09-30-2009, 10:16 PM
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#6
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PatsFans.com Supporter
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 12,748
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Re: Decided to try the train to the game. Any advice?
I recommend that you DO NOT take the train to Gillette. I have done it several times and after last week's experience finally decided never again. The ride is long, slow, unreliable and understaffed. Last week the train from South Station (I boarded in Dedham) was 30 MINUTES LATE arriving in Foxboro. The schedule says it arrives at 12:05 for a 1 p.m. game, we got there at 12:35. Once the train stopped, the damn doors were stuck shut and couldn't be opened from the inside! We had to wait until a rail employee opened them from the outside. We had to practically run to the stadium, and ended up in our seats six minutes before kickoff. But that's not all. Waiting for the train to leave after the game, someone had a heart attack. The conductor issued a plea over the intercom for anyone with medical expertise (you'd think they'd have that covered), and departure was delayed until cops/paramedics arrived to render aid. (I saw the guy carried off on a stretcher from my window.)
Other times I've used the game-day train there have been delay problems for one reason or another. For the sleet/snow Jets game in 2007, it arrived halfway through the first quarter. In another instance there was a track problem that delayed the ride home by at least an hour.
If two of you go to the game it costs $12 each to ride the train plus $4 parking = $28. To me, it's worth paying $40 to park near the stadium knowing you'll get in and out safely and in reasonable time. The only times the train uses that leg of the track from Walpole to Gillette is for Pats games, and it literally crawls slower than most folks can walk. My guess is that the track is poorly maintained and must be traversed very carefully. Mark my words: someday, either that train or the track is going to break down and thousands of people will be stranded. I won't be one of them.
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