Transportation
There were no injuries or damage reported after a Green Line trolley rolled backward and “hitched” onto another trolley Wednesday, according to the MBTA.
About 100 MBTA riders were evacuated Wednesday evening after a Green Line trolley rolled backward and “hitched” onto another trolley behind it at Park Street.
The incident happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. and involved an eastbound trolley, according to the T, which is looking at “possible human factors” in its ongoing investigation into the cause.
Dozens of riders were evacuated from the two trolleys on the line behind those involved in the incident and escorted to the nearest station less than 250 feet away, according to the T. There were no reported injuries or damage.
“Safety continues to be the MBTA’s number one priority,” an MBTA spokesperson said in a statement. “We apologize to riders who experienced service disruptions on the Green Line yesterday evening.”
The incident temporarily halted service between Park Street and Government Center, though regular service resumed about an hour later.
“I’m glad yesterday’s was a minor incident where nobody got hurt, but that’s the importance of why we’re continuing to focus on our workforce,” MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said Thursday, speaking at an unrelated press conference. “Training, tools of the trade, all the proper equipment, monitoring equipment — this is all part of rebuilding the oldest subway system and turning us into best-in-class.”
He said the trolley in question rolled backward about three feet.
“The team is still investigating all of this, and we’re doing, as we do with any incident, a ‘hot wash,’ because we want to learn from these incidents, and we want to continue to make sure if there’s any rules and procedures in place, we improve them to allow the operators, the workforce, to be able to make those timely decisions in the right manner,” Eng added.
Gov. Maura Healey, who joined Eng at Thursday’s event, touched on her administration’s ongoing efforts to turn the T around and make improvements for riders.
“As governor, I’ve got to tell you, I inherited a really lousy situation when it came to the way the T was working, or really not working, in this state,” she said.
Healey added that state leaders are still working to get the T where it needs to be, “but what I want people to know is I take transportation really seriously.”
“I can tell you, personally, whenever something happens, whenever there’s an accident or a collision, I immediately hear from Phil,” she said. “And Phil’s team is immediately on the scene identifying what happened and making changes to address that. And that’s the kind of seriousness, on the job attitude, that people in this organization bring to things.”
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