The chaos began early yesterday when an engine failed on the first
train out of Providence, canceling the train and causing a 45-minute delay that Farmelant said forced passengers who would fill 12 cars to pack into six.

The impact then rippled up the Providence-Stoughton line, as passengers were forced to wait an hour or more for a train with room.

Steve Weeks, 23, of Natick, said he let his scheduled train to Cambridge pass yesterday morning because it was full, finally arriving late to work at 10 a.m.

Later in the day, a Worcester train was delayed 35 minutes because of signal problems. An accident involving minor injuries to a pedestrian
in Concord tied up service further in the day on the Fitchburg line.

Then, CSX Corp., which owns much of the rail on the T's Worcester-Framingham line runs, lowered speed limits from 60 miles per hour to
40 miles per hour for safety reasons, because the extreme heat was expanding the steel. The slowdown, which could continue today, created 20-minute delays that ballooned throughout the afternoon commute.

Several riders on crowded trains said conductors did not try to collect fares or check T passes.The commuter railroad's contract with the
MBTA requires 333 coaches to operate out of North and South stations during peak commutes, but it acknowledged that it was down about 20 yesterday. About 77,000 passengers board the system daily.

At 4 p.m. yesterday, the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad said air conditioning wasn't working in 47 of the cars, as temperatures neared
the record high of 98 in Boston. Other coaches are in for overhauls to have their air conditioning repaired.