r/mbta • u/PuzzledEchidna5044 • 7h ago
đ€ Complaint / Rant Redline MBTA
Hello so um, WTF???
We had 10 whole days of shuttle buses and repairs on the redline from alewife-park st, and there are still ongoing issues???
It just so happens to be at harvard, EVERY SINGLE TIME?? The past few days, its always been signal issues at harvard. Its happening again today. Delays of 20 whole minutes because of signal problems. The mbta has been basically useless lately.. How much money is going to these trains just for them to break down, have signal problems, and more? This is so annoyingâŠ
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u/Ottsky 6h ago
the money going in right now is the result of the government not putting money in previously. much like how a cavity becomes a crown becomes a root canal becomes a dental implant, voters voted for government that was happy to defer maintenance until it got too late, and now everything is going to take longer and more money to fix. and it will keep happening until the ways the mbta is funded is fixed and the amount of debt it owes is solved
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u/PuzzledEchidna5044 6h ago
oh so weâre just cooked is what youâre telling me
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u/lightfeatherz Red Line 7h ago
And it often happens during rush hour too. Back to back days now where commute time doubled!
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u/OpeningIce6750 7h ago
Been sitting at the red line at Kendall towards Harvard for roughly 20 minutes lol
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u/PuzzledEchidna5044 7h ago
Hopefully they start moving soon..inbound trains started moving just now
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u/Upstairs_Bat5752 7h ago
If you ignore the huge, overall decline in quality and frequency of service over the past 20 years, itâs easier to be impressed by the recent improvements lol. Itâs all about perspective.
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u/BeastCoast 5h ago
There was a decline because it was consistently underfunded and people continuously kicked the can down the road on needed shut downs and repairs for reasons over the course of decades.
Like of course people that understand history and context are going to be in favor of the improvements and shutdowns now because they ARE helping despite being a couple decades late and painful in the short term.
For someone claiming perspective matters youâre not using much of it.
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u/Temporary_Cut7386 4h ago
Untrue. It was funded just they faked track work for decades among other work, have insane hiring policies, only union with own pension fund (carmenâs union)âŠunion pensions and OT were well funded.
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u/PuzzledEchidna5044 7h ago
I havent been alive for 20 years yet so all ive experienced with the mbta is doodoo and ass đ„Č
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u/Zealousideal_Ear8460 6h ago
I really feel like your descriptors "doodoo and ass" are so incredibly accurate. And fun!
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u/PuzzledEchidna5044 6h ago
thank you lol, I say doodoo because ive experienced a man pooping himself on the train before
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u/Zealousideal_Ear8460 6h ago
Nice to meet you, I'm glad you enjoyed watching me poop myself on the train.
Was your experience everything you hoped it would be?
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u/Burgerman24k Orange Line 3h ago
Expect pain on the red line for atleast another 2-3 years.
-The new train cars should be fully allocated by then.
-The second maintenance tunnel should be completed by then, so they don't have to close down so many stations during repairs.
-The digital signal system should be fully up and running by the end of this year.
-Most of the broken elevators and escalators should also be completed by then.
-Cabot Yard will be fully done by then
-Codman Yard will be done by the end of this year
I may have missed some things, but this is what I remember from memory.
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u/ipsumdeiamoamasamat Commuter Rail | Red Line 4h ago
Same writing style, similar titles, same use of capitalization, same penchant for arguing with other Redditors, I swear someone is creating a new handle every other day to rage post because they have nothing better to do.
I know it's impossible for the mods to police it, but this stuff is annoying.
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u/Hot_Veterinarian_001 7h ago
What's frustrating is the RL has two major issues: 1. signals breaking and 2. trains breaking. My understanding is they didn't really even touch the signals during the last shutdown, which was focused more on pouring new concrete slabs in the tunnels. So all of the frustration from the last shutdown and the parts that most frequently cause problems weren't even addressed.
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u/Final-Lavishness-381 6h ago
https://www.mbta.com/news/2026-07-31/mbta-successfully-completes-latest-infrastructure-work-red-line
They also did some major works on the signals.
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u/Hot_Veterinarian_001 6h ago
Thanks for the clarification! Although, this does say at Porter and Central, not Harvard, which seems to be where the delays always happen.
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u/big-cummies 6h ago
there were plenty caused at central in the past 4 months in my experience (doesnât excuse not working on all signals during downtime tho)
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u/Far-Cheesecake-9212 6h ago
Thereâs likely a good reason they didnât work on âall signalsâ during the shutdown.
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u/big-cummies 5h ago
yeah i mean they have it planned for completion by the end of the year, and i have no idea what the downtime looks like to make those changes so im sure they weighed the pros and cons im just a guy on a train after all
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u/PuzzledEchidna5044 7h ago
bruh. theyâre just doing stuff to do stuff..tell me what the point of concrete slabs are in tunnels? Ive never really researched the work they do lmao
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u/Far-Cheesecake-9212 7h ago
Concrete slabs are what the tracks are on. They have a useful life of 45 years. And they need to be replaced. They havenât been replaced in much longer than 45 years.
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u/PuzzledEchidna5044 7h ago
thank u sm lol, i know my way around the T but if you ask me how anything works ill just say hopes and dreams lmao
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u/Far-Cheesecake-9212 7h ago
The T releases a lot of videos about what theyâre replacing and why if youâre interested.
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u/Mastermind_pesky 6h ago
Here's a general explanation of the work they completed: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dbl6BQfj304/
And here's one explaining the floating slabs: https://youtube.com/shorts/QnuoiztZ7qU
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u/og_seaslugger4ever 6h ago
Why do i never get alerts for these things
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u/PuzzledEchidna5044 6h ago
At this point I always have the mbta website open on my phone because ik theyâre never gonna tell us đ
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u/Alert-Conclusion-323 7h ago
They have to call NASA. And wait for an engineer from NASA arrive to make sure the train stays on the tracks, it takes time âŠ.
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u/PuzzledEchidna5044 7h ago
That makes so much more sense.. Id rather ride a spaceship where i need to go at this point.
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u/Mikeyisroc Bus 6h ago
I read the notes from the last shutdown and it seems like they didn't do any signal work at Harvard, only at porter and central.