The smashed window at Charles/MGH. Photo by Katie Broida.
Shortly after 6 p.m., Steph Wilkinson reported somebody punched a window on her car of an Alewife train leaving Park Street: "Most of it is cracked."
Katie Broida reports:
It caused a stampede in the car.
Wilkinson adds:
Security footage should show someone punch/kick the window that was behind my head. Happened at Park. There was also an announcement of a fight on car 5. The window pic you posted looks like it’s from that car. Probably why the stampede at Charles/Mgh
The vandalism comes three days after somebody kicked out a window at Park Street and six days after somebody used a hammer on windows at JFK/UMass.
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Comments
I didn't think the frustration would take this form
By jmeltzer
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 8:39pm
but I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
No one seems to care about the trains, so one might as well bash them in. That's how people seem to be thinking.
Broken Windows Theory
By Mjolnir
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 9:50pm
Usually the government is the one talking about broken windows theory on the citizen's end, but here we have a great example of the reverse dynamic.
Mentally ill, substance
By anon
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 8:37pm
Mentally ill, substance abuser, or punk kids looking for "internet fame"?
I hope the new trains will have interior cameras to help catch the the jerks that do this.
Cameras
By adamg
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 8:40pm
For better or worse, the MBTA has a very good surveillance-video system in the stations (they once outfitted a bunch of Orange Line cars with cameras, then stopped), so it might not be too hard to at least get images of the perpetrator leaving the train or doing it if he were on the platform).
What new trains?
By anon
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 9:41pm
What new trains?
A friend was on this car
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 8:55pm
He said everyone in the area of the window break hit the deck since it sounded like a gunshot given the accoustics.
The perps better hope that the cops get to them first, since passengers might soon tear them limb from limb if this keeps up.
Yep
By adamg
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 9:00pm
One person on the train tweeted about a "mini-stampede" at Charles/MGH.
Of course there was
By anon
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 10:38pm
Of course there was
Of course there was ...
By anon
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 9:10am
What?
Early Sat. evening Charles MGH
By anon
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 9:07pm
A vandalized train was taken out of service.
What’s is going on?
By MisterMagooForYou
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 9:18pm
It’s the quickening. RIP Art, R. I. P. Magoo.
Other cities don't have this problem.
By rb
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 9:20pm
I suspect the MBTA is using the cheapest glass possible, since subways aren't under FRA jurisdiction.
https://twitter.com/rob_bellinger/status/115093190...
My bet
By Waquiot
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 11:16pm
This probably happens in New York and Philly more than you think. They key thing is when it happens. It is odd how often this has been happening recently and that it’s been seemingly isolated to the Red Line and during commuting hours.
I’d also bet that all urban rail systems in the US have the same quality of glass.
No AC on Cars?
By Chokmah
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 10:04am
I wonder if the window was broken because no one could breathe in the heat?
MTA has it fair share of issues
By Scauma
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 12:44pm
Can't say I've heard to much about windows being kicked out. There was a guy pulling the e-brake quite frequently which caused ridiculous delays. The bums take over at night so those early morning train rides can be quite harrowing. Not to mention they myriad other issues that come up.
Is it me or are mental health issues now more prevalent then ever before?
Nonsense
By anon
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 11:17pm
The glass behaved it's designed to behave under such circumstances. And there's vandalism, including kicked and shattered windows, on the MTA trains in NYC all the time.
Nice try with your twitter link.
Different kind of vandalism in New York
By adamg
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 12:19am
Someone Is Pulling Emergency Brakes on New York’s Subways, Causing Big Delays.
NYC vs Boston
By BostonDog
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 7:34am
Nice to know the rivalry is alive and strong even when it comes to Dipshits Doing Things. Boston is just as good as New York!
/S
More problems on the T
By anon
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 10:03pm
What happens when the T runs out of replacement windows?
Here's what happens
By perruptor
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 8:02am
They have new ones made. Cutting glass is not Lost Secrets of the Rosicrucians or something.
Please. Plywood, of course.
By anon
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 9:12am
Please. Plywood, of course.
That's one way to recycle
By roadman
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 4:06pm
old campaign signs I guess.
Is this a thing now?
By anon
Mon, 07/15/2019 - 10:41pm
There have been three or four instances of this in the past few weeks. Responses here have been remarkably caviler, as if it's acceptable, or at least understandable, that people are doing this because they are "frustrated" by the T. We're all frustrated by the T, but most people don't go around smashing windows. If this keeps up, somebody is going to get hurt.
Odd
By bgl
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 1:33am
I was on a train maybe 6-8 months ago when a bunch of kids punched/kicked out a window at Shawmut. Don't think anything came of it. Fitting punishment: kids' parents need to pay for the window, and the dumbass kids need to spend hard time over the summer cleaning red line cars as "community service".
I saw an old T pic of some
By anon
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 8:59am
I saw an old T pic of some graffiti vandals scrubbing paint off the walls of some station, with an officer overseeing their progress. I’m pretty sure tagging station walls is no longer a thing. Sadly those days are over. Minimal punishment is barely handed out and parents are given leniency after they claim they can’t afford to pay for the window. Expect more broken windows.
Opinion based on fact, or you just being a crank?
By Jeff F
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 4:25pm
Got any data to back up your "old man yells at clouds" schtick that authorities now let ID'ed vandals off the hook?
I think it's funny that you imply that tagging station walls is no longer a thing because of proportional punishment meted out sometime back in "those days". You do realize that teens have the cultural memory of mayflies, right? If current enforcement and punishment was not an effective deterent, this problem would still be as bad as it ever was.
I wouldn't be surprised if the recent spate of window bashing is the work of a very small group of assholes-in-training. Hopefully, someone will see something and say something (or at least take a pic of the perps), and this blister of bad behaviour will get popped.
Kyle's just mad
By anon
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 7:06am
that they cancelled the Area 51 meetup.
Clockwork Red Line
By anon
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 8:38am
The root causes of anarchy on the Red Line:
1) Politicians don't ride the red line.
2) Judges don't ride the red line
3) Cops don't ride the red line
Or maybe...
By Jeff F
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 4:37pm
0) Assuming people/cctv are taking pictures of the vandals, it's still hard to track down a few assholes in a city with a daytime population of over a million.
(I'm definitely not an unalloyed fanboy of the T police, but still, I'm pretty sure they're plenty motivated to get ahold of the people doing this.)
I have a theory
By 617MoFoBecauseM...
Tue, 07/16/2019 - 9:42am
If the MBTA gave out free skittles it would solve everyone’s problems. Why? Because when you taste the rainbow you’ll get a pot o gold. Wait what?
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