MBTA Winter 2015: Failure and Recovery

Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

The Southwest corridor section of the Orange Line was actually open this morning, despite earlier announcements that it would be closed. It was crowded and slow, but overall, the commute in wasn't too bad. The biggest improvement, though, by far, was the bus on Washington St. The lack of cars parked in the travel lane, and some actual snow clearing (you could even see parts of the bike lanes) made a huge difference. This is why the parking ban needs to remain in force until snow removal is complete. It matters. I would also support closing some roads to private vehicles altogether.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Well that didn't last long:

MBTA ‏@MBTA 36m ago
#MBTA #BlueLine: Moderate eastbound delays due to a disabled train at Revere Beach

MBTA ‏@MBTA 38m ago
#MBTA #GreenLine: D branch: Severe delays due to a disabled train
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

The Red Line is now operating past Andrew to JFK/UMass:

MBTA

Limited Red Line train service between Alewife & JFK/UMass Stations on Tues, Feb 17. Limited shuttle buses available between JFK/UMass & Braintree/Ashmont.
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and the Orange Line past Back Bay to Forest Hills:

MBTA

Limited Orange Line train service will operate between Sullivan Sq and Forest Hills on Tues, Feb 17. Limited shuttle buses between Oak Grove and Sullivan Sq.
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This is the first time Red Line trains ran to JFK/UMass since Saturday, and the first time Orange Line trains ran between Back Bay and Forest Hills since Saturday.

This ends a 3.5 day period with no rapid transit to our 9th (Forest Hills), 18th (Ruggles), 24th (JFK/UMass), 36th (Mass Ave), 39th (Jackson Square), 46th (Roxbury Crossing), 48th (Stony Brook), and 50th (Green Street) busiest stations.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Beverly Scott has said yesterday, that it may take up to a month - sometime in March, for things to level off and be stable again, provided that there are no major storms between now & then. :eek:
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Jahvon09 said:
Beverly Scott has said yesterday, that it may take up to a month - sometime in March, for things to level off and be stable again, provided that there are no major storms between now & then. :eek:
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Check out the previous page to see why. Dozens of cars are out of service, including over half of the orange line fleet.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

What's happening with Blue Line trains though? A good number are disabled (and more are dropping like flies), given that the fleet is pretty new.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Does anybody know if that was the longest shutdown of rapid transit service along the Southwest Corridor since the Orange Line began operating there in 1987? Or what the longest shutdown was (scheduled or otherwise)?

Also, does anybody know if that was the longest disruption of service to JFK/UMass since the station opened in 1927 (as Columbia)? Or what the longest shutdown was (scheduled or otherwise)?
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Jahvon09 said:
Beverly Scott has said yesterday, that it may take up to a month - sometime in March, for things to level off and be stable again, provided that there are no major storms between now & then. :eek:
Click to expand...

That's the part everyone missed. The reports/tweets focused on "it will take a month to get back" but they ignored the part about it taking a month after the last major storm. I doubt we get outa the winter without at least one more big 8-12 inch storm with a lotta wind and ice.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

I'm sorry if this has been answered, but what exactly does "limited service" mean (I'm referring specifically to the D Branch of the Green Line)? Is it like Midday service all day (instead of increased frequency during peak hours), or is it worse?
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

datadyne007 said:
Well that didn't last long:

MBTA ‏@MBTA 38m ago
#MBTA #GreenLine: D branch: Severe delays due to a disabled train
Click to expand...

The live tracking app on Harvard's site suggests that they've got the problem car moving. There are four train sets with abnormally short headways heading westbound with the lead car about at Chestnut Hill and the last in the pack back about Fenway, so it does look like the typical rush of trains after a clog is unwound. But they have been moving the last ten minutes, so hopefully they've got it cleared. Whatever "it" was. Better for this to happen now rather than at 4:00 or 5:00 PM.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

West said:
The live tracking app on Harvard's site suggests that they've got the problem car moving.
Click to expand...

What's the link for this? Sounds cool!
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Equilibria said:
I'm sure Winston knows more about this, but you can't run a train of any kind on the Red or Orange lines when the third rail is covered with snow. When the T abandoned the above ground portion of those lines during last Monday's storm, they allowed drifts several feet in depth to collect on those rails.

Even if the T had a heat blaster ready to go, they simply can't propel it. Incidentally, I think the reason the D can run today is because catenary wires don't have this problem. Not sure why surface Blue is still a no go.
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Does the heat blaster get its juice from the third rail, or is it fuel powered and works of its own accord?

Also, there have been some concerns about the overhead catenary wire, as there have been some reports that ice has formed in some areas on it. Whether that poses a problem, I don't know, but in all or any case, it is mainly the tracks on ALL lines that have caused all RT service to slow down to a crawl.

The snafus with the third rail just adds to the problems on the Orange & Red Lines. The Blue Line's third rail only runs to Airport Station from Bowden Street, as we all know. The rest of the way from Airport Station, the cars get their juice from the overhead catenary wire like the Green Lines do, but again, it is the tracks that are the culprit there and on the other lines that have made commuting back & forth truly a exasperating & hellacious nightmare for commuters who are just simply trying to get to & from their jobs, shopping, keeping their docs' appointments or whatever the case may be.

Add to that bitterly cold freezing temps and record blizzard snowstorms back to back, and it has just been a bombshell that has spread throughout the entire system like a disease without any cure! :eek:
 
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Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Lrfox said:
I'm sorry if this has been answered, but what exactly does "limited service" mean (I'm referring specifically to the D Branch of the Green Line)? Is it like Midday service all day (instead of increased frequency during peak hours), or is it worse?
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In or to MY recollection, it would mean that RT is not running at full capacity. Sort of similar to holiday / Sunday service.

Yes, Midday, which would seem normal between rush hour in the early am & pm. Stay on that same level of service during rush hour, and it becomes an unbearable nightmare trying to get home. :eek:
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

How much damage will the rails, third rail and signals sustain due to the freezing temps and all of the snow that has been covering them?

Also, any chance this speeds up the new orange and red line cars?
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

Lrfox said:
I'm sorry if this has been answered, but what exactly does "limited service" mean (I'm referring specifically to the D Branch of the Green Line)? Is it like Midday service all day (instead of increased frequency during peak hours), or is it worse?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a defined answer, but practically speaking, on a day like today, I bet it just means "we're doing the best we can but we don't want to pretend everything's going to be cool, because it won't be."

I'm a D line rider. I could work from home yesterday, so I don't know how it was then. Today I had the even bigger luxury of catching a ride with a coworker this morning. Traffic was impressively OK at 7:00. We have a third coworker who lives along the D and was unwilling to get up so early. She boarded at Elliot at about 9:00 and there were seats still available there and the ride in was fine. That's encouraging; when the inbound D line has severe problems during the heart of rush hour, the impact spreads way beyond 9:00.

Last week, seats on the D were long gone by Elliot, and even the aisles were pretty packed by Newton Highlands (my stop), even if I left earlier to beat the rush. I am hearing anecdotally that lots of commuter rail riders were driving to Riverside to park and take the D, not only because of the commuter rails being even more impacted than the D, but also because the parking lots at the commuter rail stations were half blocked by snow. I haven't seen Riverside's lot but it was apparently better than many of the options.

I may chance the D line for the commute home, my coworker needs to stay way later than I do so that he can stay home Thursday / Friday for school vacation. We'll see how it goes.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

datadyne007 said:
What's happening with Blue Line trains though? A good number are disabled (and more are dropping like flies), given that the fleet is pretty new.
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It is probably not the trains themselves.

Just read here that during those gale-force bitterly cold winds, that part of the OH catenary wire got knocked out in some areas.

So it is pretty much similar to the problems with the 3rd rail on the Red & Orange Lines. :shock:
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

chmeeee said:
FYI you can get the same data with the iPhone app TransitLive. You have to pay the $0.99 upgrade fee to get direction data, but it's very worthwhile. It has location data for bus, rapid transit (no GL of course), and commuter rail.
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That's the benefit of the app that bigeman linked to, which is the one I was referring to: it DOES show GL trains above ground. A bit frustrating that they don't have GL in the tunnels yet, but it's a start. No bus lines on this app, at least not that I've seen, but I'm not on buses often, so that's not my issue.

Having that live app for GL above ground is a huge plus. I can check from home before the walk to the T and get a quick feel for how things are going. If I see a jam up of cars, obviously something is wrong. On many days, I have enough work flexibility to just wait a bit (I DO realize that not all riders have such flexibility on start hours). But if the spacing is normal, I can head up there with confidence that I won't either be standing in the cold for very long, or trying to elbow my way into that dinky heated shack they have at Highlands. Just a bit of info, enough to cut down on the guesswork, goes a long way.
 
Re: MBTA & Regular Driving May Be Shut Down During Coming Snowstorm!

West said:
That's the benefit of the app that bigeman linked to, which is the one I was referring to: it DOES show GL trains above ground. A bit frustrating that they don't have GL in the tunnels yet, but it's a start. No bus lines on this app, at least not that I've seen, but I'm not on buses often, so that's not my issue.

Having that live app for GL above ground is a huge plus. I can check from home before the walk to the T and get a quick feel for how things are going. If I see a jam up of cars, obviously something is wrong. On many days, I have enough work flexibility to just wait a bit (I DO realize that not all riders have such flexibility on start hours). But if the spacing is normal, I can head up there with confidence that I won't either be standing in the cold for very long, or trying to elbow my way into that dinky heated shack they have at Highlands. Just a bit of info, enough to cut down on the guesswork, goes a long way.
Click to expand...

Didn't even notice at first that the Harvard site includes the Green Line trains. Hopefully they'll update the app I'm using soon to include those as well.
 
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