Some passengers weren’t aware of the warning that the T would be closing many stations on the Orange and Red Lines until they were on their way to work or school on the morning of a long holiday weekend. And some people ended up paying twice.
On Tuesday morning, only the Blue Line, the least popular of the four lines, was running through downtown.
“I know how important this system is to our riders, and I know how important it is for them to be able to believe that we are turning things around.”9 months Eng, who previously took over as T-chief, said in an interview. “As we fix the system… we will begin to proactively address these situations.”
“There’s never a good time for an incident like this to happen, but their safety was our top priority,” he said.
The trouble began around 8:20 a.m., when the T announced on social media that Orange Line trains were delayed about 20 minutes due to trouble with the third rail at Community College Station, but officials later resolved the issue.
At the same time, the T spotted smoke coming from a Red Line manhole about 40 feet from the Downtown Crossing station, agency spokeswoman Lisa Battiston said. Battiston said in her statement that all Red Line trains were waiting at the station for passengers to exit the train. Battiston said she quickly determined that the smoke in the manhole was caused by burning electrical wires used to supply power to the Orange Line.
Around 9:30 a.m., the T announced it was closing the Orange Line between Back Bay and North Station. This means Haymarket, State, Downtown Crossing, Chinatown, Tufts Medical Center, Central, Kendall/MIT, Charles/MGH, Park Street, South Station, Broadway, and Andrews stations will not have Orange Line or Red Line service was.
Just before 10 a.m., Ambassador T, wearing a red shirt, stood at the turnstiles of the Downtown Crossing station, yelling, “There’s no train!” and turning away several confused passengers.
She told passengers to walk to the Park Street station, where workers in high-visibility vests pushed the snaking line of buses onto Tremont Street.
The situation at the scene was chaotic. Snow-haired commuters swarmed the slowing buses, jockeying for space in the packed vehicles, while traffic police shouted for people to stay off the streets.
By about 10:50 a.m., Battiston said, trains were running on the Red and Orange Lines. But the chaos forced some to give up on reaching their destinations altogether. After the shuttle buses restarted, they dumped some passengers at the nearest station, forcing them to pay the nightmarish commute again.
Emma Bulman, a 25-year-old laboratory technician who works in Kendall Square, decided to quit her commute around 10:30 a.m. By that time, she had been on or off the road for about three hours.
“My boss gave me permission to go home,” she said with a laugh, checking the commuter rail schedule back to Bridgewater.
Her first commuter rail train arrived at South Station just before 8 a.m. There, she said, she waited on the Red Line platform for more than 30 minutes until workers told her there was smoke on the line and she ushered commuters outside the station to wait. . cold.
“It took 45 minutes for the first shuttle to arrive and it was full,” Bulman said. “If I had known it would take that long, I would have turned back right away.”
While she was waiting, a series of confused passengers approached Ms. Bulman and asked for help. Some argued with workers and police officers.
East Boston resident Andre M., who declined to give his last name, said his morning route is typically a “fairly simple” journey from Maverick Station on the Blue Line to Back Bay Station on the Orange Line, changing at State Station. He said the train would only stop for a short time. station. On a good day, he said, it takes about 30 minutes to go door to door.
The 48-year-old said he didn’t know about the Orange Line closure until he was waiting on the platform at State Station.
“One of the attendants basically said, ‘There’s no orange line,’ and started yelling at everyone,” Andre said. “There’s no real guidance.”
He thought he could change his plans and take the Green Line to work, but discovered that the route was already closed for routine maintenance. As time went on, Andre felt that the usual few minutes between arriving at his workplace and punching the clock were slipping away.
“Right now I’m standing here waiting for a shuttle bus that may or may not come,” he said. “I took this crazy photo to show the people in the office that I’m on board with this.”
Eng said the cable that caught fire was at least 40 years old. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but the insulation in older cables may have become dry and brittle, making such accidents more likely, he said.
The T was able to reroute power to the Orange Line on Tuesday to get the system up and running again, and plans to replace the faulty cable Tuesday evening outside of service hours, Eng said.
“I think this shows the system we inherited,” Eng said. “We know that’s something we need to work on.”
While T Company employees investigated the fire, they had to shut down much of the system because T Company does not have the ability to shut off power to smaller areas of the system, Eng said. he said.
“As we move forward… we’re going to build in flexibility to be able to separate power in other ways,” he said. “And it’s not just about a good state of repair, it’s about building a system that’s better than before.”
EN has made strides toward improving its beleaguered transit system, particularly by making improvements to long-neglected tracks, but that was little consolation for passengers on Tuesday.
In the afternoon, the MBTA suspended Red Line service between JFK/UMass and Ashmont stations for about 30 minutes due to another power issue, this time a Third Rail insulator failed, Eng said.
In November, T announced that 76% of its power system, including substations, cables, overhead lines and generators, needed repair or replacement, which would cost about $5.1 billion. Overall, 64% of the T’s assets, including power, stations, tracks, trains and buses, require renovations estimated to cost about $25 billion.
“We’re looking at how we can start to ensure that we start replacing these cables, how we start building a program where the infrastructure that needs to be replaced is done in a more timely manner,” Eng said.
Travis Andersen of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Taylor Dolven can be reached at taylor.dolven@globe.com.follow her @taydolven. Daniel Kool can be reached at daniel.kool@globe.com.follow him @dekool01.