Massachusetts

Incident on Red Line Causes Major Delays as Holiday Weekend Ends

The Central MBTA station was closed for two hours Monday night

Hundreds of people experienced a long commute home at the end of the holiday weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's Red Line saw delays Monday night after an incident at the Central station. People were evacuated from train cars and the station was closed for two hours after a medical emergency on the tracks.

Transit police say they were called to the station around 7 p.m. for a report of a person trespassing on the right of way. 

A preliminary investigation reveals a man, approximately 35 years old, jumped into the "pit" area. While trespassing, he came into contact with the third rail and died from his injuries.

Shuttle buses were called in to replace train service after the incident.

One of the passengers recorded video after he was evacuated from a train car, showing passengers in a single file line walking along the wall of the subway to the platform at Central station.

Nick Viveiros tells necn and NBC10 Boston that his issue was the communication during the evacuation, saying he saw police at first have some difficulty getting into the station. Then Viveiros says there was a look of shock when officials saw people standing in the tunnel. All in all, Viveiros says he was underground for about 30 minutes before getting out of the station.

“My concern was the fact that this happened with something not minor because I don’t think minor is the right term obviously somebody passed away, but something like a medical emergency," Viveiros said. "What would happen if they had to evacuate us because of a terrorist attack or a mass shooting or something like that? The actual communication you could see it breaking down in front of your eyes.”

Regularly scheduled service resumed Monday night and the shuttle busses were phased out. 

Transit police detectives are investigating the incident. Foul play is not suspected.

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