Results tagged “orangeline”

The name of the heroic MBTA operator who stopped a train in time to save a woman's life on the Orange Line this weekend has been released. Charice Lewis, we thank you for your quick response in this scary situation, and wish all MBTA operators were so attentive. A word of appreciation also goes out to the bystanders at North Station who brought the fallen woman to Lewis's attention. In the future, we hope that all MBTA operators, staff, and passengers will remember these upstanding individuals as model citizens and follow their lead in looking out for others in all situations, not just the most dire.

     

The Orange Line operator and inspector who managed to stop an Orange Line train just inches away from killing a passenger who had fallen on the tracks were honored today at the MBTA board meeting. The operator, whose name was not released, had been hospitalized for stress following the incident, according to the Herald, but has reportedly returned to work.

Last night, leaving the Celtics game, we saw a woman come an inch away from death. It was on the inbound Orange Line platform at North Station. We had missed a train and had to wait an interminable 15 minutes before the next train arrived, so we were relieved when the Worflike voice of the T announced "The next Orange Line train to Forest Hills is now approaching." The lights of the oncoming train shined through the tunnel.

So, the T saw two fires last night, just as rush hour was winding down. Bad wiring at South Station closed the Red Line, and, minutes later, a commuter threw trash on the third rail at Chinatown, starting a fire that closed the Orange Line and filled both Chinatown and Downtown Crossing stations with smoke. (Don't do that again, commuter!) Sections of both lines were closed for hours as the T put out the fires and repaired the damage. Shuttle buses were hard to find or, in some cases, completely non-existent. It was a frustrating night.

Antydiluvian took today's Film Friday shot back in July of 1978. The colors in this shot are terrific and with this perspective you get a great shot through the car and into the next one. The image has a classic feel to it and offers a great peek back in time.

Don't count on the Green Line to get you past (or to, depending on where you're coming from) Park Street today. Service is still suspended following yesterday's crash at Government Center on the Green Line, meaning you'll have to take all kinds of Orange Line detours (or walk "one block," which according to the MBTA is the exact distance from Government Center to Park Street, Haymarket, or State Street) to get where you're going. The crash site is closed for a National Transportation Safety Board investigation.

It was the perfect game to break the bad news. The Bruins looked like a minor league team that had fallen out of contention, lost its stars to the big leagues, and had decided to coast for the rest of the season. Not a minute of solid play.

-- Prosecutors say that the 22-year-old Brockton man accused in yesterday's double homicide was motivated by hatred. Keith Luke, who also stands trial for aggravated rape and kidnapping, allegedly planned to kill "as many Jews and blacks and Hispanics as he could." Authorities say that he planned his killing spree to end at a Brockton synagogue, where he intended to shoot all its congregants before killing himself. [Herald; Also Herald]

-- Police have identified the victim whose body was discovered on fire near Hyannis. 16-year-old Jordan Mendes was a drug dealer, police say, and they have arrested two 13-year-old suspects in the slaying, one of whom was Mendes's half-brother. Prosecutors say that the 13-year-olds killed Mendes after robbing him of $10,000 to buy a BMW. Mendes was shot in the torso and stabbed 27 times. [Herald]

-- Elvia McField, 56, was found stabbed to death in her home on Amory St., near the boundary between Roxbury and Jamaica Plain. Police arrested 66-year-old Charles Cherry and charged him with the murder. [WCVB; BPDNews]

The Globe reports that an Orange Line train hit and killed a person at Sullivan Square this morning. The Orange Line is shut down between North Station and Oak Grove while investigations are conducted. Riders are being bused between the two stops. More information when it comes in. This is the third person killed by an MBTA train this week.

Remember the incident spotted by Fabulously Out There in which it appeared that a woman injured herself in a fall down crumbling stairs at the State Street MBTA stop? Well, it seems that the MBTA got on that business right quick: "The stairs were FIXED this morning. Brand slapping new with the slip proof yellow strip and all!!!! Now, while they might have planned to fix the stairs for as long as I have lived here (2.5 years) and while the stairs might have looked like this even longer , I find the timing SUSPECT to say the least."

Fabulously Out There knows the Blue Line like the back of her hand, and she's used to its unusual ways, but she was dismayed at the following scene:

Update: The DA's Office just sent out confirmation. They say both stabbings happened on the outbound platform and that the stabbing victims are expected to survive.

Turns out Green Line service is down between Government Center and Lechmere. Here's the T Alert that was sent out:

Something wicked, wicked gross has been going on at North Station for the past week: every time a Green or Orange Line car heads into the station, the little people on the platforms are blasted with a powerful, cold gust of pure stink.

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops.

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. Today marks a trip down the Orange Line. You might get the munchies on this one: Downtown Crossing: Fried food, mouse poop,...

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. Today, we'll breathe in the Green Line--slowly: BU Stops (all of them): Natty Light, vodka, wet UGGS, Acqua di Gio cologne, raging...

After much debate over whether or not the blue-and-yellow DIY furniture behemoth that is IKEA would be good for Somerville, IKEA has received permits to start building at Assembly Square. George Hassett at the Somerville News reports that construction will begin next summer, 10 years after IKEA first started making noise about moving in. That doesn't mean everyone's issues with the IKEA have been resolved. Somerville residents still want dibs on the jobs the IKEA...

There is a lot to love about the MBTA. Its mascot is a man who began a nightmarish lifelong captivity 'neath the streets of Boston when he tried to take the T to Jamaica Plain. It offers Bostonians spontaneous trust exercises. It grants importance to our geographically inclined citizens. And, let's face it, it gets us to work. But America's oldest subway is poised to become America's most annoying. The concept is T-Radio, and it...

--The BPD has announced that an "errant shot" hit Steven Odom, 13, in the head in front of his own home. Odom was killed in Dorchester on Thursday night. Commish Davis says that police already have leads. But that's not going to help the family. Gangs and gunfights in this city are a huge problem, and it's incidents like these, where an innocent kid dies, that makes it seem as if the police and the...

Update: We spoke to a patient MBTA customer-service rep who said that she didn't know how long Park Street Station would be closed. She said that the decision to reopen it was entirely up to the fire department. Update to the Update: A tipper going from downtown to Cambridge let us know that a red line train actually made it through, and the doors opened at Park Street, so the T appears to be functional...

According the MBTA inspector we stalked into the Dunkin' Donuts at Haymarket Station, the Orange Line was shut down from Back Bay to North Station all morning because "a car tipped over at Chinatown." When pressed for more info, the inspector only added, "everything's cleared up now." Offers to trade him a donut for more scoop nearly resulted in a Star Simpson style escort out of the area. Sorry. We're not cute enough to...

IKEA is already here, in Stoughton, but the blue-and-yellow behemoth might be moving even closer. The Somerville News reports that the Swedish store with the make-it-yourself furniture has applied to start construction in Assembly Square. The arrival of the store could mean good news (new jobs!) and bad news (ugly traffic). IKEA tries to be soothing, well-organized, and clever, but the long lines at IKEA and technical furniture difficulties tend to put individuals in a...

My bloody orange line... Sweet, bloody orange line... We just composed that little ditty right this second to commemorate the news that crime on the Orange Line was up 25% in the last 6 months. Wow. What a shock. (Ironic yawn). MBTA police say that the OJ Line crime stats rose because of a "wave of robberies involving young people stealing iPods in the evenings during the spring". Um, yeah. Now that you mention...

Friday at Back Bay station: it's hot, it's midnight, and the crowd on the platform is ever deepening. Low-level panic set in when the MBTA's dreaded Mr. Roboto Voice of Sorrow (as opposed to the Worf Voice of Normalcy) comes over the intercom and says, "Due to a trespasser on the right of way, Orange Line service between Haymarket and Wellington Station is being diverted to shuttle buses." Everyone knew that it was going...

Bus riders who get on or off at the end of a line have seen the driver reach over for a little keypad to log their time of arrival or departure on the route – where they are for the duration at each stop is beyond the MBTA measurements. The Globe reported this weekend about "bus bunching" on the #1 bus route which takes passengers from Harvard to Dudley, and anywhere in between, down Mass...

--A one-man robbery wave is rolling through the city. A guy is walking into stores, especially sweet shoppes, and holding them up. Between April 17 and June 26, the suspect has held up 16 businesses. This is the same guy who held up the Yankee Candle - and Truly Jorg's and the Lindt Chocolate Shope and more. Clearly the guy thinks in terms of quantity, not quality. How much cash can he pick up at...