Green Line C Branch Busing 6/1/2006

There is busing in effect between St. Mary's Street and Coolidge Corner due to a burst water main on Beacon Street Between Kent St. and Hawes St. Noticed some Orange plastic covers over the catanary directly above where the work was taking place on the water main. Lots of personnel out to direct people to the appropriate buses and platforms. Signs were out at every station that was effected. Overall a very smooth service disruption in my opinion.

danib62 wrote:There is busing in effect between St. Mary's Street and Coolidge Corner due to a burst water main on Beacon Street Between Kent St. and Hawes St. Noticed some Orange plastic covers over the catanary directly above where the work was taking place on the water main. Lots of personnel out to direct people to the appropriate buses and platforms. Signs were out at every station that was effected. Overall a very smooth service disruption in my opinion.

Good to hear after the disaster of a bussing on the D line a few weeks ago (or was it last week, I've been trying to forget.)

Do you know if there is a policy for how severe an disruption has to be before it's listed on the front page of MBTA.com? It seems the entire line has to be down to warrant this in their opinion. WMATA on the other hand has a scrolling ticker that lists all of the service notices.

JS

savebowdoin wrote:

sabourinj wrote: Do you know if there is a policy for how severe an disruption has to be before it's listed on the front page of MBTA.com? It seems the entire line has to be down to warrant this in their opinion.

I was thinking the exact same thing. I think it actually depends on the person doing these updates, as I've seen things that only affect one Commuter Line listed on the front page, while things that affect an entire subway line are not.

Mike

When the D line was down last week it was on the front page. When the C line was down today it was not. When the blue line was closed a couple days ago it was on the front.

Who knows. I wonder if they have a web-based interface to post up the messages or if they are old school and just edit the page? I'm assuming the first, but then you would think they'd have rules as to what gets on the front and what doesnt.

JS

Ok so now this is listed on the front page as "until further notice."

Who knows.

JS

As long as it does not become "Temporarily Suspended", I think everything should be ok!

I was on the C bus shuttle around 6 pm tonight. There was a giant hole in the ground, right in the middle of the Green Line reservation. All tracks had been removed from the affected section so that work crews could get underground. This isn't "wait until the conditions are good enough for travel". This is "wait until the tracks are re-installed". Not that this too big a deal - it seems similar to track upgrade work in terms of reconnecting the tracks. But it's certanly a non-minor situation for the MBTA.

They were out there working through the rain at 1:00 this morning as I drove by. The hole is even bigger now than it was when I saw it at 7, so I have a feeling I'll be riding buses into town at least through the weekend.

In retrospect, it seems like a weird idea to put a water main underneath railroad tracks. Does anyone know if there's a history of closures due to water main breaks on the C line?

Here's a really terrible picture of the hole, taken with my cameraphone while riding the shuttle bus:



Like I said before, I'll be amazed if they can fill that hole and put the tracks back in place by the end of the day.

savebowdoin wrote:Latest from CBS4 at Noon: Service will remain suspended through evening rush, at least until 7PM. They said the main is expected to be fixed by 5PM, then another 2 hours to replace the tracks.

I would imagine they would then need to reactivate power and test the tracks before allowing service? If this is the case, I don't see service returning until tomorrow.

Mike

Power is on all segments of the track up just past Coolidge Corner and past St. Mary's as well, so it's just a small segment without power. That shouldn't take too long. Remembe, they had lines come down on the D branch a couple of weeks ago and it didn't take too long to both put the lines back up and get the power back on.