(The following story by Priyanka Dayal appeared on the Worcester Telegram & Gazette website on December 16.)
WORCESTER, Mass. — After a week of severe delays caused by mechanical problems and weather conditions, commuter trains on the Framingham-Worcester line were on schedule again yesterday.
“We were 100 percent on time this morning,” said Scott Farmelant, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co., which manages commuter rail service.
But so far, December has not been a good month for service. Trains were late all of last week, upsetting passengers who ride daily from Central Massachusetts to Boston.
“Through December 8, most delays were caused by speed restrictions that CSX put on the line. They were doing testing to look for defects in rails,” Mr. Farmelant.
“Significant mechanical problems” and cold weather were the source of delays from last Monday to Wednesday, he said.
The rain and ice storm that started Thursday caused flooding in Natick and Wellesley, and a tree fell on the tracks on Worcester. The inbound track had to be closed for 12 hours and didn’t reopen until Friday morning after 10:30.
Adding to the weather problems, Mr. Farmelant said, was a mechanical problem on a Friday morning train. Twelve trains were delayed that day, five of them for an hour or more.
The Fitchburg line was hit much worse, with more than a dozen fallen trees blocking the tracks Friday. Trains were delayed two hours, as crews worked to cut and remove the limbs.
“The breakdowns last week were unacceptable,” Mr. Farmelant said.
He said MBCR, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and CSX Corp., which owns the track from Framingham to Worcester, have been working closely to restore regular service.
In November, 90 percent of commuter trains on the Worcester line arrived on time. Trains are considered on time if they arrive within five minutes of the schedule.
In the first two weeks of December, on-time percentage was just over 84 percent, with the worst delays happening Friday morning.
Still, that’s an improvement from a year ago. Only 57 percent of trains on the Worcester line were arriving on time in November 2007, compared to 69 percent for trains across the entire system. Officials have since tweaked the schedule to allow more time for trains to travel between stations.
MBCR sent an e-mail to customers last Wednesday, apologizing for poor service without offering details about what was causing the delays. “We could provide you with chapter and verse on the reasons for each delay but we are certain at this point it would be nothing more than an empty gesture when there is no way to justify being delayed daily,” the e-mail said.
Customers last week reported that LED monitors at various stations indicated trains would be on time, when they actually were well behind schedule. MBCR called the system “unquestionably outdated and in need of replacement.”
The state has taken steps to improve train service over the past year. Three new inbound and two new outbound trains were added to the Worcester line in late October. State officials are still negotiating to purchase the Worcester track from CSX, with the goal of adding more trains in the future.
Yesterday, Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray announced a plan to expand free wireless Internet access on all 13 commuter rail lines. A pilot Wi-Fi program was launched on the Worcester line in January.
Under the expansion project, 258 of the MBTA’s 410 coaches eventually will be fitted with wireless Internet. By spring 2009, at least two coaches per train will have Wi-Fi. AT&T is leading the expansion project.
Commuter rail ridership rose 3.7 percent in October, according to the Executive Office of Transportation.