Heat Restrictions: Take 2
Please read my original heat restrictions post below, if you haven't already.
If you have a short attention span and don't care about details, just read the red & bold text buried in this post. That's what you're looking for. If you're a nerd like me, then read on...
I have learned some more information regarding the current state of heat restrictions, but I'm still trying to find out more and trying to verify some of the information I'm getting. So, three topics below:
1) How are heat restrictions applied?
2) Where are heat restrictions applied?
3) Track 1 vs. track 2 and the super express (P583)
1) How are heat restrictions applied? The current MBTA / Keolis rule is that ambient air temperature is monitored on a real time basis in Worcester, Framingham, and Boston (I'm not sure if those are NWS reporting stations or how the temperature is measured). Anytime any one of those places exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit, the heat restriction (30 mph speed limit) is enforced on the Framingham-Worcester line. Conversely, as soon as the temperature is below 85 at all those locations, the heat restriction is cancelled.
This is NOT how CSX used to enforce the rule. Their rule was that once a heat restriction was declared for a certain afternoon (probably on the same ambient air temperature measurement basis, but I'm not sure), the heat restriction remained in place until a certain time, usually 7 PM.
Good news is that heat restrictions probably won't be as long in duration on any particular day. Bad news is they will be more unpredictable and will seem somewhat arbitrary with regards to start and end times.
I'm fairly confident about the accuracy of this item. Primary source is @MBTA_CR conversation here: https://twitter.com/MBTA_CR/status/609444813268721664 and my 1-on-1 conversation at the "meet the managers" meeting at South Station.
2) Where are heat restrictions applied? This one gets a little more technical, and my confidence is lower about the accuracy of this info.
2A) From Boston to "CP 11" (the set of switches in Weston, next to the golf course, just west of Route 128 - between the Wellesley Farms and Auburndale stations) the heat restriction is no longer in effect on track 2. In other words, as of very recently, the destressing project has completed all their work on this section of track and trains won't be slowed by a heat restriction. See post below for explanation of which track is which. But suffice it to say that track 2 is the track used by outbound evening rush hour trains on this stretch.
This story makes sense, since it somewhat matches the story at this page regarding phase 2 of the destressing project. But I'm not 100% sure - I couldn't get a straight answer out of the managers or @MBTA_CR - I think they might not know this level of detail.
NOTE that this means track 1 on this stretch is still affected by heat restrictions - so inbound evening trains will have to go slow, and the effect is worse for them, since they usually run express skipping the Newton stations through this stretch.
2B) "CP 11" (Weston) to Framingham: This section is being worked on right now (note recent closures of Wellesley Hills station to execute track work there) as part of phase 2 of the overall project. This should be the next section to be completed, and Keolis management indicated to me that once work was complete on this section, the heat restriction rules would be cancelled. Again, this only affects track 2 (more on that below). The info page says phase 2 is scheduled for completion in July, and Keolis management indicated the project is on schedule.
2C) Westboro to Worcester: You may also notice on this page that phase 1 of the destressing project was completed last summer, and covered the stretch from Westboro to Worcester. That was done on track 1, which is the normal outbound evening rush hour track in this stretch. So it would seem to be logical that if the destressing work is complete there, then the heat restriction shouldn't apply there? Not so, says Keolis. In an exchange with their customer service, they explained that the work for phase 1 was not necessarily continuous on that stretch. So the heat restriction rules remain in place for that stretch until completion of the entire project.
This one defies logic for me, but rider reports seem to confirm it and Keolis management seemed to confirm it, although I'm not sure the manager I was talking to knew exactly what I was talking about. We'll have to wait and see. Please report your experience in the comments section below.
So, in summary, for outbound evening rush hour trains, we think, for now:
Boston to Weston: trains can go fast no matter what.
Weston to Framingham: heat restrictions will slow trains until completion of phase 2 in July.
Framingham to Worcester: heat restrictions will slow trains until completion of phase 3 by end of 2015.
3) Track 1 vs. track 2 and the super express (P583): Another complicated issue, but I figured this one out independently and it was confirmed by Keolis management. I'm very confident this is accurate.
The rail destressing project is only addressing destressing of half of the tracks: track 2 from Boston to Framingham and track 1 from Framingham to Worcester. Therefore, track 1 from Boston to Framingham and track 2 from Framingham to Worcester are NOT being fixed. Keolis management indicated that the MBTA did not (or could not) provide enough funding to do all tracks everywhere (the manager suggested I complain to the legislature!).
Most outbound rush hour trains follow the path of the tracks being fixed. In other words, most outbound rush hour trains travel through Newton, Wellesley, and Natick on track 2, switch to track 1 after Framingham station, and then continue to Worcester on track 1. So completion of all three phases of the project will eliminate the heat restrictions for the majority of evening commuters.
BUT, even when it is fully complete (all three phases), the project will not eliminate the heat restrictions for these trains:
1) Inbound evening rush hour trains;
2) P583, the 'super express' (that's what I call it); and
3) Potentially, inbound morning rush hour trains from Worcester to Framingham, in the rare event heat restrictions are imposed in the morning (I'm pretty sure I have seen it occasionally). These trains usually operate on track 2 in this stretch at this time, which as explained above, is not being fixed. They could solve this by putting the inbound trains on track 1, the track that gets fixed. But the tweets and comments and chaos that will occur in the event of an AM heat restriction with a track change for all those stations will be quite the experience. I digress...
The inbound evening rush hour trains will continue to be affected by the heat restrictions in the future because they will be operating on the tracks that didn't getting fixed (since the outbound trains are occupying the tracks that DID get fixed).
P583 is a pretty unique and special case. If you take a look at the schedule, P583 leaves Boston 15 minutes AFTER P529, but arrives in Framingham seven minutes BEFORE P529. Magic, huh? That's why I call this one the super express. Just like P582 in the morning, it skips everything between Boston and Framingham.
The way that P583 arrives in Framingham before P529 isn't magic or a time warp or a secret tunnel. It simply passes P529 between CP 11 (Weston) and Framingham. The only crossover switches to enable this to happen are at CP 4 (in Boston at the west end of the Beacon Park freight yard), CP 11 (Weston, as described above), and CP 21 (just east of Concord Street in Framingham, east of the Framingham station). So usually P583 travels outbound on track 2 from CP 4 to CP 11, then crosses over to track 1 at CP 11, passes P529 which is on track 2 around Natick Center, and then crosses back over to track 2 at CP 21 to make the station stop in Framingham. A close inspection of the schedule shows how this is possible - there are no inbound trains between Framingham and Weston during the time P583 and P529 are both traveling outbound on the two parallel tracks.
So there's the problem. P583 is supposed to be running at 59 mph all the way from Weston (CP 11) to Framingham (CP 21) on TRACK 1, A TRACK THAT ISN'T GETTING FIXED. [P583 goes back to track 1, the 'fixed' track, from Framingham to Worcester. So no delays on that stretch.]
Therefore, even after all of the current 3 phases of the destressing project are complete, P583 will still be affected by heat restrictions for the 10 mile stretch from Weston to Framingham.
One solution is to keep P583 on track 2 that has no heat restriction, but it will quickly catch up to P529 and get stuck behind it. My guess is that this is actually exactly what they will do (let P583 get stuck behind P529 on track 2), because by going slow on track 1 it wouldn't be able to get around P529 before Framingham anyway. Either way, it's delayed. But I don't think the overall delay should be more than 10 minutes or so. [I know, 10 minutes is 10 minutes... especially for all you folks going all the way to Worcester...]
A really creative solution that they will NEVER implement would be to put P529 on track 1 from Weston to Framingham, under the theory that letting the frequently stopping local train incur the heat restriction delay is more efficient than putting the fast express train on the track affected by the heat restriction. But they will never do that because that would mean the passengers getting off of P529 in Wellesley Hills and West Natick would need to cross over the grade crossing wooden walkways and walk across both tracks 1 and 2 to get to the station exit, all while P583 is barreling along from behind them on track 2 with no heat restriction.
So that will be the topic of my next post - why do the outbound evening rush hour trains cross back and forth between track 1 and track 2?
PLEASE provide your experience with heat restriction delays in the comments below. Did you go fast between Boston and Weston when a heat restriction was announced? Did you go fast between Westboro and Worcester when a heat restriction was in place? Do you just want to get out your own blow torch and set fire to me, the MBTA, Keolis, and all the rail between Boston and Albany? The more observations we collect, the more accurate we'll be in our assessment of how this foolishness works.
Mystery Grafton delay on Monday 6/8/15
update 7/24/2015: Fellow rider JRT tells us the real story in the comments section below.
Remember that odd and very lengthy delay near Grafton on Monday 6/8? And the fact that @MBTA_CR wouldn't tell us what it was other than "police activity?" Well...here's a snippet of the relevant section of the police log, courtesy of http://www.graftonpolice.com/:
Medical emergencies: my story
I don't usually see anyone complaining about this, but in my opinion, nobody is ever allowed to complain about train delays due to medical emergencies. I usually have tolerance for nuance on most issues, but this one for me is an absolute. Some medical emergencies are more urgent than others, and we will usually never know the severity of a medical emergency, but neither will train crews - they have to treat each situation as potentially very serious.
This morning's medical emergency reminded me of the time I was involved in a medical emergency. On Monday August 22, 2011, I was riding the P506 inbound to Boston. I was scheduled to travel to New York City later that day, so I had my luggage with me. I usually sit in the head end car for my commute, but on this particular day I was at the very back of the train so I could put my luggage on the larger overhead rack of a single level coach.
As we pulled into the West Newton station, someone boarding the train called out that someone had collapsed on the platform and needed assistance. As a CPR and First Aid instructor, as well as a First Responder (and former EMT), I grabbed my work bag and went out to offer assistance. Upon my arrival, I found two fellow passengers had started doing chest compressions on a passenger who had collapsed just before boarding the arriving train. I always carry a CPR breathing mask in my bag, and I used that to give rescue breaths while another passenger (an EMT) performed chest compressions.
Within minutes, we saw the Newton Fire Department ambulance squad running down the platform towards us. I remember thinking that they arrived REALLY quick - I later learned that they had been at a nearby bagel shop when the call came in - so their response was quicker than it usually would have been. Once they arrived on scene they attached a defibrillator and I could see the obvious ventricular fibrillation heart rhythm on the monitor. After one shock, the patient converted to a somewhat normal sinus rhythm.
The patient was rushed directly to Beth Israel and went straight to the cardiac catheterization lab, where he had three blockages removed. He made a full recovery. Every year on the anniversary he calls me up to check in and when he first introduces himself on the phone I always have a senior moment, thinking...I know I'm supposed to remember you for something important...
I recall that as the patient was loaded onto the stretcher and I was talking to the police, I mentioned to a train conductor that my luggage was still on the train and I didn't want to lose it. The conductor said something like "don't worry, we'll wait for you..." and I just looked around and the magnitude of what had happened started to settle in. We ended up being delayed in the station only about 20 minutes! Who knows if the patient would have survived with our intervention or not - there is no way to know. But our CPR probably increased his chances. Lots of happenstance - lucky to have the ambulance crew so close, lucky to have trained and willing passengers to help out, lucky (for me) that I sat in the coach closer to the incident, lucky that I had my CPR mask with me...
News story:
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/x66190292/Train-passengers-praised-for-reviving-man-who-had-heart-attack
My wife kept the kids out of school and drove them into Boston to attend the ceremony where MBCR gave us all a certificate. After sending an e-mail to my daughter Charlotte's second grade teacher to tell her that Charlotte would be late to school, the teacher immediately replied with an incredulous e-mail saying "oh my gosh, the man that was saved is my roommate's father!" Small world...
After reflecting upon the incident, I wish we had remembered to call out for the AED that is on every train. A conductor eventually remembered to go get it, but by the time he had retrieved it, the ambulance crew was already on scene with their professional defibrillator.
HINT: Every commuter rail train has an AED. How do they arrange the trains so that each train has one AED? Every "control coach" (the coach that has controls for the engineer to operate the train) has an AED - and every train must have one control coach for the train to be able to make the inbound trip with the engineer at the front of the train. Therefore each train has one AED! Obviously the control coach is the coach closest to Boston - the first car on an inbound trip and the last car on an outbound trip. This is true for all commuter rail lines into and out of North Station and South Station, not just the Framingham-Worcester line. Also, all control coaches have four digit car numbers - the first digit being a 1. And only control coaches have four digit car numbers. On single level control coaches, the AED is about at the middle of the coach, in a cabinet bolted to the luggage rack. On bi-level control coaches, the AED is in a cabinet at the end of coach closest to where the engineer operates the train.
Why does every train have an AED? Not only because it is just a common sense good idea, but also due to an unfortunate incident on the Framingham - Worcester line where a passenger (Dr. James Allen) died of a heart attack aboard a train in 2002. In addition to no AED being available on that train, the entire situation was handled very poorly (which led to a $3.9 million settlement by the MBTA). Dr. Allen boarded the train at Wellesley Farms and collapsed soon after boarding, but the train crew decided to have Boston EMS meet the train at Back Bay station. For some reason the train then made all three stops in Newton. I recall speculation when this happened that perhaps the train crew thought the patient would receive better care in Boston (as opposed to Newton), hence their decision to pre-arrange a meeting with EMS at Back Bay.
Stories about that:
Train Didn't Stop for Heart Attack Victim
Widow glad MBTA to get defibrillators
This also explains the current policy that when a medical emergency happens, the train must stop at the closest station and remain there until the ambulance crew arrives and the train is cleared by first responders to proceed. So think of Dr. James Allen next time you think about complaining about a delay due to a "medical emergency."
But more importantly, go out and get your CPR and AED training! And know where the AED is on your train, in your workplace, and in any other place you frequent (church, community center, etc.). And don't hesitate to respond, even if it is just to grab the AED and bring it to the incident. That simple action might save someone's life. 
Framingham-Worcester: which track is which?
The easiest way to talk about the double track mainline from Worcester to Boston is by track number. The line has two tracks, conveniently named "1" and "2" (except where they're called "5" and "7"....).
From just west of Yawkey station all the way to Worcester, track #1 is on the north side of the line. In other words, looking or traveling from Boston out to Worcester, track #1 is on the right. Therefore, track #2 is the track closest to the parking lots in Wellesley Hills and West Natick. Through the stations in Newton, the platforms are only on the track #2 side. At Worcester station, the platform is on track #1 only.
In Back Bay station, tracks #1, #2, and #3 are on the Providence / Northeast Corridor line (sometimes just called the "corridor"). So that forces us to have different track names, otherwise we would all get on trains to Providence! From just outside South Station to just past Yawkey (including in Back Bay station), track #7 is closest to the Mass Pike, is the northernmost track, and is almost exclusively outbound. From just outside South Station to just past Yawkey (including in Back Bay station), track #5 is closest to the Orange Line, is the southernmost track, and is almost exclusively inbound.
In Allston, where there is only one track, it is just called the "main" or the "single track." This is the section of track that runs alongside the former Beacon Park freight yard between Exit 17 on the Mass Pike and Boston University. Although there are multiple parallel tracks, only the track closest to BU (the "single track") can be used for through train traffic. All of the other tracks are not signaled or controlled for traffic - they can only be used as part of the freight yard. So this "single track" doesn't have a track number, even though it could logically be considered track #2, since traveling straight from the single track in either direction puts you back on track #2 where the track becomes two parallel tracks.
But the Back Bay naming oddities and the Allston single track situation are not that important - the important thing to remember is that track #1 is on the north side of the line and track #2 is on the south side for the main part of the line west of Allston.
I wanted to post this info here since it will be important for a couple of future blog post topics:
1) The current construction won't solve all of our heat restriction problems; and
2) Why do inbound and outbound rush hour trains use the same track from Framingham to Boston? [This topic is why I never refer to any track as "inbound" or "outbound" - the MBTA uses those names, but that really bugs me, since the trains travel in both directions on either track depending on the time of the day. Oh well.]
More info about West Station available
Did you know that the Framingham / Worcester Commuter Rail is getting two new stations? Boston Landing (under construction) and West Station (in planning stages) will be in Allston / Brighton. Here is a diagram:
This image is taken from a presentation (available here) which provides a wealth of information regarding possible track layouts and station arrangements. Although the document is titled "February 2015," it appears that it might only recently have been published since the file name said "May 2015."
I found this presentation linked from an invitation to an upcoming public meeting regarding the I-90 Allston interchange. The meeting is June 17th at 6:30 PM and the invitation is available here.
West Station is part of the I-90 Allston Interchange project. More information about that project is available at the links below:
Mass DOT page about project
Documents available from Mass DOT
Boston Globe article about West Station
December 2014 presentation
Summer schedule only affects non-rush hour trains
On Monday , June 8, 2015, a new temporary schedule goes into effect. Official announcement from MBTA:
Starting Monday: Due to track work, temporary schedule for the Fram/Worc Line goes into effect on Monday, June 8, affecting some weekday and weekend trains.
The following weekday train numbers are modified:
- 518, 520, and 524
The following weekend trains are modified:
- 1502, 1504, and 1506
- 1509, 1511, 1513, 1515, and 1517
A copy of the temporary schedule is here.
This schedule change modifies the 'turn' times for the mid-day trains. (For an explanation, see the post below). Complete new 'turn time' table (changes bolded):
500, 502, 506, and 508 originate in Worcester after 'laying over' through the night
501 becomes 504 (Worcester turn, 10 min)
581 (non-revenue) becomes 582 (Worcester turn, 12 min ***SEE NOTE BELOW)
507 becomes 510 (Framingham turn, 11 min)
527 terminates in Worcester (lays over, usually becomes 508 equipment next AM)
583 goes back into Boston as 584 (non-revenue)
539 terminates in Worcester (lays over)
***581 is a non-revenue move that departs Boston at 4:45 AM and arrives in Worcester at 5:53 AM. These times can be helpful for us...theoretically, if it is after 4:45 AM and MBTA / Keolis has NOT cancelled 582, there is a good chance it will operate, since the equipment has probably left Boston en route to Worcester. That theory is only partially true since the following things could happen:
1) MBTA / Keolis decides to delay sending out the cancellation notice for 582.
2) 581 might break down somewhere between Boston and Worcester or in Worcester.
3) If some other layover equipment in Worcester is dead, MBTA / Keolis may decide to use the 581 / 582 equipment from Boston as a different train. I'm not sure that this has or would ever happen, but it is a possibility.