Lucky 08-08-08 Morning Commute

Those storms were terrible last night, huh? I lost my power around 11:40 p.m. and it didn't come back on until 2:00 a.m. Crazy!

This morning's commute was good. The P508 train arrived in Grafton at 7:09 a.m. and we got to South Station at 8:22 a.m. It wasn't that crowded today, either. I'm sure a lot of people took the day off, as there are really only four more summer Friday's before Labor Day. Boy, does the summer zip by.

Let the games begin . . . the Olympic Games that is!

From today's The Boston Globe, an interesting article about commuter delays on the Haverhill commuter rail line. Due to unexplained power surges that short out signals, at least 100 trains have been delayed on this line since January. National Grid runs power lines along the tracks. The electrical disturbances do not cause a safety issue but they can disrupt travel.

The MBCR sent National Grid a letter in July complaining that the power company is not doing enough to fix what is described as an "emergency situation." This issue has caused 1 in 4 trains on the Haverhill line to be at least five minutes late in both June and July. At least 10% of all the Haverhill trains have been late since February 2008.

"It's just frustrating," said Jeralyn Levasseur of Haverhill, an administrative assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital, "that every day, if you have something you need to be to at a certain time, that you're not guaranteed to get there."

Levasseur is annoyed with many aspects of the service and safety on the trains, though she praises conductors for acting professionally despite the turmoil.

MBTA GM Dan Grabausaks was quoted as saying this situation is "unacceptable."

My question - if this issue has been going on since January, why hasn't the T or the MBCR tried to communicate the seriousness of the issue to the media, to put pressure on National Grid to resolve the situation?

Supposedly the issue will be fixed soon.

In other news, the T has introduced some "green" buses into the bus line. Yesterday 155 low emission buses were launched into the bus fleet. Seventy of the buses will serve the North Shore, 65 will serve the South Shore and 20 will run routes around greater Boston.

Issues on the Haverhill Commuter Rail Line are Similar to the Worcester-Framingham and Franklin Lines

From last week's North edition of The Boston Globe, an article about the issues on the Haverhill commuter rail line.

Even though the Haverhill line goes into North Station, the issues sound really similar to the same ones that plague the Worcester-Framingham and Franklin lines. These issues include:

• Lack of consistent collection of fares.
• Difficulty in getting on/off the train - passengers are sometimes limited to only using a few of the train's doors.
  

What did the MBCR have to say in regards to the fare situation:

When notified of the complaint, Mass. Bay Commuter Rail spokesman Scott Farmelant said, "An operations manager has been alerted to the concern. The performance of the train crew will be observed to ensure that fare collection is completed."

Maybe the MBCR/MBTA needs to monitor all of the commuter rail trains. Revenue collection should be a priority.

Train Rider returns to the United States tomorrow. If all goes well, Train Rider should be back riding the rails this Friday.