Winter 2015 and Impact on MBTA

NOAA is currently predicting two to three inches for Boston from Sunday night into Monday, and three to four inches on the South Shore. Is that really something to panic over?

http://www.weather.gov/box/stormtotalsnow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TomNelligan wrote:NOAA is currently predicting two to three inches for Boston from Sunday night into Monday, and three to four inches on the South Shore. Is that really something to panic over?

http://www.weather.gov/box/stormtotalsnow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wouldn't think this will cause nearly the number of problems as the other storms did. Aside from not being very much snow, it's going to be much warmer, and followed by warmer weather which will mitigate the blowing and drifting.

TN,CF and Everyone:

From the way ABC News was reacting this morning it looked like this was going to become a significant storm
for eastern New England - seeing that the NWS and NOAA is playing this one down is good news and let's hope
that they are right about this snow event and that it does not amount to much...I have noticed signs of some
moderation in temperatures in the next ten days which could help matters for all here...

February 2015 looks to be going down as one of the coldest months on record for many locations in the northeast
and for example I took notice that this is going to be the coldest month since the early 1980s for my area of
central Long Island and could even be the coldest single month on record for Islip MacArthur Airport...
(Source: Bill Korbel - meteorologist - News 12 Long Island)

MACTRAXX

TomNelligan wrote:NOAA is currently predicting two to three inches for Boston from Sunday night into Monday, and three to four inches on the South Shore. Is that really something to panic over?

http://www.weather.gov/box/stormtotalsnow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They left out the end of the sentence - "And were all going to Die"

The Winter Storm Watch issued for Boston this morning says 4-7".

Not enough to shut down the T (hopefully, though nothing would surprise me anymore), but a plowable amount that will be problematic because there's nowhere left to put it.

I think the bigger problem will come mid-week when a supposedly bigger storm is expected to bring snow, sleet, rain and freezing rain. The temps will fall back below freezing into the upper 20s for highs so that might mean some more thawing or re-thawing needed.

The MBTA Website is now showing for commuter rail:

Service recovery in 4 steps: 03/02, 03/09, 03/23 with full service returning on 3/30. Schedules for each line are below...

See Website for the changes this coming week.

To summarize the 3/2/15 changes:
- 1 new off-peak Worcester round trip
- 2 new Needham evening round trips
- 1 new Stoughton morning round trip, and restoration of limited train service south of Providence (806 thru 814 and 809 thru 825 (basically all the rush hour trains) are still being bused)

The new schedules for 3/9/15 are not posted yet (the ones linked on mbta.com/winter are the same as the 2/17/15 Recovery Schedules).

deathtopumpkins wrote:...and restoration of limited train service south of Providence (806 thru 814 and 809 thru 825 (basically all the rush hour trains) are still being bused)

I wouldn't be surprised if RIDOT is fast-tracking their plans for their own in-house CR as a result of this mess.

Or even looking into acquiring their own locomotives (whatever's available on the second-hand market) ahead of time for the Wickford Junction-Providence segment in the event any number of the T's locos are sidelined. If the trains won't run south of Providence (or even TO Providence) the south of PVD timetable could still run even if a transfer to/from Boston is required. Granted this winter was unusually cold (even I guess for New England!), but who's to say we won't see a repeat of this in future winter seasons until enough of the fleet has been upgraded even if there's not as much snow.

deathtopumpkins wrote:To summarize the 3/2/15 changes:
- 1 new off-peak Worcester round trip
- 2 new Needham evening round trips
- 1 new Stoughton morning round trip, and restoration of limited train service south of Providence (806 thru 814 and 809 thru 825 (basically all the rush hour trains) are still being bused)

The new schedules for 3/9/15 are not posted yet (the ones linked on mbta.com/winter are the same as the 2/17/15 Recovery Schedules).

And rather comically, they've restored service to Plymouth on 2 round trips. Neither of which are before 2PM.

millerm277 wrote:

deathtopumpkins wrote:To summarize the 3/2/15 changes:
- 1 new off-peak Worcester round trip
- 2 new Needham evening round trips
- 1 new Stoughton morning round trip, and restoration of limited train service south of Providence (806 thru 814 and 809 thru 825 (basically all the rush hour trains) are still being bused)

The new schedules for 3/9/15 are not posted yet (the ones linked on mbta.com/winter are the same as the 2/17/15 Recovery Schedules).

And rather comically, they've restored service to Plymouth on 2 round trips. Neither of which are before 2PM.

What's the point in running those trains, then, if they aren't serving any commuters?

Because recovery means running more trains, not necessarily the trains that need to be run. Plus at least the off peak Worcester train will be mostly empty, so no one can complain when it gets delayed.

No kidding. Not running any express trains is crazy. The dwell times at stations are through the roof in my experience.

On the Worcester line it would have sense to at least run one express in the morning and one and night. They would still be jammed packed but would at least have a chance of getting people home or to work at a reasonable time.

Everyone:

It looks like Boston has set a new all-time snowfall record in this tough 2015 season and it still amazes me
how short of a duration that this record cold and snow for eastern New England has been noting that until
the snowstorm of January 27-28 the weather overall up to that point had been not too harsh and I note that
there were records set around Christmas concerning record high temperatures around that time...

See: https://nwschat.weather.gov/p.php?pid=2 ... S41-PNSBOX" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Boston-Hartford-Providence and Worcester Winter 2015 records are noted here...

Yes-March has come in with a lion type snowfall - my area of LI got about 6 inches of
new snow along with more record cold - and it will be interesting to see how things go
in the new month - for those interested Daylight Saving Time (Spring forward one hour)
begins on Sunday March 8th...

We will all be watching to see how the MBTA handles the recovery process of getting the
system - especially the Commuter Rail lines - back to normal over these next few weeks...
Let's all hope for the best...MACTRAXX

MACTRAXX wrote:Everyone:

It looks like Boston has set a new all-time snowfall record in this tough 2015 season

We only got about 2" last night here in Boston and it was a much warmer snow than previous ones, without wind. Temps this afternoon will go above freezing so blowing and drifting snow will be no factor. No all-time record yet, just the snowiest February. As of right now, MBTA seems to be running better than in previous weeks.