BOSTON — No injuries were reported after a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line train derailed today (Monday, June 12), the Boston Globe reports.
About 30 people were on board the trolley on the Green Lin’s B Branch when the center wheelset of the articulated light-rail trainset derailed at low speed near Packard’s Corner. The train was operating at low speed because of a speed restriction in the area, MBTA General Manager Philip Eng said. An investigation is in progress, but track condition is believed to have contributed to the derailment, with Eng saying “the distance between the rails is not where it should have been, so we’re assessing how that happened.”
The derailment occurred about 1:40 p.m. Service on the Green Line B Branch was slated to be replaced with bus service between Kenmore Square and Washington street for the remainder of today’s service to allow for track maintenance, according to an MBTA Twitter post, with the goal of restoring service on Tuesday morning.
Here we go again! The old Snake Cars had a similar problem but then they were two-rooms-and-a-bath articulation with two old double-truck cars with a new center section suspended between them. Ultimate cause will probably be not enough weight on that center truck. I myself call these cars “Two Rooms and a Sauna” because the air conditioning ducts don’t reach that center section. The MBTA might consider putting refreshment bars in the center sections for service to Riverside and Tufts University.
Of course the problem could be bad trackwork, too!