Some commuter rail riders faced ‘significant’ delays Thursday morning

Passengers on two MBTA commuter rail lines saw “significant” delays Thursday morning due to police activity and switch and signal issues, according to the system’s operator.

Signal issues at the Beverly Drawbridge — and the train traffic that followed — held up riders on the Newburyport/Rockport Line, according to Alana Westwater, a spokesperson for Keolis, which operates the commuter rail.

On Twitter, the rail system indicated delays of up to 25 minutes for Newburyport/Rockport commuters, warning of residual delays even after the issue was resolved around 8 a.m. 

“Signal maintainers are on-site, and we expect issues to be resolved this morning,” Westwater told Boston.com in an email. 

As of 11 a.m. Thursday, the MBTA’s website listed delays of up to 15 minutes for the Newburyport/Rockport Line. 

Passengers on the Fitchburg Line, meanwhile, experienced delays of up to 45 minutes Thursday morning, according to a series of commuter rail tweets. Westwater said the delays were due to a switch issue outside of North Station and police activity at Fitchburg Station.

“Both situations have been resolved and normal service is resuming,” she said later that morning.