Boston Transit Officials Investigating Tampering on Commuter Train

None of the passengers were hurt, but the train’s operator suffered a minor injury when he was brushed by the train when it began to move at Braintree Station around 6am, the MBTA said.

Inspectors found signs of tampering with a safety device within the train’s cab, a system that is supposed to prevent it from operating without a driver, transit officials said.

MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola called it a “highly troubling incident”. The train was brought to a halt just past North Quincy Station, when crews powered down the third rail.

A passenger on the train, T. Lee, described the wild ride, telling WCVB-TV, “We made it past Quincy Adams before someone in my auto 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 Boston subway carries approximately 560,00 people per day and 174 million each year, according to statistics compiled by the American Public Transportation Association.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said on Boston Herald Radio authorities were investigating, the Globe said.

Transit personnel were able to board the locomotive and take it to another station where passengers disembarked.

Those procedures, Gonneville said, include putting the train on full service brake and using a hand brake before exiting the cabin.

He has been with the MBTA for more than 28 years and is being treated at South Shore Hospital.

The above ground Red Line train departed Braintree Station – the southernmost stop of the line – shortly after 6 a.m. without an operator and traveled north toward Boston, a statement from the MBTA said.

The FBI and the Massachusetts State Police have determined there is “no need” for them to be involved in the investigation led by the MBTA Transit Police, according to Pollack.

“Operator error is the current focus of the investigation”, Pollack said. The MBTA will have an “after-incident report” as part of an internal investigation.

A person with knowledge of the trains says this was a “very risky situation for passengers”.

“If a second person was on this train they would have been equipped with the knowledge and ability necessary to safely bring this train to a stop”, Boston Carmen’s Union President James O’Brien told the News Service.

Pollack said trains are put into emergency bypass mode “only when there is a signal problem”, and she said bypass is used regularly and safely.