Today was the first day of a new schedule on the Worcester line. The T tweaked some of the departure times and added 6 to 12 minutes to the trip lengths (according to the Boston Globe). The schedules now better reflect reality.

Of course, it would have been nice if the T had thought about doing this when I first told them about it over two years ago. Here's an excerpt from an email I sent to the T's "Write to the Top" program on October 17, 2005.

Since taking this train on a regular basis, I have noted that it is consitently late.
I tracked the arrival times at South Station for the
last six days I took the train and this is what I came up with:

October 6:     7:27
October 7:     7:28
October 10:   7:31
October 11:   7:30
October 14:   7:32
October 17:   7:28

While these are not huge discrepancies, there is no reason why the train should be
6-11 minutes late every day. If it is impossible for the
train to arrive at the scheduled time, the MBTA should at least change the printed
schedules so that those of us who rely on the train can plan our
mornings with a reliable expectation that the schedule and reality are somewhat in synch.

The explanation I got back from Bob Stoetzel, Chief Transportation Officer of the T's Railroad Operations blamed CSX track work and something called "slippery rail". Now they change the schedule based on a time study, the first one done since commuter rail service was extended to Worcester years ago.

It might be nice if the T would take it's riders a little more seriously instead of making a lot of excuses. Those of us who have to live with the commuter rail every day might actually know what we're talking about.