Unbelievable – MBTA is admitting it may take a month to bring back full service. Although that may be a pesimistic forecast to let them look good if full service is restored sooner ---- ??
Well we know what happens many times when private companies run any kind of public transit.
http://www.wcvb.com/weather/mbta-to-provide-limited-service-monday/31286350
MARC & VRE on CSX were shut down for the President’s Day holiday on Monday the 16th and for the Mid-Atlantic snow on the 17th.
Snow takes MANPOWER to keep a rail service running - no matter all the high tech gadgets and gizmos that are installed to defeat old Mom’s Nature it still gets down to MANPOWER and a broom to keep operations moving.
I believe the only private company involvement on the T is on the commuter lines. Note that the heavy and light rail lines are greatly affected as well.
Do Bostonian’s want some cheese to go with their whine?
They have had in the vicinity of 6 feet of snow in a urban area, and millions of people to move on a daily basis. When most of the snow has melted to water - things will return to normal.
A good word for MBTA in all this confusion. MBTA rescued Acela passengers going to Boston near Providence.
The video on network tv this evening showd workers hand digging out some subway track. How inefficient can that be ?
A standard RR wedge plow certainly would not work as pushing snow out to the side would probably damage the third rail. All our posters need to think of solutions. One thought was having a very small rotary plow that would fit inside the guage of the third rail but the problem of fourcing snow to the side would need a lot of thought.
Another would to only plow above the level of the third rail. But neither seems to be without problems. May be some kind of snow melter ? ideas welcome.
Of course some nay sayers are going to say " How often would such a unit be needed " Our RRs certainly don’t need them often but when they do === ?
Another month to restore full service? Why don’t they just say until spring comes to New England and the snow melts?
By Hilary Sargent
Boston.com Staff | 02.17.15 | 3:31 PM
Finding someone with something nice to say about the MBTA right now is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Enter former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, who told Boston.com he was “just saved” by the MBTA. That’s right. Saved.
Here’s what happened.
February 16, 2015 4:00 PM
BOSTON (CBS) — It’s all hands on deck in Boston to get public transportation up and running again after another record-setting snowstorm.
The MBTA says it will provide a limited schedule of rail and bus service on Tuesday. The transportation agency also announced Monday that it will regularly update the public in an effort to improve its communications.
“As we navigate through this challenging winter, we will inform the public with consistent daily updates to keep the lines of communication open and allow Bay Staters to plan ahead as much as possible,” MBTA General Manager Dr. Beverly Scott said in a public statement.
Scott also said Monday that it could take 30 days for the transit system to return to normal service.
A mixture of union workers, students and others just looking to make some extra cash are shoveling MBTA tracks, WBZ-TV’s Nicole Jacobs reports. The MBTA is payin
See the recovery posted on the “What happened…” thread below.
We don’t need to invent new kinds of MOW equipment to solve this problem as it already exists:
http://secondavenuesagas.com/2009/12/18/snow-cancels-weekend-work-nostalgia-train/
Jet blowers work well for clearing third rail equipped lines and rotary snow brooms are also quite effective.
The problem is the “T” just did not have enough equipment and personnel for the amount of snowfall that occured in the short span of time. For instance, they only own 2 jet blowers to cover (perhaps I should have written “uncover”) the third rail lines…
They wound up “borrowing” (for a probably considerable amount of $)some of the very MTA NYC equipment pictured in the link I posted.
I have a friend who works for the MTA on the m of w crews. During winter storms he too is redeploy as a shoveler on platforms and r of w, its not all hi tech. Lots of laborers involved to keep things fluid.
Typically the MTA does not deal with 6 feet of snow, like what fell on Boston.
Keolis has stated that it will take the full month to repair the MBTA locomotivies. Could this be because these locos are equipped with DC traction motors ?
Actually, the new HSP-46s have been having a lot of trouble with the cold, too. These appear to be teething issues that will be resolved soon.
DC locomotives do have more problems than AC locomtives with snow in the traction motors, but it usually isn’t a major problem.
Here is Keols link.
More likely they don’t have enough repair parts to fix everthing that needs it and will have to get additional parts from suppliers.
Looks like the heads are still rolling. Now one at Keolis. How many persons were suspicious of Keolis getting this contract in the first place ?
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/02/keolis_gm_bails_as_rail_flails
Good point. That is what happenes when you buy odd ball equipment.
According to news wire it is now going to be the end of March to repair all rolling stock. ( locos ? )
latest locomotives from MPI are AC equipped.
Well just be glad you dont live in London, they get a couple INCHES of snow, close down the entire country, then freak out after a day of no roads, buses or trains and begin eating each other in the panic.