Train Accidents

Last week, on October 26, 2016, around 4:40 P.M., the northbound Orange Line train, while stopped at Back Bay Station in Boston, Massachusetts, began to spew smoke. The train had overheated right before rush hour, and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (“MBTA”) workers asked passengers to evacuate the station. After the initial panic, which caused riders to break windows of the train to escape, five people had to be treated for smoke inhalation.

The northbound orange line began to leave the Back Bay station when the operations center “was called about a report of a propulsion issue.” This issue resulted in visible smoke to riders onboard the train. With the doors to the train closed, people on the train began to break the windows to escape. In a statement, the MBTA explained that the doors to the train had not been malfunctioning. Instead, the doors were closed because the train was moving away from the station. When the issue was discovered, the “motor person had begun promptly opening doors to allow passengers to evacuate safely, away from (the) live third rail.” However, there was no initial announcement over the intercom of what was occurring, which led a lot of scared people to self-evacuate through the windows. As a result of this chaos, five people were treated for injuries at the station, and three passengers had to be taken to the hospital. Continue reading

Thursday morning, during the rush hour peak, a New Jersey commuter train plowed full speed into the Hoboken terminal, injuring 114 people. Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34, of Hoboken, was killed by falling debris while waiting on the platform for the train’s arrival. She was the only fatality.

Witnesses said the train hurtled through the designated stopping point, slammed into a bumper block, went airborne and drove through a passenger concourse at approximately 8:45 a.m.

Bhagyesh Shah, who was riding in the back of the front car on his way to work, said the train didn’t seem to slow as it entered the station. He further stated, “[t]he next thing I know, I’m on the floor. We are plowing through something … and when the train came to a stop, I could see the parts of the roof on the first car and some of the debris next to me.”

Articles Posted in Train Accidents

Boston Orange Line Overheats, Leading to Smoke Inhalation Injuries

New Jersey Commuter Train Crash: Reports that 1 Dead, More than 100 Injured