BOSTON – Two MBTA Green Line trains collided and derailed near the Government Center station on Wednesday night.
Three Green Line operators were injured in the 9:20 p.m. accident and taken to a hospital for treatment. The collision involved a westbound train with 20 to 25 passengers aboard and an empty train that was just entering service. No passengers were injured, the MBTA said.
The collision was the latest in a string of incidents that have concerned the Federal Transit Administration.
In an April 14 letter to MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak, Federal Transit Administration Associate Administrator Joe DeLorenzo said the agency would immediately increase its safety oversight of the transit system because it was “extremely concerned with the ongoing safety issues at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.”
DeLorenzo wrote that despite a recent meeting with MBTA leadership, it was unclear what actions the MBTA was “implementing to prevent and address the system’s safety violations.”
The FTA’s letter came days after a Red Line passenger was killed when his arm became caught in the train’s door. The man was dragged when the train departed the Broadway Station.
In September, a Red Line train derailed and, in a separate incident, an escalator failure caused a group of riders to fall at the Back Bay Station.
And in July, 27 people were injured in a collision between two Green Line trains.
Part of the Green Line includes America’s oldest subway. Somewhat upgraded over the decades. not by much. I can’t say for certain that it operates on Visual Flight Rules but as a passenger it sure seems that way.
Add gruesome overcrowding and lack of handicapped access (there are no high-level platforms), it’s a museum piece.