Derailment-pocalypse

[dmaze]

Are there any good sources that have current actual peak headways on the Red Line? I haven't verified it myself but from maps like this one it looks like the T just isn't publishing real-time vehicle data for the Red Line at all, which means nobody who's not willing to hang around a T station for an hour or so can find this out.

The good news is that the conductors on the Fitchburg line seem to have gotten the memo that any CharlieCard will get you to Porter, and the 5:55 Wachusett train had lots of open seats leaving North Station. But, the walk from South Station to North Station is just a little bit longer than I think it is, which is an issue if the 5:35 train leaves on time.

Comments

[fredrikegerman]

I've been a bit baffled as to why the Red Line headways have been so badly affected by the derailment. I understand they're only running the Ashmont branch, but shouldn't they be able to operate with the usual headway given that fact? It seems like they're operating at way less than 2x the usual headway, which doesn't make sense on the face of it. Are they running single-track through JFK or something?

[dmaze]

I don’t know a whole lot of details. If you look at JFK/UMass station on Google Maps, and look at pictures of the incident, the derailed car is basically immediately underneath the Columbia Road overpass (and you can see the doomed signal bungalow between the tracks). This is also right at Columbia Junction where the Ashmont and Braintree lines split; but immediately north of here is a branch to Cabot Yard, one of the main maintenance facilities. It doesn’t seem like access to Cabot Yard should be impacted (beyond having to manually dispatch trains through JFK/UMass Station).

My gut feel from trying to ride this morning is that they were running Ashmont trains at normal Ashmont-train frequency, and Braintree trains at normal Braintree-train frequency, and weren’t attempting to run more trains on the northern half of the system. (I think the best they could do is an Alewife-Park Street short train, but it’d still help Davis-Kendall commuters, for instance.) Like my initial post suggests I don’t know what actual headways are, I’ve seen several comments suggesting it’s more than twice normal but don’t have data.

[jered]

I haven't observed for long enough, but both Richard and I have been seeing 15-20 minutes during rush hour. It's a disaster. We may be hitting statistical anomalies, and each conductor says "there's another train right behind," but I just assume they're lying.

[dcltdw]

each conductor says "there's another train right behind," but I just assume they're lying.

They said that pre-derailment. I've always assumed they don't actually have any state info that we don't have.

[fredrikegerman]

I saw 3 trains in about an hour when I tried to commute home at 5:30 the other day. None of them were boardable; I ended up walking home. I've seen wait times consistent with 15-20min headways since the derailment happened.

[fredrikegerman]

Also, darn, of the folks I know I figured you were the likeliest to know where this was being discussed.

[dcltdw]

Are they running single-track through JFK or something?

Note: I don't actually know.

My assumption has been that soundbound Braintree trains turn around at JFK and become northbound trains. Braintree passengers then switch trains at JFK.

To me, this then makes sense why there's a delay: the southbound Braintree train needs to then switch tracks to become northbound. I have no idea if this is done south of JFK (i.e., it does a pickup at JFK) or north (and it skips JFK or backs into the station?). Either way, this causes a disruption, so headways are lengthened to accommodate it.

But see opening caveat. :)

[dmaze]

The important detail with this is that there are two platforms and four tracks at JFK/UMass, so a Braintree train could terminate and reverse there without affecting Ashmont trains at all. One track map (don’t know how accurate it is) suggests there are two crossovers between JFK/UMass and North Quincy so reversing Braintree trains here is pretty easy, up to the point of there being no signals and no automatic controls for the switches.

[dmaze]

My one other bit of total speculation here is that they’re running totally manual signaling through the JFK/UMass area with extremely reduced speeds. If every train needs to pull up to a supervisor, stop, get verbal permission to proceed, run the next 1/2 mile at 10 mph, stop, repeat, and the next train can’t follow until it’s completely finished this cycle...that would lead to only 3-4 trains per hour. I’ve seen them do something similar between Central and Harvard (a single block from end of platform to end of platform, but it did run at something more like normal speed).

[jered]

Latest advisory for Monday is to allow 20 minutes extra for your commute on the Red Line: https://www.mbta.com/diversions/red-line-service-options

This advisory seems to suggest that no actual intelligent humans work for the MBTA, because the extra 20 minutes assumes all cars have infinite capacity. Unless you are boarding at Alewife or Davis, these will simply be full for the entirely of the morning rush hour and you really need to allow at least 2 additional hours.

This complete ignorance of reality is insulting. Or are they going to start running trains that are express starting every other stop?