BOSTON (AP) – A six-car train carrying passengers left a suburban Boston transit station without a driver Thursday and went through four stations without stopping, and investigators found that a safety system had been tampered with, the governor said.
None of the approximately 50 passengers was hurt, but the operator suffered a minor injury when he was brushed by the train, apparently as it began to move, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said.
Inspectors found signs of tampering with a safety device within the train’s cab, a system that is supposed to prevent it from operating without a driver, transit officials said.
“This train was tampered with, and it was tampered with by somebody who knew what they were doing,” Gov. Charlie Baker said during an interview on Boston Herald Radio. Baker later told reporters that there was still a question of “negligence versus something else.”
He called it an “isolated” incident and said he was relieved that no passengers were injured.