derailed: mbta issues again
Red Line train hit platform, cause inquiry underway
The MBTA is warning passengers to expect delays this morning after a Red Line train derailed at Broadway station.
There were 47 passengers aboard the train when it derailed around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, but no one was injured, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said.
Elisabeth Boyce-Jacino, who was on the train but riding three cars behind the one that derailed, said the train car struck a side wall while near the station.
Photos Boyce-Jacino posted to Twitter show a battered Red Line car smashed at one end with heavy scrapes and a smashed window.
The southbound Red Line train was moving at a slow rate of speed when it derailed and made contact with the edge of the platform, Pesaturo said. It was the second car in a six-car train.
The MBTA said the cause of the derailment is under investigation.
Buses are replacing Red Line service between Park and JFK/UMass stations while MBTA personnel work to re-rail the train. Delays of up to 20 minutes were reported on the Red Line on Tuesday morning.
This is the latest in a slate of mechanical and infrastructure debacles at the MBTA.
On Sunday night an escalator at Back Bay Station malfunctioned, suddenly reversing at a high rate of speed and injuring nine people.
On Sept. 20, a Boston University professor died when the dilapidated staircase he was climbing from the JFK/UMass station gave out, leaving him plummeting to his death.
Another crash on July 30 sent 27 passengers and workers to the hospital with minor injuries on the MBTA’s Green Line B branch near Boston University. The light rail operator was found at fault in that crash and is now facing charges.
The causes of both of those incidents are also under investigation.
A February white paper by A Better City, a watchdog group, found leadership turnover and other cultural issues have led to safety challenges at the MBTA.
The paper, entitled “On the MBTA Safety Review Panel Report,” also pointed out how many factors — including relentless operating budget cutbacks — may have contributed to the T’s major subway incidents of 2019, which included a major derailment. It also pointed to a needed focus on increased annual capital spending may have exacerbated the safety impacts of operating budget cutbacks.