Passengers were forced to walk through a tunnel after two MBTA trains “coupled” on a railway platform Tuesday night, suspending service on the Green Line for more than an hour.
Top San/TwitterTwitter user Top San shared this photo of his fellow passengers walking through a dimly-lit tunnel after being told to exit a Green Line train that had coupled with another train near Government Center.
“MBTA, great service!” Top San, a passenger on one of the trains, tweeted Tuesday night. “After getting stuck for more than 30 minutes, they yelled at passengers to get off and walk in the dark tunnel back to Park (Street) station.
“It’s official. Boston transportation blows!” he added.
Service was suspended between Park Street and Government Center while the MBTA investigated reports that two Green Line trains “unintentionally coupled on the Government Center platform at a slow rate of speed,” the agency tweeted.
The low-speed collision occurred shortly before 9:30 p.m., and service resumed at approximately 11 p.m., according to MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo.
Pesaturo said a two-car train was “berthed” at the easternmost end of the eastbound platform when a second two-car train entered the platform.
“This is not unusual. It is a long platform with space for four or more cars,” said Pesaturo. “The second train, however, came too close to the berthed train, and coupled with it. Service was suspended while personnel uncoupled the trains and moved them.”
He said people aboard the train stopped between Park Street and Government Center were escorted back to the station platform, because the train could not make it into the subway station.
A photo shared by Top San shows people walking on the tracks in a dimly-lit tunnel. The Twitter user declined an interview, but did succinctly sum up the experience later in his initial thread.
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“Basically, it was just an awful experience,” he said. “I didn’t expect this kind of service in a nice city like Boston.”
The train “coupling” Tuesday night is the latest in a series of safety issues plaguing the MBTA, which is currently the subject of a federal probe.
On June 2, two Green Line trains crashed and derailed in Government Center, sending four MBTA operators to the hospital. The T said Monday that one of the trains was speeding at the time of the crash.
The Federal Transit Administration investigation was launched on April 14, days after a 39-year-old man was killed after his arm became trapped in a malfunctioning Red Line door and he was dragged more than 100 feet.