control car fouling the No. 1 track, while the rest of the consist was on the No. 2 track within the interlocking. There would have been nowhere for the trains departing Boston to go to once it went past Lansdowne, express or otherwise. Even the setup of the Newton stops facilitates a single track operation for those stops which are now needed bi-bidirectionally.

At that time, the only equipment west of the incident was the 515-520 consist, but with some magic, the 751's train to Foxboro made it's way to Framingham to have an additional set of equipment on the Worcester line.

[johnpbarlow]

So it has been confirmed that the Thursday evening derailment on the Worcester line was an inbound train and not an outbound train as I previously asserted incorrectly. And the cab car had no riders. See attached aerial photo that shows lead truck of cab car stopped between tracks 1 and 2 at CP-3.

[nomis]

John, you mean an inbound train ...
https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/12/27 ... erailment/

“Following yesterday’s low-speed upright derailment, workers making track repairs made good progress overnight. Individual alerts will be sent as needed,” the MBTA said on Twitter.

Keolis Commuter Services, which the T contracts to run the Commuter Rail system, said in a statement Thursday that a coach car of an inbound train had sustained an “upright derailment,” meaning that the car went off the tracks but didn’t fall over.

[johnpbarlow]

OK, thanks, Nomis! I'll correct my mistaken assertion (based on the Friday WCVB video by Todd K that said it was an outbound train that derailed). I also see the official MBTA Tweet from Thursday 12/26 at 4pm:

"Update: Worcester Train 518 (1:55 pm from Worcester) is stopped before Lansdowne due to a low speed upright derailment. No passengers were riding in the coach that derailed and no injuries have been reported at this time.

4:00 PM - Dec 26, 2019

So it was only the the two trucks on the cab car that went through the CP-3 switch points? Judging by where the lead truck is in the attached photo from Boston.com, I'm guessing both switch points were open enough to let the truck go on the ground.

[BandA]

Reporting has been confusing, just repeating the same talking points about an upright collision. - it's 1/2 mile west of Lansdowne, at "University" or "Cottage Farm", i.e. where Comm Ave bridge with the Green Line "B" Boston College crosses the Mass Pike, where Peter Fuller Cadillac & BU Bridge & Grand Junction are. So somehow the train went through a switch that was open in the wrong direction? Or was switching as the train went across?