Feds to Investigate MBTA Safety

Latest Federal dissatisfaction with the T:

https://twitter.com/Karynregal/status/1 ... 6300523524

Dan Grabauskas is available to troubleshoot as a consultant. Also Beverly Scott and Associates

It seems the MBTA can't win for losing.

A piece of construction equipment derailed on the Red Line near Quincy Center, damaging the third rail and causing shuttle buses to replace service during the Tuesday morning commute.

Full article: MBTA says construction equipment derailed on Red Line, damaging third rail, disrupting service

Let's try this from NBC Boston: Construction Equipment Derails on Red Line, Damaging Third Rail

Lest we think we're not into WMATA territory, the news doesn't get much better tonight:

https://mass.streetsblog.org/2022/08/02 ... is-august/

Apparently still under consideration, but clearly an unprecedented step to even be considering this.

This proposed Orange Line shutdown is being reported elsewhere now:
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/mb ... t/2797340/

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/i-t ... nge-month/

It'll go especially nicely with the August 6-21 shutdown of the E branch of the Green Line.

I know this is apples to oranges - or should I say blueberries to oranges?

They did shut a large portion of the Blue Line down for 3 weeks. For me personally it was hell, but we did get through it.

I just hope they can think of a way to make the shuttle busses work effectively across town to alleviate the burden.

The difference, of course, is that the Blue Line carries a bit more than 1/3 of the ridership that the Orange does (at least as of April 2022). If there's also going to be a widespread Green Line closure, that comes up to maybe 4 to 5 times the daily Blue Line ridership. There's just no way to accommodate that with bus shuttles.
Source: https://mbtabackontrack.com/performance ... /Subway///

This is really bad, you don't schedule an emergency shutdown for a few minor slow orders. Did the T say when the shutdown will happen? How come Mayor Wu knows what is going on but the public hasn't been notified?

Maybe they should put "training" wheels on the trains in case they derail they can just ride on the ballast using battery mode.

[Edit - I thought the zoom call meeting was yesterday instead of today]

There is an emergency T board meeting tomorrow followed by a news conference at Wellington. The timing of the leak was perfect, not giving anyone time to mobilize before tomorrow morning. Because there should be tons of protests over this.

Half the problem is cars that either are too old or can’t find their way into service for more than a month or two.

I hope part of the announcement is a delay of the E shutdown that’s supposed to take place later this month.

The question is ------- What hasn't the public been told causing this shut down Maybe but probably not likely the announcement Wedensday will shed some light. Will every one involved dribble out info over the next mnth or will the 800 # gotilla come out of hiding.?

If they start this shutdown this week then they should be done before the public schools open.

Hmmmm. If the shutdown goes overtime would Mayor Wu order a late, like 10 AM, opening for school like they do for some snow days? This would relieve some traffic congestion and bus crowding.

Except for a shortage of buses, the upper part of the Orange Line (Oak Grove to North Station) being shut down should not affect the commutes of people who rely on the lower part (Forest Hills to Tufts) and vice versa.

Shutdown runs August 19 to September 18. Return to school, return to college, and return to office (maybe?) will all be heavily impacted by this.

I would imagine about 2.5 weeks from now is about as fast as they could start this, since we're talking about a not-insignificant scale here. Given the number of buses needed, I'd suspect that bus operators may have to be brought in from out of state. Ditto likely for construction contractors, equipment, material.

Of course, if you were to really, REALLY, get the most out of a long-term outage like this, the planning would need to have started 8-12 months ago, which we know isn't the case. So what we're likely to get is maximum inconvenience but a lot less than the "complete and total fix" this is being sold as.

Seems like one of two possibilities at work here - either the FTA told the T to shut the line down, or they would order it shut, or the old car fleet is in much worse shape that otherwise known, and they need to wait until there's more new cars online (and the battery issues are fixed).

octr202 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 03, 2022 2:30 pm Seems like one of two possibilities at work here - either the FTA told the T to shut the line down, or they would order it shut, or the old car fleet is in much worse shape that otherwise known, and they need to wait until there's more new cars online (and the battery issues are fixed).

Wouldn't/shouldn't the T be very loud about it if it came from the FTA? They could punt the blame onto the FTA's lap and say they're being too stringent. That said, it's the most logical explanation.

I think that would be a hard sell right now since the publicized report from the FTA of all the safety issues the T was pushing down the road. And I think most of the public would take the FTA side right now.