Things Get Hot on the Red Line

With gas prices soaring, it’s not surprising that T ridership is way up, but it will probably take $5 a gallon gas to keep those who used to drive on the trains for the foreseeable future. For the second time in a week in a half, the Red Line caught on fire.

Red Line trains are running again in both directions this morning after a small electrical fire at the Porter Square station knocked out service for less than an hour.

That’s better than last month’s Red Line fire that caused the entire system to seize up for the evening commute. But between the random fires and faulty ties on the Longfellow Bridge, the average speed of that branch must be approaching the mind-numbing crawl of the B Line.

And unlike their counterparts on the Green Line, Red Line commuters might not have the option of walking since the Longfellow Bridge can’t handle big crowds of pedestrians anymore.

In its report to DCR this week, engineers suggested large crowds should be prohibited from gathering on the sidewalks until further testing and recommended closing the bridge sidewalks on the Fourth of July.

It’s fast becoming a kind of commuting Sophie’s Choice—shell out a small fortune to drive your car to the office, or get up early to accommodate for random fires and deteriorating infrastructure on the T.