Update, 4:45 p.m. A test Red Line train just went through Savin Hill with no problems following repairs to the third rail and the fence.
A driver somehow managed to slam his SUV onto the outbound Red Line tracks from the parking lot at Savin Hill station early around 12:30 p.m., damaging part of the third rail and causing the shutdown of the line between JFK/UMass and Ashmont, as Just Some Dude shows us.
Transit Police report the driver was arrested on charges of driving without a license and negligent operations - and add the driver was uninjured.
At 1:55 p.m., the MBTA reported the vehicle had been removed from the track but that shuttle buses continued to run along the Ashmont branch as crews continued to inspect and repair the third-rail and other damage.
This sort of thing is more common on the Green Line, although without the third-rail issues. The Red Line is mostly underground or, in some stretches, on embankments or even elevated tracks, but not at Savin Hill.
SUV bent the third rail towards the regular rails (photo by Just Some Dude):
Update: After seeing this article, somebody sent in this photo of what sure seems to be the same Ford SUV - with the same license plate - after its driver smashed into a parked car on East Cottage Street in Dorchester about ten days ago. He adds: "I did overhear him say that the parked car moved into his way." See it larger:
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
If you're a Red Line track
By Ari O
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 2:40pm
You've got to understand, cars are going to hit you.
But it's also notable that there were no injuries. Based on the photographs, the car was in contact with the third rail but otherwise isolated from the ground by the tires. If Mr Unlicensed Negligent (making an assumption about the gender here) had decided to exit the vehicle and hadn't made a clean jump, he would have been the ground.
Zap!
I hope the T can go after the insurance of whoever lent the car to the unlicensed operator.
That bent third rail...
By octr202
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 2:55pm
...wonder if he bent it far enough to short out the 600V against the running rail. That would cause a substation to make a Very Loud Pop and take out the third rail power.
Either way
By Ari O
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 3:30pm
A loss for Darwin today. (Not that I'm rooting for anyone to get injured, but, just, how?)
From another angle
By Ari O
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 4:00pm
It appears that the third rail did make contact with the running rail, so, yes, pop, or bang or whatever likely happened.
While it's 100% the driver's
By anon
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 4:29pm
While it's 100% the driver's fault, the T really should have taken defensive measures and put up a crash barrier where a roadway is immediately next to subway tracks. This could have ended up much worse if a train was coming or the third rail touched the wrong thing.
What roadway?
By anon
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 4:56pm
The driver smashed through a parking lot fence. There's no adjacent roadway to barricade.
it's a small parking lot with trees and Bluebikes
By anon
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 6:46pm
only a moron would end up on the tracks, or someone deliberately driving over the curb and through the fence
I mean
By Waquiot
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 7:58pm
There is a fence.
Yah what was the Red Line wearing that day...
By b from Ros
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 9:00pm
/s
Somehow.
By Rwgfy
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 2:47pm
Somehow.
... Palpatine returned?
By anon
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 6:23pm
... Palpatine returned?
Post updated
By adamg
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 4:40pm
With a photo from a crash on East Cottage Street in Dorchester about ten days ago showing what sure looks like the same SUV (with the same license plate). Owner might have some explaining to do to the insurance company.
I'm all for coincidences
By Friartuck
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 6:49pm
But yikes, twice? That's some sort of novel insurance scam in the works
The Transit Police
By anon
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 4:56pm
In the past year it seems that the Transit Police have investigated more traffic accidents on the tracks than MSP has investigated on the highways.
Was the third rail wearing a
By anon
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 5:15pm
Was the third rail wearing a helmet?
Throw this absolute idiot
By Kinopio
Tue, 07/02/2024 - 5:24pm
Throw this absolute idiot driver in prison and post his contact information on mbta.com so the hundreds of people who were delayed by him can get some satisfaction.
You grandstand
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 07/03/2024 - 12:15am
But you're also on to something.
Who would prevail in a jury civil trial between a Masshole driver, and a person punitively injured by one?
THAT would be must-see TV.
Without a license...
By Tim Mc.
Thu, 07/04/2024 - 12:03pm
I wonder if their lack of a license was discovered during the first incident as well? Or was there perhaps a different driver?
Add comment