Passengers climb out of windows during Boston train fire

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (AP) — One passenger jumped right into a river and several other others climbed out of home windows when a Boston-area public transit prepare caught fireplace throughout the Thursday morning commute, officers mentioned. The hearth is the newest in a string of harmful issues with the troubled system.

No accidents had been reported, and the one who jumped into the water declined medical consideration, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority mentioned in an announcement.

The MBTA’s inbound Orange Line prepare was crossing the Mystic River simply north of Boston, approaching Meeting station in Somerville at about 6:45 a.m., when flames and smoke had been noticed coming from the lead automotive, the assertion mentioned. About 200 passengers had been on board, and most had been walked off the prepare to a close-by station by MBTA personnel.

After the facility was turned off, the prepare was dropped at a railyard for an investigation, and infrastructure is being inspected. The MBTA has notified the Federal Transit Administration and the Nationwide Transportation Security Board.

The prepare in query was 43 years outdated, MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo mentioned, and never one in every of a number of new Orange Line automobiles that had been briefly pulled from service lately when one automotive skilled a failure in its battery compartment. They’ve since been returned to service.

The Federal Transit Administration launched a evaluate of Boston’s subway system in April following a number of accidents that led to accidents or loss of life throughout the previous 12 months. The federal company final month issued a sequence of directives to instantly handle “longstanding points” with the system’s “general security program and security tradition.”

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