Track switching leaves riders scrambling
Jane of Shrewsbury wants to know why the 5:03 p.m. outbound Worcester train keeps switching tracks.
"For years, the . . . Worcester express train would arrive at Back Bay station on Track 5," she wrote via e-mail. "Everyone would wait at that track, and all was good in the world."
But around December, the train began arriving intermittently on Track 7, "which wouldn't be that big of deal, except all the announcements and electronic train signs say Track 5," she wrote. "So at the last minute when the train's pulling into Back Bay, you have this mad dash of people from either Track 5 or Track 7, depending on which side you were betting on."
Jane estimates that the train now arrives on Track 7 about 75 percent of the time, but that the announcements and signs are wrong at least 50 percent of the time. At other times, they start out wrong and then are corrected.
"Shouldn't they know which track the train is coming in on?" she wrote. "Seems like important information that needs to be accurate. I know this sounds like a trivial issue, but this is a very busy train, and . . . to get a seat, it makes a difference whether you're in the front or the back of the line, so if you get there early and stake a claim on Track 7, only to have the mad dash at the last minute to Track 5, you're at the end of the line.
"Some of us think that there's someone upstairs monitoring those video cameras and laughing at us all running from one side to the other."
We got a long, detailed reply from MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera, which we will try to boil down.
The trains to Worcester have the option of using either Track 5 or Track 7 at Back Bay, and which track they use depends on several factors, including whether the train is an express or a local, the location of other trains along the line, and track work being performed by
To add to the confusion, the tracks for Train 523 aren't selected until just before departure from South Station at 4:58 p.m. Until recently, the message boards at Back Bay defaulted to displaying Track 5 as the departure track. When Back Bay gets the train's routing, the track assignment can be changed to Track 7.
T officials say they repeatedly announce such changes, but they acknowledge the boards have been wrong, and pledged to reprogram them.
Rivera said it might be wiser for commuters to wait at Track 7. "Actions are being taken so that passengers are made aware that the normal departure track for this train will be Track 7 for the immediate future and that Track 5 will be used only in the case of unusual circumstances," Rivera wrote.
Remember: Shuttle buses will operate from Riverside to Reservoir every five to eight to minutes Monday through Friday and every eight to 10 minutes on weekends. Additional buses will be added during rush hour .
There's going to be additional service on the C branch to pick up the slack. Don't forget the Route 500 express bus from Riverside to Federal and Franklin streets.
Good luck, one and all. We'll cover the drama, or lack thereof, in Tuesday's Boston Globe.
If you have a story to tell about the "bus-titution," e-mail us at starts@globe.com, pretty please.
He's a complete mystery, though he seems to live around Malden or Medford, because all of his vitriolic complaints, many unsuitable for this newspaper, are about those two towns.
Here's a sample of some of his better riffs, which are meant more to complain than to seek positive change:
"Which 'civically responsible' entity is responsible for the unbelievably pathetic state of the Wesley Street and Beach Street train track and roadway crossings in the Sewer of Malden? As I'm sure you've never seen them, because in your travels you never drive those streets, the roads are sticking up and/or missing pavement altogether, leaving incredible hazards for motor vehicles and pedestrians. . . . I guess maybe nobody noticed. Maybe their heads don't turn in that direction, or there was a blinding mirage that covered it every time they looked in that direction."
"Dear incompetent lazy overpaid morons," begins another e-mail about a green light being out on Revere Beach Parkway.
The light did not get fixed, so Joe wrote again.
"Yes, lazy morons, the light I alerted to you that was out two weeks ago is still out. What do you figure your timetable on that is, six months??? I do realize current union and state rules prohibit work between the hours of 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m., or on any day ending with the letter Y."
His last e-mail was sent in August, and Joe disappeared until this week, when an e-mail addressed to the state and the column arrived in our inbox.
"Just wish to thank you idiots for the real important work on Route One [sic] today that caused 10 mile backups in both directions all morning and afternoon. It is so important that you play with the middle fences during the day, so that you can make sure nobody gets where they need to in a reasonable time. Awesome job!"
We wrote Joe back, saying we had missed him.
Over the years he has never responded to other messages. But, lo and behold, he replied this time.
"I'll bet you did!"
Two to three lanes of Interstate 93 south approaching and through downtown to South Bay will close from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
Storrow Drive onramp to I-93 south will close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday to Thursday morning.
Haymarket onramp to I-93 south and the Callahan Tunnel will close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
Exit 23 (Purchase St.) off I-93 south will close from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
Exit 20B (Mass. Pike west/Albany St.) off I-93 south will close from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
Essex Street onramp to I-93 south will close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday to Friday morning.
Herald Street onramp to I-93 south will close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday to Friday morning.
Two to three lanes of I-93 north through downtown and Charlestown will close from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
Exit 26 (Storrow Drive) off I-93 north will close from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
The underpass from Storrow Drive east and the ramp from Leverett Circle to I-93 north and the Tobin Bridge will close from 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Saturday.
Sumner Tunnel onramp to I-93 north will close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
Haymarket onramp to I-93 north will close from 10 p.m. Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday.
Atlantic Avenue onramp to I-93 north will close from 10 p.m. Wednesday to 5 a.m. Thursday.
The Essex Street onramp to I-93 north will close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights.
The ramp at Exit 20 (Pike west) off I-93 north will close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
The ramp at Exit 24 (I-93/South Station) off the Pike east will close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
A section of the Pike east at Exit 25 (South Boston) will close from 12:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday.
Frontage Road northbound onramp to the Pike west will close 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
The onramp from Congress Street to I-93 in South Boston, and Exit 24 (I-93) off the Pike west will close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday nights.
Until late 2007, the Church Street Bridge over the Pike in Newton will be under construction. Expect lane closings both day and night on both sides of the Pike.
The ramp from the Tobin Bridge and Rutherford Ave./City Square to Storrow Drive will close from 11 p.m. Wednesday to 5 a.m. Thursday. The ramp to I-93 south will remain open.
Sumner Tunnel onramp to Storrow Drive will close from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
Congress Street onramp to I-93 south and the Pike west will close from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Saturday morning.
The ramp from Harborside Drive to Mass.Pike west and the Ted Williams Tunnel will close from 11:59 p.m. to 5 a.m. tomorrow to Friday morning.
For several months, the speed limit on the Pike west in Palmer will be reduced to 45 miles per hour between Exits 9 and 8, as lanes are shifted in the area.
Complain to us at starts@globe.com. Don't forget to send us your hometown. Outside the paper, the column can be found at boston.com/starts with daily updates on the Starts & Stops Blog at boston.com/starts/blog. Our mailing address is Starts & Stops, P.O. Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819. 
