2014 Discussion for Commuter Rail Delays

How's this for a first entry?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXzuTxGO ... e=youtu.be" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(I find it interesting that the two "anchors" are named Dan, as is the commuter who's interviewed!)

So here's my beef with this - the MBCR mechanical officer quotes the 93% on-time performance. But that's for ALL trains throughout the week. The statistic that interests me more is PEAK HOUR (i.e. rush-hour, Mon-Fri) on-time performance, when the vast majority of passengers commute. I'll bet it's substantially less, but I've never seen that statistic published.

And on a first entry that's actually "storm" related, this morning saw weather-related delays on the PVD/STO line, as loads were very heavy, presumably with passengers who opted for the train instead of driving (in the less-than-one-inch snow down there). Train 806 was a K car short, but on-time though extra crowded. But 808, usually express from Mansfield to Back Bay, had a one-time stop at Canton Junction added to pick up the heavy crowds, and ended up being 25 minutes late into South Station.

Diverging Route wrote:And on a first entry that's actually "storm" related, this morning saw weather-related delays on the PVD/STO line, as loads were very heavy, presumably with passengers who opted for the train instead of driving (in the less-than-one-inch snow down there). Train 806 was a K car short, but on-time though extra crowded. But 808, usually express from Mansfield to Back Bay, had a one-time stop at Canton Junction added to pick up the heavy crowds, and ended up being 25 minutes late into South Station.

"heavy ridership" was due to train #842 being given 3 flats, 2 K's, and the 1067. We had a tough time fitting psgr's in, we usually have 7 K's...a mishap in the yard that morning...we ended up 8 mins late into S Station. Also, suffered HEP shutdown at Sharon. BRAYTON suffered switch problems, caused 808 to back up to ATWELLS in order to head East to Boston

Not a delay but hope everyone on the rails or driving home tonight gets home safely. Stay safe and be careful. That's my PSA of the day

Lots of delays today. This morning the Lowell line had signal problems, with up to 30 minutes delays on most trains. This afternoon 335 was reported stuck behind frozen switches near BET by colleague OCTR202. I was on the south side this afternoon, taking Amtrak 2175, and getting T-Alerts about delays on the PVD line.

And as I type this, 338 is reported 50 minutes delayed due to snow.

[A bit off topic, but the Amtrak 2175 I'm writing from is waiting near Branford to get clearance to go around a stuck SLE train ahead of us.]

MBTA train in Fitchburg just derailed.

Lots of 20 minute delays on the Worcester line for "snow" tonight.

BostonUrbEx wrote:MBTA train in Fitchburg just derailed.

I came here this morning expecting to see some discussion of this but no one seems to have posted anything. Channel 25 had video of F40 1009 with its nose up in the air and its front truck separated from the frame after it apparently hit the bumper at the end of the Fitchburg station track with some momentum. No derailed cars or serious passenger injuries according to last night's TV report.

This thread will get filled up pretty good starting Thursday.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/StormTotalSnow/

Though total's are not released yet for the area, it is looking to be a doozie ...

Speaking snow amounts I saw 2 different one from local news station that won't be named. One has the Boston metro area in a foot of snow, another one had the Boston metro area is a band of 6-9" of snow. I don't know who's right but I'm hoping school is canceled Thursday(perks of being a senior in highschool means I don't need to make up the first 5 snow days)

Bring it on old man winter lol

Weather.com is saying only an inch over night for Northern RI....

The map i previously posted now shows 10-14 ...

Another source i look at has said ~12" through the duration of the week.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 351&type=1

Tomorrow nights commute will be interesting to say the least. Thank god I don't have to drive it tomorrow night.

Thursday night won't be fun, but the real mess will be Friday morning. I'll be very interested to see what the T decides to do if this does devolve into blizzard conditions overnight.

On a related note, did the MBTA & MBCR do away with the reduced "winter storm" schedules for Commuter Rail? I went to check them to see what trains I should avoid, but didn't find any reference to them on mbta.com or the MBCR website. Maybe since they never used them they decided to ditch them?