As more concerns rise about the Big Dig bolts, the Green Line goes on the fritz, and the fact that our tunnels don't have sprinklers, Amtrak is adding its own small voice to the mix. Amtrak must replace railroad ties made of concrete that is starting to crack. The company says that replacing the ties will cost "tens of millions of dollars." Here's the insulting part--Amtrak put the ties in during the 1990s. They should......

Noah Bierman at the Globe engages in a fun little exercise, comparing commuter-rail schedules from the early 1900s to the ones of today. And he discovers that the trains were faster back then. Here's some of his fine lines about the good old commuter-rail days: Everything that depends on technology moves exponentially faster, it seems. Everything, that is, except commuter rail in Massachusetts. A pair of yellowed train schedules from the first part of the......