Rail officials say service improving

An article from today's Boston Now about rail service in Massachusetts.

The article's lead was that commuter rail trains have had three consecutive months of "worsening" service. Indeed!

But the best part of the article: "However, state transportation officials say they want results, not excuses. At an MBTA Board of Directors meeting Monday, officials say they plan to seek a commitment from MBCR to meet specific standards of service."

Let's hope the state pushes the MBTA and the MBCR to improve the commuter rail service.

Supposedly performance for the later part of November 2007 improved slightly for the commuter rails.

The Worcester-Framingham line had a 48.4% on-time performance rate for October 2007, while the November 2007 on-time performance rate increased slightly to 58.1%.

Sure, the on-time performance rate increased in November, but it didn't even increase by 10%. Plus I wonder if the low-volume of rider traffic on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving and Black Friday contribute to the increase? And does it matter that November has one less day than October?

In reviewing the stats in the Boston Now article, it looks like the Lowell line's riders have it the best. Their on-time performance rate for October and November was 93.0% and 88.0% respectively. The Lowell line was the best performing line in both months. What I wouldn't give for on-time performance stats like Lowell's.

Still, not one line even reached the MBTA's/MBCR's guaranteed performance rate of 95%.

So which line was the worst performing line? Surprise, surprise, it wasn't the Worcester-Framingham line (which came in 3nd). It was the Franklin via Fairmount line with a dismal 36.2% which gets the honor for October, while the Needham line (with a 47.3% performance rate) earns the victory for November.

It looks like the Needham line's issues have been resolved. The MBTA/MBCR needsd to resolve the issues for Worcester-Framingham, along with Fairmount, Fairmount via Franklin and Fitchburg lines.

Hmm. Is this some type of Central Massachusetts conspiracy? How come the Central Mass. lines are in the bottom of the heap from a performance standpoint? Our towns are all paying the requisite MBTA fees. So give us better service!