An out-of-control Boston commuter train left a station Thursday morning with 50 passengers on board, but no driver. The train zipped through four stops before workers cut power to the line, stopping the train, which can be seen in the above video, before anyone was seriously injured.
One Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority worker, a 51-year-old train operator, suffered minor injuries when he was clipped by the train at Braintree Station, the Boston Globe reports.
The Red Line train left Braintree at 6:08 a.m. and traveled through the Quincy Adams, Quincy Center And Wollaston stations, before it came to a stop just past the North Quincy Station.
This Boston Red Line train left a station with passengers on board, but no driver. (PSBSatellite/YouTube)
Governor Charlie Baker told reporters at a press conference that the driver had left the train to check a signal issue. Baker said the train controls were “manipulated,” which allowed the train to move “without a person controlling it.
“The discussion that’s going to take place on our end is negligence versus something else,” Baker said. “It’s pretty clear that the main control that drives the train was tampered with.”
He said he believes it was an isolated incident.
MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola said in a statement, “Passenger safety is the highest priority for the MBTA and this highly troubling incident is under investigation by Transit Police detectives.”
The FBI told the Globe they are “aware of the incident,” and have been in contact with transit police.
#MBTA #RedLine passenger describes what happened on the runaway train this morning. t.co/Kl4B4UFfwp
A passenger on the train, T. Lee, described the wild ride, telling WCVB-TV, ““We made it past Quincy Adams before someone in my car said that we should have stopped back there, and then I looked up and we were about ready to blow past the Quincy Center Station, as well. The scariest part was not knowing if there was a train ahead of us and how this train would be stopped.”
Lee said the train was not moving at a high rate of speed.
