BOSTON — Keolis Commuter Services, operator of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter trains, says it is investigating a Tuesday incident in which a packed train operated with one coach door open.
WHDH-TV reports that a commuter on the Middleboro-bound train from Boston’s South Station tweeted that “there were people holding on for their life … so they didn’t fall out of the train” and said one passenger held the door closed while the train was moving, but he would occasionally lose his grip and the door would reopen.
A commuter rail Twitter account responded, “We’ve escalated this concern to be addressed as safety is very important to us. Sorry for the uncomfortable commute.”
Amen!
Most passengers are able to read English and possibly understand the same. The signs on the cars state passengers are forbidden to ride in the vestibules. Doors malfunction all the time. Passengers are also prohibited from opening their own doors for obvious reasons. When passengers leave after opening their own doors they leave the traps open causing hazardous conditions for the rest of the people. I know it’s a great chore to go to a door that’s manned by a crew member. They would have to walk almost 75 feet. If the crew had to check all the doors and traps after each stop the passenger would be bitching about on time performance. I had the pleasure of doing this every night. To cure passengers of this habit I walked slowly to each door opened by a passenger and closed them. Passengers got tired of being 20 minutes late every evening. Peer pressure finally kicked in. Management was totally useless as they said I was delaying the train. I informed them about the rule book and asked them to put the order in writing which of course they could not do this. Most of the flak came from the MBTA management who micro managed everything. There are two sides to every story and being in the middle is not fun. Unless a complaint was signed by a passenger I refused to answer it.
PAUL – A lowlife getting off the train at my hometown depot? Please say no. This would be like something out of the 1973 movie “The Friends of Eddie Coyle”, starring Robert Mitchum, where there was a shoot-out near the Providence – bound platform.
Oh, PAUL, did you mention the sign in the parking lot on the Providence side? Was shown in the movie with a hoodlum shooting from behind it. “Sharon – A better place to live because it’s naturally beautiful”.
Charles, I dunno about a “lowlife”, but he clearly didn’t care about his own safety. And I got a view off the viaduct I never thought I’d get. 😉 But then things were different then. It was normal for passengers to open their own doors and traps at stations like Mansfield and step off while the train is still moving. Heck, one time we stopped short of the platform at Mansfield by a few hundred feet at the interlocking. We sat there for 15+ minutes, and we’re all standing there in the vestibule and in the aisle, waiting to get off the train. I asked the guy on the bottom step to lean out and look at the signal. He said it had two red lights. I thought to heck with this, said excuse me, and jumped off the train. I walked off the property to the nearby street and made my way to my car. As I drove by the train, I noticed I was not the only one walking to their car. I got all the way home, turned on the scanner, and the train was still sitting there waiting for a maintenance guy because the turnout to Framingham wouldn’t lock down. If I did that today, I’d probably be tracked down and arrested. 🙂
BTW, I worked in Sharon for 25 years from 1989-2014.
Then there were the Bad Old Days, on the Peninsula commuter run, when we would hang out on the rear platform of the last Harriman coach, watching the sun set and [we are told] smoking cigarettes and all kinds of things …
The above comments are genetic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. From Bangor all the way to Maine, all the way to the far-flung Isles of Langerhans.
I remember when the MBTA commuter trains were also run with doors open and traps down. That ended, as I recall, when a kid fell out of a car at Qunicy on this very route. Now they won’t even let you ride the vestibule.
I can’t believe this made the news. Ok, having a door not being able to latch is unusual, but running with the doors open was not uncommon 20 years ago on the MBTA. If I had had a camera phone on me back then, I could have made many similar reports over my 5 years of commuting.
My favorite one was the time we pulled out of Canton Jct. heading south towards Sharon on a beautiful sunny day. I was in the vestibule because I was a dumb college kid that didn’t want to sit next to someone if I didn’t have to. In the same vestibule, there was another guy I never saw before. As we pulled away from the station, the doors were all closed. As we accelerated, the other guy went to the starboard door, opened it, then opened the trap and stepped down to the bottom step. For those not familiar with the area, just south of Canton Jct. is the Canton Viaduct which is 70′ tall and 615′ long…and it’s on a curve to the right. So as we’re going over it, the train leans into the curve towards the open door, and this guy was all but hanging off the side of the train over the Neponset River valley. Meanwhile, I’m on the other side of the vestibule hanging on with both hands looking down into the water. Cool as a cucumber, the guy just rides the bottom step all the way to Sharon, and steps off the car before the train stops.
Guess I should have called the news back then… 🙂
Very interesting! I personally wrote a complaint in April 2008 about this lack of safety procedure and was assured that it would be referred to the appropriate person in charge. BUT the next time I rode the MBTA Commuter Rail in December 2008 this practice was still in operation. This time my complaint received no reply, well at least of which I have no record.
Most modern trains these days are unable to move with a door open.
Mr. Landey, On the old New Haven, pre Metro North, I’d ride home on the 6:02 local out of GCT making all stops to Westport. The traps and doors on the Washboards were always left open from the first stop at Mount Vernon. Impossible to open an shut all traps on making every stop on a 10 car train. Riders would jump off ar their station when the train was still in motion.
Ever been to India?
At least no one was hurt. That is a blessing.
The above comments are genetic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Suddenly the door flew open and this madman drove in honking wildly and stopped on a dime. Unfortunately the dime was in Mister Rococo’s pocket.
We’re soon to hear from Robert McGuire who is no admirer of that railroad
The one time I rode GTW commuter train Detroit to Royal Oak the doors and steps were left open the entire ride with no train crew attending. The safety world has changed since then.
During the late ’70s/early ’80s I commuted to school in downtown Chicago via the Rock Island’s suburban line (before the RTA and Metra). More than 50% of the time these trains were comprised of 1920s-era Pressed Steel Car open platform coaches with openable windows. All that prevented someone from walking off of the rear platform were a couple of chains supporting a sheet metal “drum head” inscribed with the train information. People would congregate on the platforms ahead of their stops, starting on what was then the “fast” (60 mph) portion of the line between Englewood and Gresham.
In the 27 years I spent growing up and living in the Beverly Hills/Morgan Park area, I never heard of a passenger or RI employee having an accident or injury on one of these trains. Perhaps people were used to riding in such equipment and had a better awareness of/respect for the risks and hazards.