BOSTON — Amtrak signal issues led to delays on nine commuter lines in and out of Boston during Tuesday’s morning commute, with trains delayed up to 40 minutes.
A spokesman for Keolis Commuter Services, which operates the commuter lines for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, told the Boston Globe the “impact is specifically for dispatchers controlling trains coming out of facilities and in and out of South Station.”
The issue was resolved by Tuesday afternoon, the MBTA said on its commuter rail Twitter account.
Chicago-area commuters can probably sympathize with those in Boston. Amtrak signal issues at Chicago Union Station led to a major meltdown of Metra commuter services earlier this year, leading to a hearing by an Illinois congressman and a call for Amtrak to relinquish management of the station. [See “Amtrak rejects ceding Union Station control to Metra,” Trains News Wire, April 17, 2019.]
As I wrote previously, it’s getting more and more like “Atlas Shrugged.” Too bad I don’t see any John Galt, Dagny Taggart, Hank Reardon, et. al., on the horizon.
21st Century life – nothing is 100% reliable and On Time. Deal with it.
I think every major airline in the country has had a ground stop for computer issues at least once in the last 18 months…
Something goes wrong here. Something fails there. As Mr. Landey wrote, “Stuff happens. It just seems to me that it’s happening more and more.” Yeah, sort of reminds me of “Atlas Shrugged.”
All systems can fail and sooner or later most do fail. One worm in one computer can shut down an entire airline, hundreds of flights at dozens of airports. The next traffic signal on your journey might be on four-way flash or even totally dark. Your internet connection can go down and at some point it probably will. The next time it rains, you sump pump might fail. Your furnace might go out half way through the next blizzard. I know all that. Stuff happens. It just seems to me that it’s happening more and more.
Yep, first at CUS and now Boston, by the same operator, pure coincidence, I know.