South Station Train Stop

Hola fellow commuter rail riders! I actually haven't taken a train into town since Monday, due to business trips, personal days, and other engagements. I'm glad I didn't have to commute on the train during yesterday's December snowstorm. I'm sure I didn't miss a good time!

There was an article about South Station posted today on Boston Now. Basically the article touched upon the fact that when one South Station train runs late, it seems to impact all the lines that rely on this transit hub.

Boy, as a Worcester-Framingham commuter rail rider, I've experienced those delays!

South Station is used by both MBCR commuter rail trains and Amtrak trains. Eleven commuter rail lines go into South Station for their Boston stop. While only 1 of North Station's 6 commuter rail lines had a November on-time performance rate of less than 69%, 7 of South Station's 11 commuter rail lines saw on-time performance rates of 69% or worse.

That's right - only 4 of the commuter rail lines that go into South Station exceed 69% on-time performance rates!!

The state claims it is going to be doing something about the problem:

Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen is working to broker an expansion of South Station by taking over the post office next door, but that is likely about six years out, Deputy Secretary Thomas Cahir said.

The article noted that the MBTA meets with Amtrak twice a year to discuss schedule adjustments. What's that - the T actually does something?

But space and schedule adjustments may not be the issue. The issue could lie with the commuter rail dispatching system.

"The dispatching system will help to improve the amount of information available to the train dispatcher so movements can be better planned to avoid conflicts at South Station," Pesaturo said.

That could alleviate the strain, said Himanshu Patel, director of rail market development at Bentley Civil, an international railroad operations consulting firm.

"It's not necessarily a space issue, it's a timing issue," Patel said. "The only way it can be resolved is changing the signal configuration of the network."

Why can't someone figure out what the issue is and fix it?

Oh, that's right, it is a funding issue. In order to fix the dispatching-thingy, the T needs to allocate funds towards it. According to the article, the funding request is not set to go in front of the MBTA's board until February 2008. If the funding goes through, construction on the final phase of the project won't commence until late 2008.

Himanshu Patel noted that, until the project is complete, delays can still occur.

Well, MBTA Board. What are you going to do? When are you going to resolve this issue?

Does this mean that the on-time performance rates are now a MBTA issue instead of a MBCR issue? It seems like the T was heaping a whole lot of blame on the MBCR over the past few weeks. Perhaps the MBCR needs to hold the T accountable to maintaining their end of the deal (whatever that is).