General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

Andrew said:
Anyone happen to know why the red line trains leave Charles/MGH northbound so... awkwardly? As in, going onto the bridge they start then stop every few seconds, slowly, until the reach the top, then they go back to normal speed. Seems to have been pretty consistent lately, not just one driver or train set. It can't be that the grade is too steep, can it?
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Another 10mph speed restriction. They had these for months while the Longfellow was being rebuilt. I think the older 1500/1600/1700 cars can't maintain a solid 10mph exactly on the up-grade which causes the start/stop. I'm not sure how back-logged the maintenance is for these track sections but I really wish they would prioritize any speed restrictions that near the downtown area. It's hard enough to keep trains from running into the signal block of the one ahead of it during rush hour since the downtown stations are so close together. The only thing we need is a 10-mph-harvard-esque restriction to add an extra minute to the time it takes a train to traverse the section.
 
The grade on the Longfellow isn't close to the steepest on the line. If old cars were wheezing on an upgrade it would be showing itself on the much steeper Neponset Bridge first, where this summer's Columbia derailment-related speedos put frequent outbound pauses exiting Dorchester right before that bridge's incline. Generally when the Longfellow has been afflicted with recurring speedos in the past it's either been track condition rearing its head from the decayed old bridge or signal dropouts. Track condition shouldn't be any issue whatsoever now unless they're still doing bridge touch-up work underneath the 6-car platform extension where the structural innards are hardest to reach of any point on the span. I'm more likely to side with signal dropout because unless there's a corresponding inbound-side speedo because that little skipped heartbeat is occurring precisely where the old mid-construction "lane shift" used to be in the tracks until little over a year ago, and thus is where the old signal plant is spliced to the new. If the ATO is blipping out there (which can also be a factor that rears its head at some speeds vs. others, including at very slowest takeoff) they might be getting a momentary fault.
 
Ah interesting, hadn't considered the signal infrastructure. Why would it clear up at the top of the bridge then? I'd be surprised if a new signal block started right there (although it's a lot harder to see them on Red like you can on Green so... maybe it does?)
 
jass said:
Absolutely wrong.

When your budget depends on taxpayers supporting you, clear communication is essential.
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In London --there are often only A Frame signs at the entrance to a Tube Station with a list of things in that station which are temporarily closed -- such as escalators, platforms, or even the whole station

Some of these are so ad hoc that they are just words scribbled on a white board or even a scrap of cardboard

I'd say that the T is doing a much better job than ever before in telling through their website what to expect as the work progresses

Still as I previously mentioned in a thread related to Logan Forward -- Massport does a much more impressive job of keeping everyone aware of what is happening and when
 
Every time I look at the MBTA shuttles page it gets worse. Night and weekend Braintree branch shuttling for most of this spring... https://mbta.com/diversions/red-line

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Not sure which thread to use for this, but a Type 9 pair was spotted in revenue service on the C earlier today, a first on that line as far as I know.
 
ErnieAdams said:
Not sure which thread to use for this, but a Type 9 pair was spotted in revenue service on the C earlier today, a first on that line as far as I know.
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I rode one on the D line last week. Impressive inside, especially with the screens. There was a guy in a Chiefs jersey bouncing around taking photos of it, I'm surprised it was no one from here.
 
Arenacale said:
I rode one on the D line last week. Impressive inside, especially with the screens. There was a guy in a Chiefs jersey bouncing around taking photos of it, I'm surprised it was no one from here.
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The 9's likewise have the technology to convey any info on their onboard screens, just like the new Red/Orange cars. It's a simple embedded browser capable of showing any HTML5-encoded content that fits the screen form factor, so is infinitely extensible to showing on-demand content. Same tech as the platform 'info-tising' screens that are popping up at high-use stations, with the vehicle ones updateable using WiFi in the storage yards during any layover.

The agency just advertised a WiFi install contract for the bus yards, which is a tell that the on-demand screens may be coming to that mode too. Once there's enough revenue vehicles equipped with it I wouldn't be surprised if they advertised a $mucho$ lucrative consolidated vendor contract for managing all the 'info-tisement' screens systemwide, in-station and on-vehicle so they can start exploiting the on-demand updateability. Then I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the screens start appearing on retrofitted old cars...Blue, Type 7's/8's, the incumbent classes of buses during their scheduled midlife overhauls, etc.
 
Arlington said:
Riding to Ruggles about a month ago, it looked to me like it was mostly that the canopy was half-built and there was no activity (Ruggles is where the contractor went bust and construction stopped? Right?)
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Ruggles has been start and stop but it's still going full swing currently. The far end of the platform is fully complete and the foundation work for the other half on the near side of the bus overpass looks near complete, the retaining wall needs to be removed next. Construction has been working more on the lower busway lately, lots of progress there, and on the elevator replacements and additional elevator construction. Last I heard it was still mostly on schedule for completion later this year.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
Ruggles has been start and stop but it's still going full swing currently. The far end of the platform is fully complete and the foundation work for the other half on the near side of the bus overpass looks near complete, the retaining wall needs to be removed next. Construction has been working more on the lower busway lately, lots of progress there, and on the elevator replacements and additional elevator construction. Last I heard it was still mostly on schedule for completion later this year.
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This might belong in the CR thread, but has there been any official word on what service changes will happen once the platform opens? Will all trains stop at Ruggles now? Will it be like Hyde Park, where some Franklin trains and some Providence/Stoughton trains stop, but not all? Or like Readville, where only one line stops?
 
Riverside said:
This might belong in the CR thread, but has there been any official word on what service changes will happen once the platform opens? Will all trains stop at Ruggles now? Will it be like Hyde Park, where some Franklin trains and some Providence/Stoughton trains stop, but not all? Or like Readville, where only one line stops?
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The goal is to have most service stop there, but by nature there will still have to be intermittent skip schedules when an Amtrak train is hot on a tight-packed commuter slot's heels. So it'll be very substantial service expansion, but one you still have to hold a Providence/Stoughton or Forge Park paper schedule to completely plan around.
 
The Type 9 green line cars have been officially released to the B and C branches, a few people mentioned finding them on other branches starting this week including myself but this is the first time the MBTA has confirmed that they were previously not running on any branch but the D... Looks like they don't plan to send them on the E anytime soon though.


Also I hate to say it but these trains have a much larger dwell time and it's causing problems. I now see them in service near daily and every single time they have been the leading train of a three car bunch, with two older trainsets stuck behind them. The doors close so much slower, the mirrors take forever to close and even then they seem to take off slower and accelerate slower.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
The Type 9 green line cars have been officially released to the B and C branches, a few people mentioned finding them on other branches starting this week including myself but this is the first time the MBTA has confirmed that they were previously not running on any branch but the D... Looks like they don't plan to send them on the E anytime soon though.
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Caught a ride on the B line today, it was nice.

Is Frank's voice being phased out with the new trains we have coming on line?
 
stefal said:
Caught a ride on the B line today, it was nice.

Is Frank's voice being phased out with the new trains we have coming on line?
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Strangely the new Orange Line trains kept his voicing which must have been a completely new recording as they are the first orange line vehicles with automatic announcements, but the new GL didn't get him even though they already have recorded green line announcements. Mystery to me. The new green lines robotic "stand clear of the closing doors" is very jarring I feel like Frank would do it much better
 
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