A subway train outside Boston caught fire Thursday morning while crossing a bridge over the Mystic River, prompting an evacuation that sent many people out of windows and one person jumping into the water below, authorities said.
The fire in Somerville, north of Boston, was caused when a metal strip similar to aluminum siding broke free from a rail car and came into contact with the third rail, which carried electricity, Steve Poftak, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, told the press conference.
Mr Poftak apologized to the 200 passengers who were on the Orange Line train, which had started the day in Forest Hills and caught fire between Wellington and Assembly stations about 6.45am. He called the fire “a frightening incident and not the type of service we want to provide to our customers.”
No one was injured in the episode, and power to the third rail was shut down less than two minutes after authorities received a call about it, he said. The woman who jumped into the river refused medical attention, the MBTA said.
“This particular location is a really acute vulnerability,” Mr. Poftak said. “You are a considerable distance from one of the two stations, and you are up there on the bridge.”
The fire was the latest in a series of troubling episodes for Boston’s transit system, known as the T. Leaders are calling for greater investment in the public transit system.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu called the latest Orange Line episode “more evidence of an aging transit system in crisis.”
It was not immediately clear why the metal strap, which is attached to the train, slipped, Mr. Poftak said at the news conference.
He added that the current heat wave has “obviously” had an impact on the agency’s recent operations, saying officials were struggling with drawbridges stuck in an upright position on Wednesday. He does not know if heat played any role in the train fire.
“I don’t want to speculate,” he said. “It will be something we will look at.”
Passengers got out of four large windows that were open on the train, and train crew members helped others to evacuate. An MBTA spokesman said in an email that the “vast majority” of passengers exited through the back door of the train’s last car, and that it was unclear how the woman who jumped into the river left the train. He deferred questions about the episode to the U.S. Coast Guard, which did not immediately return an email.
Mr Poftak said service was restored by 11am after checks were completed. The train, which entered service in 1980, was last inspected on June 23 and that’s when the loose seal was checked, he said.
Mr. Poftak said the MBTA and public transit in general are much safer than most other forms of transportation, but he acknowledged that the system has recently “had a string of accidents.”
In April, a man was dragged to his death after his hand got caught in the door of a Red Line train he was exiting, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Last July, 20 people were injured when two Green Line trains collided, and in January 2021, an MBTA crash involving a vehicle killed the car’s driver, according to Bloomberg.
“A broken MBTA threatens the safety of our community and the future of our city and region,” Ms. Wu, the mayor, said in her statement. “I will be reaching out to my colleagues across the region to more aggressively partner with the state on rapid system-wide upgrades.” The City of Boston must do more to help the state lead this transformation, and we are ready to prioritize that work.”
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