Attention Red Line Victims!

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Have you noticed the T has been really slow and crappy lately (moreso than usual)? Well...they didn't realise we've been bitching about it for a few weeks. I just called them, and the (very polite) man said they were aware of signal issues on the southern end, but didn't realise that it was going on at the other end as well.

I told him what I've been experiencing: long waits for trains, trains stopping in the tunnels and trains going at half speed. He said they have not been getting many calls...I suspect that most people are like me, and just bitch to LiveJournal and not to the MBTA. He told me the more calls they get, the more pressure they'll put on the engineers, so don't let fear hold you back...call them and put your complaining to work!

MBTA service complaints: 617-222-5216

Comments

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

You bet your ass I'm calling. I just moved up here and I know for a fact that it's not usually this bad. Maybe I junxed all of you by moving. =/

[prog.livejournal.com]

I'm curious what "signal issues" means here. "Signal" as in the wrong lights are flashing in the tunnels, giving the conductors bogus instructions?

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

In a railroad context, the most common "signal issue" is that one or more of the sensors (or connections thereto) is out of order. In this case, the system doesn't know where the train is, and so it goes into "restricting" mode, signalling the drivers to slow down, wait at crossover points, and actually watch for other traffic. This is particularly bad in the area near Harvard, because the visibility sucks ass and so they have to crawl.

[artemii.livejournal.com]

and here i always thought they crawled at harvard because they weren't allowed to go at full-speed under the university.

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of such a restriction, nor do I think it particularly makes sense. There is also the really sharp turn on one end of the station; that also forces them to go slowly (the train simply wouldn't be stable at high speed; and there's already a lot of friction on the wheels there, as evidenced by the screeching), but it's a fairly small section.

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

I was going to add:

The whole area past Harvard is filled with turns, which screws up the visibility and makes them go much slower when in "restricting" mode.

[awkwardduckling.livejournal.com]

I like your icon! I've been wanting to take a picture there for nearly a year! But then never end up with a camera when we're around..

[myselftheliar.livejournal.com]

grr yes! I *just* moved to somerville three days ago and my commute into boston has been atrocious. glad it isn't always like this!

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

It's been rather ridiculous of late between Davis and Central. Trains feel like they're going 20mph in places for no apparent reason.

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

I was going from Central to Davis on Friday night. Got to the Central stop at 12:40am. The outbound train finally came at 12:59am. Got going and...

...between Central and Harvard we were going about one third speed. It was obvious to me no train was ahead of us - it was the first train in at least 20 minutes.

I was at a loss why we went so slow the entire way to Davis (a couple of times we sped up to full speed, but we spent more than half the time at reduced speeds).

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed this. I thought I was just imagining that it was taking longer!

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

have they maybe found track problems or something that makes higher speeds unsafe? seems like the slow running is always in the same places.

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

Yeah, just as you pull out of porter, and pulling in and out of harvard.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

yeah, I've noticed that. The slow running between Harvard and Central persists outbound past the tight curve at Harvard, which IIRC is speed limited at 10mph or something. It's the kind of thing I've noticed them doing if there are track issues in a particular place, which is why I was wondering.

[spatch]

Maybe they'll also be able to tell me which genius lets the Red Line run four-car trains through the center of town at night after Red Sox games, instead of six. Any direction after Park Street turns the tiny train into a freakin zoo.