Red Line train fills Broadway with smoke Monday night, delays service
Delays began around 8:45 p.m., the T reported.
A Red Line train began emitting sparks while stopped at Broadway Monday night, filling the station with smoke. Then, after service reportedly resumed from that incident at 9:23 p.m., the MBTA announced on Twitter that the line had delays over half an hour due to a “disabled train approaching South Station.” The result was shuttle buses replacing service in both directions from about 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. between the JFK and Park Street stops, the MBTA said on Twitter.
“It was the same train,” Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the MBTA, said in an email to Boston.com. “After departing Broadway (with no passengers), it went disabled again as it approached South Station.”
A rider captured the stopped train on video, where it appeared to make a loud “zap!” accompanied by bursts of light from the front of the train every so often.
“Oh!,” a rider can be heard saying after the train makes the noise.
https://twitter.com/Lew__VT/status/1232126188111437824
The T originally announced “delays of up to 15 minutes due to a train with a mechanical problem” on Twitter at 8:54 p.m.
But the delays quickly extended to 20 minutes when the Boston Fire Department was called in, as announced by the MBTA on Twitter at 9:12 p.m.
Red Line Update: Trains delayed 20 minutes due to fire department activity at Broadway. A northbound train experienced a mechanical problem that caused smoke to disperse in the station. Boston Fire is on scene investigating. https://t.co/R8jvUwni9k
— MBTA (@MBTA) February 25, 2020
The train was “taken out of service,” the T reported at 9:23 p.m., and the fire department cleared out of Broadway. Residual delays of 15 minutes were reported.
But then the same disabled train headed for South Station snarled service and caused more delays – first the over 30-minute delays, before the shuttle buses were rolled in.
There were “residual delays” between JFK and Park Street just after 11 p.m. as service began again, and the shuttle buses were moved out.
Pesaturo said the T is continuing to investigate what happened.
“It was an isolated incident involving an individual car on a full train set,” he said.
Red Line Update: Train service is resuming in both directions with residual delays between JFK and Park Street. Shuttle buses have been phased out. https://t.co/g4s0p7PXDn
— MBTA (@MBTA) February 25, 2020
The T said that service was back on schedule as of 11:29 p.m.
Red Line Update: Regularly scheduled service has resumed. https://t.co/O89thoAJht
— MBTA (@MBTA) February 25, 2020
There were more delays reported on the Red Line Tuesday morning due to “a train with a mechanical problem at Andrew,” which was removed from service at 9:40 p.m., the T said on Twitter. Delays were said to be at about 15 minutes. Regular service was back on track as of 10:27 p.m.
https://twitter.com/MBTA/status/1232326201957638144
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