Railroad Forums
Moderators: sery2831, CRail
Due to Amtrak signal issues, South Station-bound passengers should consider alternate transport.
Passengers that take trains in and out of South Station are advised to seek alternative transportation. Due to an Amtrak signal problem, most trains are originating and terminating at other stations.
octr202 wrote:I think they forgot about the Providence Line there...The solution is for PVD line passengers to reverse commute to TFGreen. Then fly to BOS. [/snark]
Diverging Route wrote:They'd have to do that via a 3rd airport as I do not believe there is direct service from PVD to BOS. [/snarkier]octr202 wrote:I think they forgot about the Providence Line there...The solution is for PVD line passengers to reverse commute to TFGreen. Then fly to BOS. [/snark]
Rbts Stn wrote:United to EWR, then connect to a flight back to BOS might not be that much slower than the railroad today. [/snarkiest]Diverging Route wrote:They'd have to do that via a 3rd airport as I do not believe there is direct service from PVD to BOS. [/snarkier]octr202 wrote:I think they forgot about the Providence Line there...The solution is for PVD line passengers to reverse commute to TFGreen. Then fly to BOS. [/snark]
dbperry wrote:I walked over to South Station and took a look and listen this AM (yes, that was me on NECN getting interviewed for their live 9:30 AM update. They hunted me down via Twitter).Thanks for the update from the field. Unless this resolves quickly, they're going to have to start figuring out service plans for those trainsets held out, not just for tonight's commute, but tomorrow too for trains that have to lay up at outlying terminals. Perhaps for the ones that can make it through the day they can just line up fuel trucks overnight.
Dispatcher was issuing Rule 241 moves past stop signals on either side of Tower 1 (for trains leaving the platforms within the terminal and for trains coming into terminal from Providence and other lines).
"C&S 165" was a crew out in the field manually lining up switches as per the dispatcher's instructions for each move ("Ok, C&S 165, next move I need is Dorchester track 2 to station track 11" for example).
I walked down to end of track 1 and the signals at the end of the platforms were lit showing stop. So at least they were powered. Track 1 had an Amtrak high-rail MOW truck, and track 2 had a catenary maintenance locomotive / train car.
CP COVE appeared to be functioning properly from what I could hear. Trains were brought through COVE and up to the "high board" (overhead signal bridge) at Tower 1 (from Providence line) where they then got their Rule 241 instructions. They didn't bring anything in from the Framingham-Worcester line while I was listening. They were just parking those between Back Bay and Tower 1 and turning some of them to go outbound.
So, from what I could tell, the problem was just Tower 1 - but it was everything within that interlocking - signals AND switches.
Dispatchers were also talking to crews to ascertain how much hours each crew had - probably under the theory that you can't turn a train to go back outbound if the engineer hits his hour limit before the trip is done. Also, dispatchers were asking crews about amount of fuel remaining on the locos - same issue, esp. with trains unable to get to the yard for regular service.
I can't see how this gets resolved before the PM commute. So much equipment and crews are out-of-position, and there isn't much time to get it sorted out, even if Tower 1 somehow gets fixed immediately.
