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Man under train at Downtown Crossing; Red Line at standstill
By adamg on Wed, 03/25/2015 - 3:20pm
A lone shuttle bus at Park Street.
UPDATE: Transit Police report the man was taken out alive from under the train.
A man jumped in front of a train around 2:20 p.m. on the outbound side of the Red Line.
One witness on the platform said he heard a "boom" then screeching as the train driver hit the brakes.
The MBTA substituted bus service between JFK/UMass and Kendall as firefighters and paramedics worked to extract the man and get him to a hospital.
Firefighter with Jaws of Life going down to platform:
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Comments
Horrendous
Was entering Charles St 1/2 hr after, finally made into to Park by bus @ 4. Now on packed D line. I'm about to off myself,maybe I should do it on the subway.
Can you hold off until after
Can you hold off until after rush hour? Tonight is laundry night for me & last load has to be in by 9:00. Thanks!
You Should be Ashamed
I'm sorry you experienced an inconvenience, but you need to either re-word your complaint or shut up. That is someone's life you are talking and joking about. I don't know if the man died or not, but it is someone's son, brother, father, grandson, friend, and/or so much more. I'm sure he didn't consider the inconvenience it would cause others when he decide his life wasn't worth living for. If a packed D line train is your biggest complaint of the day, then you are really lucky because those who are going to be impacted first-hand by this man's death or attempted death will have much more to complain about than you.
Agreed about compassion
but what about the compassion for the train operator? Who had to watch as someone else died?
And to be fair, if jump-in-front-of-a-train suicides are publicly tolerated, they can become a huge problem. I'm currently (and unfortunately) stuck living in the SF Bay Area now, where the mass transit isn't nearly as good/redundant as Boston's, and we've had one suicide a week on the Caltrain and about one every other week on the BART, for the year of 2015.
Because "jump in front of a train" has been normalized here as a way to commit suicide, this means that commuters experience massive, hours-long delays several times a month due to someone committing suicide, which completely undermines the purpose of reliable mass transit. People who need to be somewhere on time hesitate to take the train now, and are instead starting to drive. That's not to mention the emotional toll it's taking on the engineers of the transit agencies, who helplessly watch their trains kill on a regular basis.
As an individual situation, I agree with you- that individual person deserves compassion. As an aggregate issue, it's something that should be questioned before it becomes too commonplace.
I'm sorrry, but
I don't understand what you mean by "publicly tolerated" or "normalized." Are you suggesting that we can shame people out of committing suicide? Or am I misinterpreting?
Normalized
as a method of suicide. Suicide-by-train tends to come in clusters, one guy does it, then a handful of other suicidal folk decide to end things by jumping in front of a train (as opposed to any other method of suicide.) If it's given too much attention, or considered a commonplace event, more people will feel that trains are a good way to commit suicide.
"Copy cat suicides" is
"Copy cat suicides" is another common term for it. Which is why some news outlets don't report on how a person committed suicide (in a more obituary-style piece, not so much emergency/breaking news like death by train like we have here), as to prevent others from repeating it after reading.
I am the original anon
Please, you and others, spare me sanctimonious crap. I certainly am not without empathy, but I forgot how 'sensitive' (read: snotty and sanctimonious) some people are. Never waste an opportunity to lecture and feel superior. Whatever.
My irritation is with two things:
The MBTA sucks, big time. Whoever is responsible for making decisions like preventing more than one train per station at the same time, disastrous signal policy (from the standpoint of getting from point A to B in a decent time frame; it's like train drivers drive with one foot on the brake, one in the accelerator), shutting down the core of the system (at the beginning of weekday rush hour) when some unfortunate soul fell/jumped in front of a train....which is happening with monotonous regularity, the obviously piss poor condition of the system as a whole (and what the hay did our 'progressive' governor and his party's control of the legislature do over the past EIGHT years?).
Finally, WHEN are we going to get serious regarding mental heath in this state / country? It doesn't seem to matter who is in charge, 'progressive' or con, NOTHING improves. Expect more suicides, walking dead on our streets, despair, preventable tragedy (many of the most heinous acts of violence are directly the result of the failures of our mental healthcare, laws regarding mentally ill people, and the law enforcement / judicial / prison complex.)
Have a nice night, everyone.
Sorry for being 'sensitive'
First, I don't think you have the right to say that I am overacting to your comment. You jokingly said you were going to jump in front of a train because of the packed D line about two hour after a man had just done it. I don't think I am superior due to my comment, but I do think I am superior because you clearly lack a sense of compassion. You say you have empathy, but don't show it in any way. Secondly, you have no right to question when the US is going to get serious about the mental health right after joking about mental health. I realize it is a inconvenience to commuters, but what you seem to not understand is the fact that a life was potentially ended today. Yes, you may have had to stand in a packed train or had been late for an appointment, but can you honestly compare that to the devastation of someone's life ending? If your answer is yes, you should seriously consider changing your perspective on the value of a life and the value of time. You have time to make up what was lost during this inconvenience today, the man that you blame may not.
PS-I'm not trying to start and full argument with you, I just think you should strongly consider the impact your words have on people.
Original anon,again....
My sense of humor and dealing with unpleasantness and tragedy (including my own) is different from yours. I've experienced MULTIPLE personal tragedies and sadness in my life. Something called 'black humor' is one way I've learned to deal with it. I crack jokes about myself all the time. I have a sense of humor, and wasn't raised in a tight assed environment. If I died in some accident, which caused a lot of people to be inconvenienced, and they resorted to 'whining' and cracking jokes, if there is an afterlife (I don't think there is), I'd be laughing along with them. It takes all kinds. I'm obviously different from you.
Again, assuming this gentleman deliberately 'fell' (jumped) in front of the train, that it wasn't a genuine accident of some kind, it's a painful reflection once again of our horribly inadequate mental healthcare, mental health laws, and everything else said in my previous post. People 'falling' (or jumping) in front of trains, getting hit by trains while walking on tracks, etc., has become routine. It shouldn't be. And we have too many obviously mentally ill people on our streets (including behind the wheel of vehicles) in shelters, in jails and prisons; society has become too complacent on this very serious issue. Sometimes I wonder if there are people and groups with an ideological axe to grind who want this type of chaos, anarchy, and tragedy, hoping The System will collapse. Either that, or there's a lot of incompetence, not to mention undoubtedly corruption and fraud, that allow some to rake in $, while only a small portion trickles down to those really in need. The System is rotten. Putting seriously mentally ill people out into 'The Community', hopped up on God knows what drugs which turn them into zombies, (not to mention having a horrible public health issue surrounding substance abuse) does not work. It's never really worked. All this combined with our intransigent homeless problem means there will be plenty of more tragedies in our future, more people 'falling' in front of trains, many avoidable if the billions we spend on public health and social services were used wisely. My allegedly unkind comments about this afternoon pale into oblivion by comparison.
You need an editor
A guy jumped in front of a train. You come here, read WHY your commute was so bad, then gripe about it. Sorry, but there are much worse things than a bad commute, like dying, or thinking your life is so bad you want to end it.
Yes, the T has issues. Come back when a wire snaps, or a rail breaks, or the 1970s era cars break down. Don't get pissy when a medical emergency occurs, possibly resulting in loss of life, which is not the T's fault. Otherwise, you are just a selfish whiner.
Not that the OP wasn't being
Not that the OP wasn't being callous, but why does the jumper deserve all the compassion? What about the poor driver who was unwillingly forced to end someone's life? What about all the people on the platform who had to witness it? What about their mental health and wellbeing? It's very sad the person felt the need to resort to suicide (if indeed that's what happened), but I have no compassion for the selfish and damaging way he chose to do it. Go sit in a garage with your car on if you're determined to kill yourself, don't traumatize as many people as you can on the way out.
Several reasons for the compassion
First, and at first, it looked like the possibility of loss of life. It would have been tragic and senseless.
Second, someone suffered a serious injury. Why not feel something about that?
Third, something is going on in this person's life where the decided to end it. When you've reached that state for whatever reason, you need compassion.
Your point on the witnesses and especially the driver is very well made. My gut is that the jumper probably was not thinking it that much through. I guess there are two ways to go, very private and very public. The jumper chose public. Yeah, a shitty way, but still.
What a simpleminded and sadly messed up world we live in
So, it's EITHER compassion for the jumper OR for everyone else? May be true for you, in which case please accept my condolences for your shriveled little raisin of a soul.
Only if it was that simple, anon..
folks contemplating suicide may not be in the correct state of mind to think of their potential actions as "selfish" and or "damaging".
no, you're horrendous
don't off yourself, but get off this site.
Downtown Crossing?
If this happened at Downtown Crossing why did they start the buses at Kendall?
I think when they shut down
I think when they shut down 3rd rail power to the central core of the system, it is from Charles <--> JFK...or thereabouts.
Wiring
They lack the ability to isolate a station. The outages are from Charles to South Station.
Power blocks
Even if the power was cut to only Park St and Downtown Crossing, your only turn-back points are Kendall and Broadway. Broadway would be a brutal spot to turn back trains from two branches at a high capacity, since you only have one track to discharge and change ends. Kendall also only has one track to work with for turning back, but the situation is a little different up that end.
Power
The way the circuits are set up, to cut power to Downtown Crossing probably cut power from Kendall to JFK.
So very sad
I was in that area not 15 minutes before.
My heart goes out to the people who were there, the person's family, the driver, and the people who had to get the person out.
Vision Zero for the MBTA?
Zero fatalities from MBTA subways and trains please.
Fuck off Mark
Seriously.
Seconded.
Go away, Kaepplein. Fast. Also far.
So you don't want reduced deaths?
Is that your message? Who is the jerk?
Oh, was that a serious
Oh, was that a serious suggestion? My bad. I could have sworn you were just being a douchebag like always.
Lots of equipment
I arrived at Park Street and passed Downtown Crossing at 2:45ish. The driver on my Green Line car mentioned that the Red Line was shut down for a medical emergency, which could mean almost anything, but when I saw probably close to a dozen emergency vehicles clustered on Winter and Washington streets I figured it was pretty serious. When a firefighter hustled past me with the jaws of life it became clear it was really, really serious.
Not to make light of the incident
but in T speak "medical emergency" almost always means "person under train."
Not always
Which is part of the problem. I've been on trains where it really was a case of someone passing out on the train, and we had to stand by so EMS could come and get them. This results in a delay of 10 minutes or so. Person under the train will usually result in diversions and a couple of hours of delay. It would be nice if they could give some hint at the beginning of the emergency so people can made decisions about which route to take if they have an option.
Based on my experience
medical problem on a train itself has almost always been described as "ill passenger on train." Of course, as the saying goes "Your mileage may vary."
And I've personally experienced several instances over the years where the train I was on was held in a station while EMS arrived. While I appreciate the need to follow proper procedures and the like, it seems to me that this is another good argument in support of disbanding the "bag search" units and undercover detectives, and actually placing more uniformed Transit Police in the actual stations.
Ugh.. horrible situation all
Ugh.. horrible situation all around. My poor friend (waiting for the train to work) was standing next to the guy that jumped and was (obviously) very upset afterward. It's good at least to have more up-to-date information than other news websites (boston.com didn't even report this situation.) I'm sure my friend will be somewhat relieved that the person was rescued and is still alive.
You IGNORANT FUCKS. This is
You IGNORANT FUCKS. This is my friends brother and thank GOD HE IS ALIVE... "Could you have waited till after Rush hour?" Are you kidding me? This is someone's life. Someone's son. Brother. Uncle. How fucked up are you? Hopefully you never Breed.
How about reading all the comments
That's where you are ignorant.
Yes, some people here wrote basically asshole comments, and they were called out on it. Others made observations based on the situation, most offering concern for the victim. Then there's MarkK. If you aven't figured him out by now, you don't know the site well enough to speak to the commenters, especially those who called him out on this.
I will say this much, glad to read he is still alive.
my brother
My brother committed suicide by jumping in front of a train. A CALTRAIN, no less. 90% of people who commit suicide are mentally ill. 95% of those who chose to die by train. Go fuck yourselves.
my brother
I want to rephrase my comment. Suicide is no joke. My brother did not jump in front of a train. 'Jump' sounds daring or sexy. My brother got down on his hands and knees on the tracks and waited for the train to crush him. You sons of bitches. My parents were too afraid to identify him and my father cried for weeks afterward. Consider yourselves lucky it hasn't happened to you.
Deep breath, friend
Except for a few badly messed up individuals, no one is rejoicing in this or blaming the victim for their inconveniently long commute. People like that are widely recognized as the asshats they are. I know that the hateful comments must hit hard for someone in your situation, but please know that the whole world isn't like that. I'm really sorry for your loss.
People Getting Pissed Off
Waiting for shuttle buses into downtown at JFK was tedious and the alternative Route 8 bus was packed in also. People were not looking enough that they got on the wrong shuttle buses but instead getting on Umass Boston campus buses. A guy was standing on the ledge in front of everyone waiting for buses screaming we need better transportation and a more reliable service that we rely on everyday. We have places we need to get to we don't need to hear your crappy protest speech about how unsatisfying the MBTA service is. The comments people post about the service today was shocking. It was a medical emergency it was out of the MBTA's control they were trying their hardest in keeping us customers informed and controlling the crowds sending transit police to the stations. The MBTA does a great job with providing the best and most reliable and safe service possible even if bad times happen they still keep us informed and still keep us moving no matter what and I appreciate them for trying their hardest everyday and working to get us places where we need to be on time and reliably.
How bout suicide bars installed
Yeah, just like bridges and over passes have - whaddaya think of that?
Not that easy on a subway platform
I've seen them implemented elsewhere -- there's basically a barrier with sliding gates. The trains have to stop at a precise location, the doors open, the gates open, people get in and out. It can be done, but we're talking major, major equipment upgrade on both platforms and trains.
Even if we had the resources
and the will to install platform gates, cosnider how well the current faregates, which operate on much the same principle, operate. Do you really want to create a situation where people can't board or exit a train at a station because the OS controlling the gates has crashed?