Train doors trap exiting riders; T vows probe

Malfunctioning doors on an Orange Line train separated one man from his briefcase yesterday morning and prevented dozens of passengers from getting off the train, with no help coming from the train crew, according to a witness and MBTA officials.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials said they are investigating the event after the train had "multiple door failures" and was later taken out of service.

"Upon complete investigation, appropriate action will be taken," said T spokeswoman Lydia Rivera, adding that the train crew never reported the malfunctioning doors to the Operations Control Center. "We take these matters very seriously."

The event comes three months after a Melrose mother was separated from her 7-year-old daughter when a Green Line trolley's doors abruptly closed on her and the trolley left with her child on board. Mother and daughter were later reunited safely.

Paul Weston, 43, of Malden, was a passenger on the packed Orange Line train when it pulled into State Street station around 8:45 a.m.

"The doors opened, and people started getting off," he wrote in an e-mail. "Suddenly, the doors closed without warning."

Weston, a business analyst, said one man stuck his arm between the doors in an attempt to get out, but the doors did not reopen, with the man's arm and briefcase wedged outside the train. The doors closed, and the man pulled his arm into the train. It was unknown if he was reunited with his briefcase.

Weston said passengers hit the buttons on the emergency intercom, but received no response from the train crew as they tried to exit the train. "Then I heard the sound of the air brakes releasing on the train, and a half-minute later the train pulls away from State Street," he wrote.

When the train pulled into Downtown Crossing, the doors did not open again. After a T official noticed passengers banging on the car's windows, he entered the car and opened the doors manually, Weston said.

Ray Diggs, chief of the Orange Line, is conducting the investigation. Late yesterday, T inspectors found that all the intercoms on the train were working, Rivera said.