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Man dies in freak incident at Broadway on the Red Line
By adamg on Sun, 04/10/2022 - 12:31pm
A man who got his arm stuck in Red Line train doors just before it left Broadway early this morning was pulled into the tunnel and to his death, according to a communication from the T to employees today.
WHDH reports emergency crews responded to the station around 12:30 a.m.
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Comments
Freak accident or operator error?
While I suppose it's possible someone ran up and forcefully jammed their arm into a closed door as the train was moving, or ran up and got it stuck in another part of the train, isn't the most likely scenario that an operator didn't make sure the doors and yellow line were clear?
Horrifying
How does this even happen?
I mean, people can and will do dumb things to try to get on a train - particularly the last train of the night on a weekend night - but this seems like a horrifying cascade of failures, from design to mechanical to human all at once.
I wonder
Which series of redline trains?
Good questions
The T has notified the Federal Transit Administration, so there will likely be an investigation.
i was the one who called 911.
i was the one who called 911. the doors closed once and then opened as he was leaving and immediately closed on him again. its happened to me and i see it happen to other people and those doors are just supposed to open immediately, and i thought they would. i dont want to put blame on any one person. theres just a lot of things that should've happened that didn't.
I'm really sorry...
...that you had to witness that. Thank you for trying to help.
Trains can't move with doors
Trains can't move with doors open. So, there's no way the doors are closing as the train is departing.
That's not true that the T
That's not true that the T trains cannot move with the doors open. Back in the elevated days of the Orange line I can recall a single side of the train door being open from Dover to Dudley station. More recently I believe @adamg shared a post about something similar happening on the Red Line.
i have been one at least two
i have been one at least two green line trolleys that drove with rear doors open over the years.
Woe to you
I would not want to be the train operator on this one. There are plenty of cameras in the station but rest assured that regardless of what goes in the report, the T will do anything to distance themselves from taking even the most basic responsibility in the matter. The operator will be hung out to dry and left to their own devices.
horrible
this is horrible. i will rethink dashing for a train on the platform. rest in peace
Train Surfing
I thought mbta trains were equipped with sensitive edges that prevent the doors from closing on a passengers arms or legs? I wonder if this was a daredevil surfing on a red line train.
Tragic.
And I can’t think of any reason this shouldn’t be 100% avoidable. Regardless of whatever circumstances led to his arm being stuck, why did the train move? There should be sensors, alerts, visual checks, any number of checks and balances.
I think back to how many times I’ve had doors closed on me while boarding, and consider myself lucky I was able to just be annoyed for a few seconds and then go about my day.
Ohhhhhhh!!!! My god!!!
What a horrible thing to have happened! Sorry that the guy was dragged to his death. Frankly, I think that the MBTA should limit the number of people who get on each train car, and not allow people to be packed in the MBTA cars like sardines, especially during weekends, and during rush hour, or during times when there are ball games here in town.
Allowing people to be packed in subway cars together like sardines sets a dangerous, dangerous precedent. It's amazing that more incidents like this one haven't happened.,
Considering it was 12:30 am I
Considering it was 12:30 am I highly doubt the train was crowded.
The car was probably empty.
The car was probably empty. There is a brake you can pull to stop the train. My friend saw this happen during rush hour and the passengers pulled the brake before the car left the station.
Umm what? This has nothing to
Umm what? This has nothing to do with crowded trains. You think the T should have bouncers at every station telling people not to get on? Please think.
Those doors are not supposed to close
On limbs. How old was this train and when is the last time a safety check was performed on the doors?
Like elevator doors….
… the doors on the T’s subway cars- in my experience regardless of vintage -will slide back
open if anything comes between them. That they didn’t this time suggests mechanical failure on top of human oversight. Of course, if the T still had human beings either on the platforms or in the cars themselves, this never would have happened
No humans in the cars?
I didn’t realize the red line was autonomous now.
Maybe the door wasn’t maintained properly for the safety mechanism to fail? Also, how did the driver not see this in his mirrors? Methinks he didn’t really look before taking off.
Guards
I think they were referring to the guards who used to sit in the middle of the train and operate the doors.
Also, since when do subway trains have rear view mirrors?
the guards who used to sit in
When was this? I started riding the Red Line regularly when Jimmy Carter was president and I don't remember those guys.
Ended in the 1990s
Perhaps even the early 2000s.
If you were riding the trains for that long, how could you not remember that there was an employee who sat in the second car from the back and controlled the doors?
Mind you, when they were 4 car trains (which, of course, you remember) that person was in the middle of the train, but with 6 cars it wasn't possible to have someone at the halfway point.
As for people's insistence that the doors should "automatically" reopen if there is an obstruction in the doorway, please disabuse yourself of that motion, as it is false. Every time you see the door close and reopen, that was done manually.
Guards
Guards were removed from the Blue Line in 1996, from the Orange Line in 2010, and from the Red Line in 2012.
Single Person Train Operation has been a disaster on the T's heavy rail lines.
On an ordinary trip alone, it adds considerable time to the running of each trip. If a Motorperson does each of their tasks properly, a left side platform can add anywhere from 30-45 seconds per stop. The Motorperson must secure the vehicle, walk across the cab, and ensure that the train is berthed correctly before opening their doors. Contrast this with the old Guards, who were able to be properly positioned as the train rolled in, who could ensure the correct berthing as the train came to a stop, and (assuming the cars were berthed properly), could immediately open the doors upon stopping.
The Guard also had the responsibility to scan the platform for people or items being dragged as the train departed, the Motorperson is completely unaware of what is happening behind him or her once they release the brakes.
There are also no points in the system where a guard would not have had direct line of sight of all of his or her doors, the same can not be said for the Motorperson. With curved platforms, large concrete pillars, etc, the T knowingly has placed the riding public at risk all for the thinly veiled illusion of cost cutting.
SPTO is a failure.
Now that you mention it, I do
Now that you mention it, I do remember the second operator. I didn't think of that when I read the word "guard." I was thinking of a guard as someone standing in the main part of the train. Thanks for the clarification.
You are not correct.
There are safety sensors in the doors.
Second operators
The Orange line had second operators (they opened the doors and made announcements) until around 2010. The Red Line got rid of their second operators about a year later.
Trying to recall..
Until the Mid 1980’s (?) there was one operator for each two cars. I think with six car trains the contract was eventually negotiated to two per train. Then in the last ten years or so, it became one per train. OPTO (one person train operation). They added all the video screens so the driver could see the whole platform.
When it was one operator per two cars, there were often two car trains on Sunday’s
Mirrors
The mirrors are on the platforms. Some stations have video screens instead of mirrors. They're to stop this exact thing from happening, so the operator can check if the platform/yellow line is clear before they start to move
Some of the stations have
Some of the stations have cameras focused on the doors with a monitor where the operator in the first car should be able to see all the doors in the train. I saw this at Savin Hill station but don’t know if it is in other stations. Absolute tragedy.
My understanding is that
My understanding is that function was widely disabled across the agency because stupid things like bags getting stuck in the doors were causing trains to get delayed departing from stations.
I witnessed someone pushing their arm into the car, after ...
I don't know if this is what happened here, but years ago I was on an Orange Line car at Roxbury Crossing and a guy ran up to the train after the doors had closed and shoved his arm between the doors. I was in the car and saw his arm. He was being a total jerk and yelling for the train to stop. This wasn't a case of the doors closing on him as he was trying to get on. The doors closed before he got to the train. He knew exactly what he was doing. But by this time the operator had already shut the doors and most likely wasn't looking. The train starting moving and he yanked his arm back out.