Runaway Red Line "T" train...

JCitron

Trainzing since 12-2003
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/12/10/mbta-red-line-train-left-station-without-operator/

The headlines are a bit misleading, of course, and the incident is being investigated by The FTA, "T" police, MDOT, and possibly the NTSB. The suspicion goes back to operator error and not tampering which was the initial thought and cause for the dramatic headlines that the news media lapped up like a thirsty dog. The other causes of course are not being ruled out and are under investigation, however.

The MBTA Red Line, which runs from Braintree up to West Cambridge, had a runaway train today. The operator needed to use the bypass mode due to a signal error and the train took off unattended with 50 people onboard. No one was injured, except for the driver who was hit by the train as it sped away suddenly and was treated and released at the local hospital. The train was stopped when the control center cut the power to the tracks after the passenger got a 5-station express ride on the train as it sped up to just outside of JFK Center station.

The bypass operation the operator uses is similar to what I saw in a video on the UK Class 455 EMUs. The operator puts the control into parking mode, pulls the handbrake, then exits the train to flip a switch to bypass the control system.

Such excitement we had up here today in sleepy forgotten New England!

John
 
Whatever happened to the dead man's pedal? He had his lunchbox sitting on it?

I was wondering the same. Apparently there is an override switch that this guy set. The current hunch is he didn't quite follow procedures and forgot to set the brake. When the train started on its own because he connected the power to it via the manual connection, it took off like a bat of you-know-where and knocked him off his feet! Oops!

I'm not saying too much other than I probably would have done the same. I keep putting the peanut butter in the refrigerator!

John
 
The deadman's switch is part of the throttle-brake controller on the dashboard. You push down on it to operate the train. If you let go of it, it is supposed to apply the brakes. It was apparently manipulated with in some manner in this case.
 
The deadman's switch is part of the throttle-brake controller on the dashboard. You push down on it to operate the train. If you let go of it, it is supposed to apply the brakes. It was apparently manipulated with in some manner in this case.

Hi George! :)

Yeah. There was a thing on the news about this. Apparently the driver though he'd be smart and tied a cord of around the handle and didn't set the brake properly.

Here's a news clip on this.

http://www.boston.com/news/2015/12/...rd-throttle/2Qbeyjts9UKtbAgD45lDQK/story.html

John
 
UPDATE:

The driver has been suspended for 30-days pending termination.

Yup. He tied the phone cord around the throttle knob to keep it forward, from what we could see on the news tonight and had forgotten to put on the brake when he stepped outside the cab to put the train into manual bypass mode.
 
And the saga continues....

The driver is contesting the decision because he is allowed to do so according to what his attorney stated on tonight's news.
 
What ? Please clarify ... He is allowed to contest the decision ? ... Or he is allowed to wrap the phone wire around the throttle, jury rigging it, to keep it depressed and running, providing that he applies the brake, to exit the train, to flip a switch, to bypass the control system ?

He is fighting for his pension, as a 25 year RR veteran, the 51 y/o fired RR employee will have to take a job as a Walmart "Greeter", and lose his pension
 
Last edited:
What ? Please clarify ... He is allowed to contest the decision ? ... Or he is allowed to wrap the phone wire around the throttle, jury rigging it, to keep it depressed and running, providing that he applies the brake, to exit the train, to flip a switch, to bypass the control system ?

He is fighting for his pension, as a 25 year RR veteran, the 51 y/o fired RR employee will have to take a job as a Walmart "Greeter", and lose his pension

According to the news tonight, with the broadcast starting with "BREAKING NEWS" screamed very loudly.... The news lady talked animatedly about the driver being allowed to contest the decision all while showing track moving in the front of a train, just generic rail-track footage not necessarily 3rd-rail subway track... Then the head of the "T", a Ms. Pollack, spoke with a rather disgusted look on her face reiterating that he has chosen to contest the decision which was made due to the fact that he tied off the throttle with a phone cord and forgot to put the brake on while exiting the train. Both of these numb moves are grounds for termination with of course the tying off the throttle being the worst one...

Sure forgetting the brake alone, however, according to the operations manager, would not allow the train to run if the throttle was set to the stop position properly. In fact it's supposed to be pulled back beyond the normal stop to a locked position when this maneuver is done.

I wouldn't doubt he's fighting for his pension, and given this type of thing he did, he probably won't even be able to pump gas.
 
Thing I don't understand is why rig the throttle if the train's going to remain stopped anyway (so that he could step off and do the bypass thing)? I can understand if he wanted to keep the deadman pressed so his hands were free to play with his phone or something while the train was in motion.
 
Thing I don't understand is why rig the throttle if the train's going to remain stopped anyway (so that he could step off and do the bypass thing)? I can understand if he wanted to keep the deadman pressed so his hands were free to play with his phone or something while the train was in motion.

I think your last sentence is the answer... He probably got tired of holding down the deadman switch so he tied off the throttle so he could drive easily. On this morning he suffered an the venerable brain-fart and forgot to untie the throttle, or forgot to put the brake on, or both!

That's the problem... he was doing something outside of procedure which caused the problem. If the deadman switch was activated properly and he had forgotten the brake, according the operations manager, then the train would not of moved anyway. The brake is a secondary safety, which was neglected in this case.

John
 
Back
Top