problems at Newton Centre (D-Line) Friday morning????

Sue sends a report to charlieonthembta@gmail.com about service disruptions at Newton Centre on the D Line Friday morning.

Here are some photos of the MBTA work at Newton Centre
this morning.

Shuttle bus. The one I took a photo of had a Metro ad
on it saying "Know and go." The bus also had "out of
service" on it and was one of three at the platform.

Fortunately the T workers were there to inform people
that there was still one train left going inbound
before they started putting people on the shuttle
buses to Reservoir.

The chief T worker explained that one of the bridges
was dropping pieces of concrete onto the tracks, so
the T wisely stopped T traffic and got a work train
out there. (If you look closely at the second and
third pictures you can see the work train as an unlit
dark rectangle on the inbound tracks near that
bridge.) The bridge is the second one from the
station going towards Newton Highlands. I walk over
that bridge a lot. The concrete work on it is only a
few years old; 1999, I think. (The one closer to the
platform says "2001.")

The chief T person there said the work train was
"shoring up" the bridge and they hoped train traffic
would only be stopped for a few hours. He didn't
sound very confident.

The T people were very quick and helpful to inform
people and to let them know the train was coming in on
the outbound track.

He was in radio contact with a dispatcher to let him
know when the last inbound train cleared into Newton
Centre.

The second T person there asked him, "How come your
radio works and mine doesn't?" The chief replied, "I
use the old ones." Translation: The T bought new
equipment that doesn't work as well as the old.
Remind you of anything else on the T?

The inbound train came in on the outbound tracks and I
was able to get on without problems. (Sorry I missed
the cool shot of the inbound train coming in on the
outbound tracks.) The train stopped normally at
Chestnut Hill, went towards Reservoir, switched to the
inbound track smoothly and went in like a normal
train.

I don't know how it went for Shuttle Bus passengers.

Anyway, from my experience this morning, kudos to the
T people handling the problem. Dubious honors to the
people who did the work on the bridge a few years ago;
unless the concrete was dislodged by a very clumsy
plow driver or something.

Sue then send a second message

Here's an additional note on the T's performance this
morning.

I had been waiting on the platform probably five
minutes when the ranking T officer asked the other guy
to see if the shuttle buses would allow some
passengers on in case they were cold and didn't want
to wait. However, he also informed the passengers
that probably the bus would get there in time to meet
the very same train and there would be a better chance
of getting on if you waited for the train right there
at Newton Centre. Very good to know. The T people
were obviously thinking about the comfort and
convenience of passengers -- just for those of you who
think none of them do. It wasn't that cold out but
they were willing to give us the option. Very
thoughtful. I wish I'd taken down their names. They
deserve kudos, even though they'd probably say they
were just doing their jobs.

Including the poor woman near the shuttle buses who
had to shout calmly over the bus roar.

Because of their patience and calmness, the passengers
were calmer, too.

All very helpful.

I am assuming this has been fixed as there is nothing on the T website about it but we would like to hear from other Green Line passengers. It does appear that the T did handle the situation well.