This is my stop: T car detaches midcommute
Federal railroad officials have joined a probe into the “exceptionally unusual incident” on Wednesday when a train car suddenly broke free from a moving MBTA commuter rail train.
No passengers were on the rear coach car when it uncoupled from the Newburyport line train shortly after 7 p.m., according to rail operator Keolis. But the train, which had four coach cars in total, “probably” had about 400 riders on it at the time, a spokesman said.
Keolis, a private company, and the MBTA took the train out of service to investigate why the car “became parted” from the rest of the train midtransit. No one was injured, and the train, which left Boston at 6:45 p.m., stopped when the cars separated, as did the loose car, thanks to safety systems on-board, officials said.
“This is an exceptionally unusual incident and is under investigation by the Keolis and MBTA safety departments, including detailed inspections of the trainset involved and track to determine the root cause,” Keolis spokesman Tory Mazzola said in a statement.
The T and Keolis are also required to notify the Federal Railroad Administration, and Desiree French, an FRA spokeswoman, confirmed yesterday that the federal agency is investigating.
Mazzola said federal officials have been “part of our investigation” since the incident.
At the time the car decoupled, the Twitter feed the T uses to post commuter rail updates described the incident as a “mechanical issue” that stopped the train between Chelsea and the River Works station in Lynn.
After what the T described as a 25- to 35-minute delay, the train dropped passengers off in Lynn, where they took another train.
The incident comes amid an already unflattering week for the MBTA, which has struggled with signal problems and delays on the Red Line.