BOSTON — Ten people were hospitalized with injuries Saturday morning when a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority light rail train derailed near Fenway Park.
The MBTA Green Line train hit the side of a tunnel in the accident, the Boston Globe reports, with some injuries described as serious but not life-threatening. The train’s operator was among those hospitalized; the 62-year-old suffered a leg injury and bumps and bruises, according to an MBTA spokesman.
MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said the agency would conduct “a full investigation” into the accident. The station reported that about 150 people were on the train, and had to be evacuated from the tunnel, as were 500 people on a following train.
Service on the line was restored Sunday.
Now that Uber and Lyft (and other ride-hires) are coming into mainstream use, maybe these rideshares will draw off some of the overcrowding on the T. In Chicago, where I live, public transit use is declining rapidly as people find it more convenient and just about as inexpensive as taking transit, to take an Uber.
No need to raise the fares to resolve the crush loads although that is always a good option). Just stop the unnecessary expansion of this corrupt system. How many millions or more accurately billions are being spend on a gold plated expansion of the green line beyond its current terminal in Lechmere into Cambridge and Somerville. This expansion is only going add to the problem of overcrowding. There may be a need for expansion some day but fix the current system first and get it running efficiently before expanding into other areas.
Charles, so suggest raising taxes to pay for an upgrade of a 130 year old subway. OMG! Anathema to some. How else will it get paid for? Putting the burden solely on the riders is ludicrous, as the entire region benefits from the T, even those who choose to drive and sit for an hour on the SE Expressway. Without the T it’d be 2-3 hours, and we’d no longer have an economy.
The following train had 500 people on it, says the article. The Green Line trolleys run at crush loads. Thank God it wasn’t the followinbg train that derailed. What the Green Line needs is a few billion dollars to fall from Heaven to uograde it rapid transit standard. The Green Line has the riders. It doesn’t have the capacity. And that’s been going on for FIFTY YEARS. It was FIFTY YEARS ago my cousin and I got on a crush-loaded train at Fenway Park as the Red Sox were going into extra innings but we needed to leave. Imagine if the game were over how crowded our train would have been.
More recently, six years ago I waited at Longwood for a train. The first train didn’t stop as it was full. The second train was already ultra-packed like sardines but stopped tat Longwood to let more on. I asked what the issue was, I was told a basketball gane had ended at Boston College.