The Great Escape on the Red Line

Yesterday afternoon's Red Line shutdown, the one a T mouthpiece initially described as "brief," got so bad that passengers trapped for an hour on a sweltering train on the Longfellow Bridge evacuated the train themselves. Lolita Parker Jr. posts some dramatic photos of the escape and adds:

I was on a train inside Kendall Station and, after waiting in a standing room only car (with no a/c) for over 30 minutes, we were running out of air. A number of middle school kids on the train were beginning to panic. A passenger forced open the door at the back of the train and dozens of people streamed up onto the street. I continued to walk Downtown but as I approached the Longfellow Bridge I saw another train filled with passengers just beginning to pile out of the doors and emergency exits. I took pictures and then when a woman fell in front of oncoming traffic, I blocked the traffic and to let folks dismount the train. Shame on the motorists who wouldn't stop to let the passengers cross the bridge.

Of course, one might just as equally say "Shame on the MBTA for trying to keep these people locked up in a broiling train for an hour."

The Globe described the breakout as unauthorized.