Cold Framingham Day
Today was the coldest day that I have taken the commuter rail from Framingham. It was 2 degrees while waiting on the platform, but it felt like -10. (At least what all the weather apps were reporting. )
I took the 7:15 train from Framingham and it was about 15 minutes late. Which is was good, because frost bite kicks in about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, there is no warm place to stay while waiting for the train. Some early arrivals did have some close parking spots and were able to wait in their cars for the train. Some people also try to keep warm in the elevator.
In 2009, the MBTA invested in a train notification infrastructure that would alert commuters on how long they would have to wait for the train. This replaced a refunding program where if the trains were running 15 minutes late, you could get a refund for your ride. Can you imagine what it would have happened if it was still in effect?
That train notification system made a big difference this morning because we knew how long we would have to wait for the train. If it was going to be longer than 20 minutes I might have gotten a coffee at a near by Tedeschi Food Shop.
There are still many stairs on the train that have lots of snow on them from last weekend's storm. While some of these doors don't get any use. However, if an emergency happened on the train and people had to exit, it would be very dangerous to have to go down some of those stairs.
I think that Dunkin Donuts or Honey Dew should invest in some mobile stores for next winter. They certainly would have done well with the 50 or so people that were waiting for the train.