Thursday, 4:30 PM
MBTA riders abandon train
(Casey Cortes for The Boston Globe)
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
Overheated Red Line passengers took matters into their own hands yesterday, pushing open doors on a subway car stopped on the Longfellow Bridge and clambering down to the street to walk into Boston, according to an MBTA spokesman and an eyewitness.
The impromptu -- and unauthorized -- evacuation happened after a smoky trash fire at the Park Street station led Boston firefighters to request a power shutdown between the Harvard and Broadway stations. Electricity was off for about 50 minutes, said MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo.
While the Park Street station was evacuated and firefighters dealt with the fire, some passengers on the six-car inbound train on the bridge used emergency handles to open doors, said Pesaturo.
Citing an MBTA official who was on the scene, Pesaturo estimated that more than 200 passengers left the train, with most walking into the city on Cambridge Street.
