MBTA officials said the train was brought to halt by cutting off power to its electrified third rail, according to the report.
Advertisement
The operator has been put on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation, Pollack said.
“It’s pretty clearly that it was set in forward motion, which is why it moved in the first place when the signal was manipulated”, said Baker.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said the train was tampered with.
“Passenger safety is the highest priority for the MBTA and this highly troubling incident is under investigation by Transit Police detectives”, said MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola in a release.
The circumstances that ultimately led to a runaway train carrying dozens of passengers across a long stretch of the Red Line Thursday morning are fairly common, state Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack said. Witnesses and the train’s assigned operator are being interviewed.
“They don’t have a very good reputations and they’re making it worse”, said Marjorie Donahue, who is retired, and was waiting for a Braintree train at the Wollaston stop.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker thinks the train was tampered with on objective.
Fortunately, no passengers were injured although a T employee suffered minor injuries after he was struck by the side of the train after it departed from Braintree. The man is 51 years old and a 28-year veteran of the MBTA.
Passengers said they hope MBTA officials will take more steps to make sure something like this never happens again.
“We were lucky to get out of there it could have been a lot worse”, Aurelio said. Pesaturo said the train brushed against the operator as it left the station.
An FBI spokesperson told The Boston Herald the agency is aware of the incident and has been in contact with MBTA Transit Police. “People are all over this one”.
Gonneville said to put the train in bypass mode an operator is required to use two brakes before exiting the vehicle. An initial examination showed no problems with the “functionality” of the train’s equipment, he said. He said the Blue Line has been operated by one driver since the late 1990s and Orange Line trains have had a single operator since 2009.
Advertisement
“A device that is the master control of the train is a large lever that is on essentially the dash of the train”, Gonneville said.
