Dead Line

From the Boston Globe, Sunday, October 23:

T AIMS TO EASE RED LINE DISRUPTIONS

BY MAC DANIEL

BODY:Anyone who rides the subway is accustomed to the occasional frustrating delay, which is seldom accompanied by any information from train or station personnel about what's happening and how long the wait is expected to last. But Red Line riders seem to be experiencing more than their fair share of aggravation lately.

Paul of Quincy (THAT WOULD BE YOURS
TRULY) became so frustrated after several recent service interruptions that he did some research. He sent us a complaint filed with the T documenting 21 disruptions on the Red Line on 16 days between Sept. 20 and Oct. 18, based on alerts posted on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's website.

Major problems on the Red Line "have been going on really ever since the blizzard of January," Paul wrote. "At first, the T said the problems were weather related, but the service failures have not abated and now occur regardless of the weather. . . . These failures are not isolated events but a pattern."

Red Line chief Maureen Shrikus reviewed Paul's incident list and responded with details on what caused each delay. Mishaps included signal failures, power problems, door malfunctions, loss of air pressure, trees down on the track, medical emergencies (including a person under a train), police incidents, switch troubles, and a smoke sighting.

Trains on the Red Line's two branches make 224 trips each weekday, second only to the Green Line, which has four branches. With an estimated 200,000 daily riders, the Red Line is the T's most heavily traveled. The large number of service disruptions "have drawn considerable attention" from Richard Leary , the T's acting chief operating officer , said spokesman Joe Pesaturo .

Leary, who was director of bus operations until his promotion earlier this month, "is allocating additional funds and dedicating more resources and personnel toward preventive maintenance activity," Pesaturo said. "This stepped-up effort will not only address current issues, it will also help to ensure that the Red Line is better prepared for whatever the upcoming winter season sets upon us."

We expect our loyal readers will keep us posted on whether any improvements are seen in coming months.