My commute this morning can be described in one word: (it) sucked.
I think the P508 inbound train was 1 to 2 cars short, so everyone was jammed on the train.
We were 22 minutes late into South Station (the train's scheduled arrival time is supposed to be 8:24 a.m.; the actual arrival time was 8:46 a.m.). The train was going 10 miles an hour from Wellesley through Newton and into Boston.
So I'm 0 for 1 for a late commute this week. Since it is January 22nd, I cannot imagine that the Worcester-Framingham line will hit its "on time" performance guarantee for January 2008.
PATHs Not Taken
3 months ago
11 comments:
According to Jimmy, our conductor, we weren't a car short, but the last car had no heat, so we may well have been.
AJ,
I am glad the conductor talks to you because, no matter what car I am in, I never hear anything!!
I still don't understand why all the conductors could share what Jimmy passed along. That the cars were packed because the last car didn't have any heat.
Thanks for the update!
Train Rider
i take the 506 train from grafton and it is at least consistently late arriving at 8:20 in south station. That's 12 mins. I'm on it 3 times a week and it have never arrived at 8:08 as it says on the schedule. On the bright side I take the 535 train and it is generally on time at least within 5 mins. This is an off peak train however.
It sure looked like it was one car short to me!
I heard a rumor at the station this morning that they might be changing the schedules, moving the 508 up about 10 minutes so it will actually arrive at South Station closer to 8:24. Apparently when the outer stops were added (between F'ham and Worcester) they didn't allow enough extra time when creating the schedules.
ladivina,
Thanks for sharing the rumor.
I hope they don't adjust the schedules because I'm afraid instead of arriving for 8:24 a.m., it will be more like 8:34-8:44 a.m.
I don't buy that about the outer stops (Worcester through Framingham) are causing the delays. The train schedule was fine for a number of years (when I first started taking it in 2003/2004), arriving on time at 8:24 a.m. or slightly earlier. I think it has to do w/the tracks between Ashland and Framingham for some reason - we practically crawl through there every morning.
Thanks for visiting.
Train Rider
I think it has to do w/the tracks between Ashland and Framingham for some reason - we practically crawl through there every morning.
Agreed. I've always wondered what the reason for that was.
I've heard from several conductors that they are definitely going to be changing the schedules of most inbound Worcester/Framingham trains; most of them will be earlier than the current schedule. One friendly conductor said it was supposed to happen in January, but now has been pushed back, perhaps until March.
i have an answer for why your train usually crawls between Ashland and Framingham. If you look just beyond the Ashland station platform, you see a set of signals, and your trains signal, the signal on the right, is usually yellow over red, this is an approach, 30 mph. The reason is because in Framingham, the trains get a stop signal because the conductor has to activiate the RR crossing at Concord St. That is why the train crawls for so long, 30 mph is from Ashland to just before Framingham where it drops to 15 mph (just after the freight yard in Framingham) due to the red over red over yellow signal (restricing 15mph) and then in Framingham, there is the red over red (stop)until the conductor notifies the dispatcher the train is ready to depart
Matt,
Thanks for visiting and thanks for the feedback regarding why the commuter rail train seems to "crawl" from Ashland to Framingham.
Commute-a-holic
no problem, thats always been a problem between Ashland and Framingham, all because of the Concord St. RR crossing. If the trains bound for boston had the clear signal, as soon as the train would get to Framingham, the gates would come down and tie up traffic on busy routes 126 & 135 and the city of Framingham doesn't want this.
Framingham is a town, not a city :) Although it really should be a city but that's a subject for another blog...
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