General MBTA Topics (Multi Modal, Budget, MassDOT)

[Jahvon09]

I don't think they ever said that the Orange Line would never close anymore for work. Even if they had said that and intended it, it'd just rot from insufficient maintenance until they had to shut it down again.

You wanna bet that they'll wait ANOTHER 38 years before things get fixed again?!! That's a long way off! They'll probably be ordering new trains by then. Hopefully NOT from CRRC again!!!!

 

[bigeman312]

This is their internal dashboard as of last month that the Globe got. Thanks to @Teban54 for posting it earlier.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1618374834723098631

Thank you! Exactly what I was looking for. This is great information and should be part of a publically available dashboard.

 

[stefal]

Thank you! Exactly what I was looking for. This is great information and should be part of a publically available dashboard.

One is coming

 

[jklo]

Man dies after touching 3rd rail at MBTA station

A man died after coming into contact with the 3rd rail on the MBTA's Red Line early Saturday morning in downtown Boston.

www.wcvb.com

Man died this morning (12:30 AM) after touching the electrified rail at the Red Line DTX stop. Let me guess, got drunk and stumbled onto the tracks.

 

[Jahvon09]

The Healey Administration is looking deeply into the CRRC as to why the delivery dates of the new
red & Orange Line trains just keep on being delayed further & further, so many times & also why the OL trains are having so many problems that are causing some of them to keep on being taken out of service for one thing or another.

 

[Jahvon09]

Man dies after touching 3rd rail at MBTA station

A man died after coming into contact with the 3rd rail on the MBTA's Red Line early Saturday morning in downtown Boston.

www.wcvb.com

Man died this morning (12:30 AM) after touching the electrified rail at the Red Line DTX stop. Let me guess, got drunk and stumbled onto the tracks.

That's the 2nd person to die on the Red Line since 2021 when a passenger got his arm caught in a train doorway & was dragged to his death!!! The FTA may come back out & investigate this tragedy. Again!!!

 

[Jahvon09]

GLX Rescuer set to leave MBTA at end of month.

CommonWealth Magazine

 

[Jahvon09]

According to authorities, this is the least thing right now;

Hiring new GM at T shouldn’t be first priority

THERE IS A VIEW among many in and out of the transit advocacy world – a misguided view in my opinion - that it should be a top priority for the Healey

commonwealthmagazine.org

 

[Teban54]

Official data on Green Line slowzones:

You could outrun the Green Line at these 8 slow zones

There's one location where you could probably walk faster than trains are allowed to travel.

www.wcvb.com

 

[sneijder]

that the agency is working to develop a long-term plan to increase train speeds.

What plan? Just replace the broken parts FFS. If there was a 3-lane-wide pothole across I-90 that you could only go 5mph over, drivers would be rioting in the streets if you came up with a "long term plan" about how to fix that.

 

[millerm277]

In other dismal "achievements", the Transitmatters tracker suggests that there's now....40 minutes of slow zones on the RL, with seemingly most of the line under a slow order going Southbound.

 

[sneijder]

In other dismal "achievements", the Transitmatters tracker suggests that there's now....40 minutes of slow zones on the RL, with seemingly most of the line under a slow order going Southbound.

I think there is some issue with their new calculation method. If you look at the line segments, only seems like a few new slow segments have been added (mostly to the south side). The speed restrictions near Park St actually seem to have been lifted this week.

 

[millerm277]

I think there is some issue with their new calculation method. If you look at the line segments, only seems like a few new slow segments have been added (mostly to the south side). The speed restrictions near Park St actually seem to have been lifted this week.

Not saying you're wrong necessarily, but I'll note that appears to have been accounted for? Looks like they removed the MGH-Park St slow zone on 2/16 in both directions on their tracker. It just looks to have been outweighed by some much larger new delays SB Wollaston-Quincy and to a lesser extent NB Harvard-Porter.

 

[fatnoah]

Looks like they removed the MGH-Park St slow zone on 2/16 in both directions on their tracker.

I'm not sure how much I believe this. Looking up the tracks in the direction of Charles/MGH, the southbound trains still crawled the entire way into Park Street during my commute last week. Maybe they removed it after my AM commute.

 

[mass88]

Not saying you're wrong necessarily, but I'll note that appears to have been accounted for? Looks like they removed the MGH-Park St slow zone on 2/16 in both directions on their tracker. It just looks to have been outweighed by some much larger new delays SB Wollaston-Quincy and to a lesser extent NB Harvard-Porter.

What is the main reason any slowdown zones even exist between Braintree and South Station? Infrastructure that needs to be replaced? Or just the physical layout and grade of the tracks?

 

[Brattle Loop]

What is the main reason any slowdown zones even exist between Braintree and South Station? Infrastructure that needs to be replaced? Or just the physical layout and grade of the tracks?

Maintenance? We did that 20 years ago!
Wait...what do you mean we need to do it regularly?


EDIT: I don't know specifically what's up on that stretch of Red, but given how much they've let their infrastructure rot, I wouldn't be surprised if it needs work.

 

[themissinglink]

What is the main reason any slowdown zones even exist between Braintree and South Station? Infrastructure that needs to be replaced? Or just the physical layout and grade of the tracks?

EDIT: I don't know specifically what's up on that stretch of Red, but given how much they've let their infrastructure rot, I wouldn't be surprised if it needs work.

According to the MBTA's slow zone log (from 1/4/2023) that was posted on Twitter, there's still quite a bit of track work to be completed on the south side of the Red Line. I'm not sure how much (if any) of this work has been completed in the 49 days between 1/4 and now.
I've highlighted any RL speed restrictions that are south of South Station.

 

[Highwayguy]

Lack of dispatchers no longer the only reason the T can't run as many trains

WFXT reports the MBTA is now close to having the minimum number of dispatchers it needs to restore more frequent service on the Orange, Red and Blue Lines, but that now it also doesn't have enough cars and drivers for them.

www.universalhub.com

“While that puts the “nerve center” department close to the baseline staffing level she described, Benesh also indicated hitting that minimum will not be enough to prompt a reversal of service cuts that have slowed weekday travel times for hundreds of thousands of Boston-area commuters since last summer.

“We are transitioning to the point where increasing Red, Orange and Blue [Line] service is not solely dependent now on our heavy rail dispatchers, but also our vehicle availability and staffing of operators and front-line management,” Benesh said.

She did not provide more details on the vehicle and front-line operator pressure points, nor lay out a timeline for when the conditions will support restoring service.”

“No board members asked questions about when service would be restored.”

Long story short, get used to 15 min headway’s until the heat death of the universe.

 

[Riverside]

Lack of dispatchers no longer the only reason the T can't run as many trains

WFXT reports the MBTA is now close to having the minimum number of dispatchers it needs to restore more frequent service on the Orange, Red and Blue Lines, but that now it also doesn't have enough cars and drivers for them.

www.universalhub.com

“While that puts the “nerve center” department close to the baseline staffing level she described, Benesh also indicated hitting that minimum will not be enough to prompt a reversal of service cuts that have slowed weekday travel times for hundreds of thousands of Boston-area commuters since last summer.

“We are transitioning to the point where increasing Red, Orange and Blue [Line] service is not solely dependent now on our heavy rail dispatchers, but also our vehicle availability and staffing of operators and front-line management,” Benesh said.

She did not provide more details on the vehicle and front-line operator pressure points, nor lay out a timeline for when the conditions will support restoring service.”

“No board members asked questions about when service would be restored.”

Long story short, get used to 15 min headway’s until the heat death of the universe.

I'm encouraged to hear that they are apparently narrowing in on hiring enough dispatchers -- the last time I had looked, the timeline had not seemed promising. But the lack of operators (and of course vehicle availability) really is just terrible -- in no small part due to the fact that it likely was very predictable and perhaps could have been mitigated.

~~~

In other news, the T has released data about its slow zones, and hoo boy. https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/2023-02/20230224_speed-restrictions_Jan2023.pdf

 

[as02143]

I'm encouraged to hear that they are apparently narrowing in on hiring enough dispatchers -- the last time I had looked, the timeline had not seemed promising. But the lack of operators (and of course vehicle availability) really is just terrible -- in no small part due to the fact that it likely was very predictable and perhaps could have been mitigated.

the things that I'm seeing on social media also makes it seem like the T has been hemorraging operators, it started with a trickle of the most senior operators since (Baker's) early retirement offers and now another round of most senior operators choosing to cash out before pension rules change.