Massachusetts

New Video Shows Runaway Red Line Train Whose Operator Radioed, ‘I Need Help!'

Days after the incident at the Braintree yard, the FTA issued a stand-down order, under which any worker who hadn't attended a safety briefing on moving train cars in yards or shops could not work

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

New video released by the MBTA shows a runaway train on the Red Line with an operator on board last month.

In the July 25 incident, the train rolled from the yard onto the tracks and through Braintree Station. The video released Tuesday by the MBTA is the first footage of the incident shared by the agency.

The video shows the two-car train set passing through the station, with the operator visible in the front. The train rolled out 800 feet north of the Braintree rail yard before the morning commute at 5:30 a.m.

"I need help," a train operator exclaimed over an emergency MBTA call previously obtained by NBC10 Boston. "Guys I need help!”

Two train cars rolled 800 feet out of the railyard in Braintree, causing delays on the Red Line of the beleaguered MBTA.

The MBTA said no one was injured and there were no damages in the incident, which came a week after an Orange Line train caught fire over the Mystic River.

A slew of runaway train incidents is among the many problems the Federal Transit Administration ordered the MBTA to fix. NBC10 Boston has also obtained video of a May 30 runaway incident, when four Red Line cars detached in a rail yard and rolled backward through the Braintree Station before eventually coming to a stop after a half mile.

Days after the second Braintree incident, the FTA issued a stand-down order, under which any worker who hadn't attended a safety briefing on moving train cars in yards or shops could not work. The MBTA later interrupted Red Line evening service between JFK/UMass and Braintree to conduct track work.

All workers who operate or secure out-of-service trains must attend a safety briefing to review and discuss the facts and causes of the three recent runaway train incidents.

Now, the MBTA is gearing up for an unprecedented 30 days of track work along the Orange Line, which will be the first entire T line to be shut down for such extensive repair, and four weeks of work on the Green Line north of Government Center.

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