Last Tuesday morning the Framingham/Worcester line was a tremendous mess due to a communication failure. Trains in both directions were significantly delayed, and some were cancelled. I watched an inbound train with no lights or air conditioning arrive at Back Bay, carrying two trains worth of passengers. People, wide-eyed, open-mouthed gasping for air, and flushed with heat and anger, jumped off that train like lemmings off the cliff in their staged suicide.
When I finally boarded a Framingham train, the initial excitement at the prospect of finally getting to work quickly turned to frustation. The train was moving very slowly, making all the Newton stops. According to the schedule none of the outbound trains stop at any Newton stops before 11am. Yet, here was our train traveling well before 9am, and making all stops. Why?
I went to talk to the conductor, and his explanation was, “just in case.” Just in case what? In case any people were waiting for a train or any passengers wanted to get off the train… at an unscheduled stop? In case anyone was at the platform 2+ hours early?
Would any sane person wait for or get on a train “just in case?” The conductor did later concede that his superiors ordered the train to make all stops. However, I am not sure if this extra information made me feel better.
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Oy. This reminds me of trying to have a logical conversation with our IT guys about some of the random security policies at work. It always boils down to someone higher up told them to do it--and they know it is dumb--but they have to do it anyway.
Sigh.
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