2017 Commuter Rail Delay Discussion Thread

[Steve Wagner]

More good work on the Commuter Rail's Fitchburg line:

Got up late Monday morning (second full day of Daylight Savings Time). No chance to catch 6:36 train from Concord. Left home in Maynard at 7:30, having seen on T website that the #406 was running 20-30 minutes late. Guessed that I'd have a better chance to catch it at West Concord (though I'd have to pay $5 to park) than at Concord (free parking), and if I didn't I could wait for the next train in the depot restaurant. That was a good guess. Got coffee an', partly to get a $5 bill for parking board, caught train about 7:55. Big crowd. Numerous announcements from crew over intercom: mechanical problems at layover yard, all trains delayed, they got 5 car rather than 6 car set, apologies. [My guess is that switches were frozen.] When I got off at Porter I told conductor someone -- I didn't know if he was the one -- had done a good job with the announcements. His reply: "I'll tell him" -- so it was his colleague.

Many trains lately have had two conductors and/or assistant conductors instead of three. One has told me that a lot of them are taking classes for job.

[BostonUrbEx]

Pretty much everyone I know is going to stay home as a result of this. The schedule is just too gutted to be useful and the trains that do run will probably be severely delayed.

Have you seen the blue-level schedule? A large majority of the trains still run.

[RenegadeMonster]

Pretty much everyone I know is going to stay home as a result of this. The schedule is just too gutted to be useful and the trains that do run will probably be severely delayed.

Have you seen the blue-level schedule? A large majority of the trains still run.

I think there is a lot of confusion with the blue-level schedule. For example, when we are discussing it a t work most of my co-workers were reading it as only the trains highlighted in blue were the ones running when in fact those were the canceled ones.

I think the turn blue level and blue highlighting for canceled train confuses people.

[sonicdoommario]

My eyes might be playing tricks on me. From the backyard of my house in Attleboro I can see trains rolling through this time of year (when there are no leaves on trees blocking the view). It's just past the curves at Hebronville interlocking. I saw Providence train 1809 (2:25PM outbound) pass by. Then a few minutes later, train 1810 (2:56 inbound) passed through. Normally the inbound trains pass through slower because of the fact that they've just switched onto track 4. But I look out my window and I see a train (presumably 1810) start to move very slowly backwards.

Anyone know anything going on? Can't find 1810 on any of those tracking sites. Don't know if I'm just going crazy.

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

What you saw good sir was a test train with the **1067**-2029-5-1721. They followed train 1809 out of Boston today. 1810 (1823-7-2035) was 9 minutes late due to waiting for Amtrak #2250 in PVD station to head East

[sonicdoommario]

Cool, thanks for the heads-up!

My crazy guess was maybe the switch at Holden failed (where track 4 merges back to track 2) and that the inbound train had to go backwards to get back onto track 2 and get to Attleboro there, lol.

[Diverging Route]

.
Well here's a new category!

Providence Train 2805 (11:05 am outbound) is expected to depart South Station 10-20 minutes late due to damage caused by unruly passengers.

Affected direction: Outbound

Last updated: Mar 19 2017 11:13 AM

[saulblum]

And …

https://twitter.com/MBTA_CR/status/843510116620099584" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fairmount Train 2763 (12:50 pm outbound) has departed S Station & is oper 15-25 min late due to an earlier vandalism from unruly passengers.

This is what happens when you run commuter rail on the weekend!

[RenegadeMonster]

.
Well here's a new category!

Providence Train 2805 (11:05 am outbound) is expected to depart South Station 10-20 minutes late due to damage caused by unruly passengers.

Affected direction: Outbound

Last updated: Mar 19 2017 11:13 AM

Yup. Never seen it paired together with damage/vandalism. Just plain old unruly passengers.

What categories are there, so far I have seen.

"Drawbridge Opening"
"Auto Impediment"
"Trespasser Strike / Earlier Fatality"
"Late Arrival of equipment"
"Multiple earlier mechanical issues"
"Unruly Passenger"
"Medical Emergency"
"Train Traffic"
"Police Activity"
"Hold" (When the police hold the last trains departing from the station during events such as the fourth of July Fireworks)
"Slippery Rails" Yup, saw that last October when it rained...
"Rescuing Train #___"
"Freight Train Interference"
"Signal Issues"
"Switch Issues"
"Heavy Ridership"
"Local Train Operating In Front of Express Train"
"Disabled Train"


And while not a delay notification, this was one of my personal favorites that I have seen so far from the MBTA: "Short On Cars, Consider Another Train"


Did I cover them all? Anyone see anything else?

[octr202]

.
Well here's a new category!

Providence Train 2805 (11:05 am outbound) is expected to depart South Station 10-20 minutes late due to damage caused by unruly passengers.

Affected direction: Outbound

Last updated: Mar 19 2017 11:13 AM

Here's the photos from the T: https://twitter.com/JoePesaturo/status/ ... 6343127042" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MBTA F40PH-2C 1050]

.
Well here's a new category!

Providence Train 2805 (11:05 am outbound) is expected to depart South Station 10-20 minutes late due to damage caused by unruly passengers.

Affected direction: Outbound

Last updated: Mar 19 2017 11:13 AM

I'm just happy that they told the public the true reason behind it. Train 2502 was trashed and vandalized by the St. Patrick's Day crowd, so the original 2805 set had to go to Worcester on 2505, and the set for 2805 was late coming from the yard, departed Boston 18 minutes late

[RenegadeMonster]

Wow... Crazy.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

Sitting in the dark on Train 014 at Montello where the trailing HSP crapped the bed a couple thousand feet after pulling out of Brockton. Waiting for the announcement that we're dead in the water.

EDIT: Restarted after 15 mins. Real rough ride; 2020's engine doesn't sound too good.

[Steve Wagner]

At 12:33 p.m. on Monday, March 20 the MBTA posted this notice for the Fitchburg line on its website: "Fitchburg Line trains are expected to experience delays due to a trespasser strike near Porter Square. Updates to follow. Individual train alerts will be sent as needed." I believe it means that a train hit someone on the tracks.

I noticed this about 2 p.m. and posted this just after that. The presumably automatic "time stamp" on the posting was inaccurate.

[BostonUrbEx]

The incident has been confirmed fatal by Transit PD.

https://t.co/QfyohVQOm3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;