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  • 2019 Commuter Rail Delay Thread

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1502836  by BostonUrbEx
 
GP40MC1118 wrote:Another bad morning on the Fitchburg. Culprit was the 1055...

https://www.universalhub.com/2019/fitcb ... o-hours-no" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bad morning on the Haverhill Line this morning, also courtesy of the 1055. The 1055 was not alone though, two other sets helped contribute to Haverhill Line delays (the 1117 and a HSP, IIRC).
 #1503831  by petahgriff8316
 
Don't believe this was posted on here but apologies if so: Fitchburg Train 427 (7:15 outbound) hit a tow truck at the Brighton St. crossing in Belmont on 2/8. Train was delayed 90 minutes because the foreman wanted to come out to inspect (damage to train and truck was minor) and a new crew was needed because the engineer was shaken up, can't say I blame her, I probably would have been shaken up if I hit something with a train. Only things I noticed as a passenger in the car behind the locomotive was the horn being "consistently on" in our approach to the (quiet zone) crossing and a barely-perceptible jolt; at first I assumed we hit a pedestrian. No injuries to the driver of the truck that I am aware of; I was a bit surprised there wasn't something in the local news like there seems to be every time one of these things happens.

These were tough circumstances, and I do not envy the crew for having to deal with it, but the whole incident would have been slightly less aggravating if A. there was a contingency plan in place besides keeping everyone on a train for 90 minutes (we were about 400 yards from Belmont station) and B. if the dispatcher's time estimates weren't genuinely terrible..."15 minutes" for the foreman and crew to arrive turned out to be about 50, and then "the new crew just got out of the cab, they're two minutes away" meant that the train ended up moving about a half-hour later. I get that those are just estimates and that traffic plagues the Greater Boston area, and that it's not likely as simple as "the crew shows up, the train moves," but the estimates were just genuinely awful; I would rather get bad news than blatantly inaccurate news. Meanwhile the original conductor had the gall to tell a (admittedly obnoxious) passenger "give me a break" like he was the one being especially hard done by...I was thinking 'dude, you're still getting paid and we're all sitting here on a Friday night getting zero compensation for our time.' Again, not denying that this was a tough situation, but I (nor the other passengers) didn't think it was handled super well.
 #1504084  by trains18
 
Meanwhile the train 817 the Wickford Junction express is always flats now which has resulted in dangerous crowding to the point where everyone stands everywhere like a zoo that includes the aisles and vestibules which means from south station to Sharon it is free. Not only that, but long dwell times between stops until ruggles because of this.
 #1504101  by sonicdoommario
 
The decision to shrink train 817 from 4 doubles/2 flats to all flats completely baffles me. Whenever I took 817 home from Back Bay I'd have trouble finding a seat even when running a full set...
 #1504125  by Trinnau
 
They recently adjusted train sizes based on the CTPS counts which are publicly available and released in January. 817 shows a max load of 530, which is snug for a 5-car flat set at around 580 seats but should fit. They had some flak on a few other trains like 804 and 506 on the Worcester Line and are continuing to make some adjustments, but that should at least explain the reasoning. Perhaps the count was off, or it's grown enough since. The 4 double/2 flat train you had before was likely because that's just how the equipment cycled, and had plenty of excess capacity with around 960 seats. More discussion on train sizes from a few weeks ago in the Equipment Shortages thread.
 #1504838  by sonicdoommario
 
810 also originated in Mansfield. One of the sets in Pawtucket must've broke down since 806 wound up with a smaller train set than usual (it uses 8 doubles). The 810 was supposed to leave Providence behind schedule but then was changed to start at Mansfield due to mechanical problems. Once in a while you'd see a Providence train originate at South Attleboro due to mechanical issues. Since they're starting further up the line, would that mean there's a problem turning the train/operating out of the engine?

EDIT: Scratch that, 810 cancelled altogether now.

EDIT 2: I saw the busted train (the 8 double set) sitting in the yard in Pawtucket as I was driving down the highway to work this morning.
 #1504940  by RenegadeMonster
 
106 was 40 to 60 minutes behind schedule.

152 was filled to capacity at Salem and could not take on passengers at Swampscott, Lynn and Chelsea. Not everyone could board at Salem.

192 was canceled

Also saw a work service unit haul a disabled train set back to Boston going through Salem Station this morning.
 #1505139  by trains18
 
So why was there an alert on twitter that there was a switch issue at Canton Junction? Is that why train 815 had to move to track 2 at route 128 then back to 1 at the junction? At least from what the conductor told me that was the reason.
Last edited by CRail on Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total. Reason: Unnecessary quote removed.
 #1505396  by johnpbarlow
 
chrisf wrote:Another derailment tonight, this time near South Station: https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/So ... 51921.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's now confirmed that two trains collided. https://twitter.com/KatNBCBoston/status ... 2665981953" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Seems odd for news organizations to label this a derailment when it was, according to the NBC10 report, a collision that led to derailment. To quote the reporter, "...it was an out-of-service train that made an out-of-service move when it hit the other train [the in service outbound (?) Fairmount line train carrying 4 passengers (!)] sending three coach cars off the tracks." The video of the accident site shows the derailed cars collided at a turnout where the two tracks the trains were using come together, so it seems unlikely to me that the out-of-service train derailed on its own into the side of the Fairmount train but I could be wrong.

Interestingly at 0450 this morning, the MBTA web site says there are no alerts on the Fairmount commuter line despite the fact that live channel 5 TV report shows cranes trying to remove the impacted cars from the collision site.

Update at 0641: MBTA Alert:
Cancellation
Normal train service is suspended along the entire Fairmount line Wednesday, April 10 due to last nights derailment. A bus shuttle will be provided at every station between Readville and South Station to accommodate inbound and outbound passengers.
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