‘Get it together!’: Frustrated riders sound off on MBTA after power outage derails morning commute

BOSTON — MBTA riders have had enough of the seemingly daily delays and disruptions that continue to plague the transit system’s train lines.

An “unexpected” problem at North Station with one of the T’s “primary power feeds” on Thursday led to trains being held on three subway lines as riders flocked to stations for their morning commutes to work.

Orange, Green, and Blue Line riders were greeted with motionless trains, and those at Haymarket station were left stranded in the darkness.

The power was eventually restored after about three hours and trains started rolling again.

Jessica Holmes tried to enter Haymarket station just as she does every day but an MBTA worker informed her of the outage and turned her away, leaving her with a mile-and-a-half walk to work in the cold.

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“It was closed all of December and all of January and now there’s a power problem,” Holmes told Boston 25 in disbelief. “It’s winter and now we’re all walking to work...Stop charging fares if it’s going to be broken all the time.”

Andrew Nascarella, who also frequents Haymarket station, urged the T to develop a plan that will restore reliability to its train services.

“I’m pissed. I’m pissed about the Green Line. It seems like every day something is going wrong with these trains. It’s always an inconvenience. It doesn’t matter what line it is,” Nascarella told Boston 25. “It’s a huge inconvenience for everybody...Get it together! Get a plan, execute it, and hopefully it works. You got to do something!”

‘We’re like miners’: Commuters stranded in dark MBTA stations as power problems halt subway lines

In a post on X, another commuter inside the dark Haymarket station wrote, “We’re like miners.”

In a statement on the morning power problem, a T spokesperson said, “The outage at North Station was unexpected, and it is one of the MBTA’s primary power feeds. As a safety precaution, protective systems opened related circuit breakers, temporarily discontinuing power flow. We apologize for the inconvenience and disruption during the morning commute.”

Officials said the outage affected signals, stations, and public address systems. Train traction power was not impacted.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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