Sep 16, 2009 11:41 pm US/Eastern
MBTA Stations Shut Down Due To Electrical Fire
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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People walk along the Longfellow Bridge after being evacuated from a Red Line train Wednesday night. An electrical fire in a tunnel between Downtown Crossing and South Station delayed subway trains for hours.
WBZ
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A firefighter walks through the Downtown Crossing stop on the Orange Line. MBTA police and Boston Fire Department are investigating a small electrical fire in the tunnel.
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People being evacuated from a stopped MBTA train on the Longfellow Bridge.
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People walking outside a closed MBTA station after an electrical fire shut down service Wednesday night.
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Two small electrical fires shut down service on two MBTA subway lines in downtown Boston and forced hundreds of passengers to evacuate trains.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo told WBZ the fires started in wiring that feeds the electrified third rail at South Station. The fires were put out quickly, but the subway system was halted for hours.
The fire shut down the Downtown Crossing and Chinatown stations, delaying subway trains along the Red and Orange Lines. Passengers had to evacuate the stalled trains, including riders on a train stuck on the Longfellow Bridge.
Sarah Sperry, a Tufts University student was on the train that was stuck between the Charles St station and Park St. After an hour and a half, firefighters told them to evacuate the train and walk on tracks back to Charles St.
"They just stopped and the lights went off," she said.
"It wasn't too scary. There were firefighters along the way. I was nervous, hungry and missing the Red Sox game."
13-year-old Peter Staub from Belmont was stuck on same train. He told WBZ's Eileen Curran he thought it was "pretty cool."
"We got to cross one car to see what that was like it was pretty interesting."
The subway system was back to normal by about 9:30 p.m., three hours after the fires were reported.
No injuries were reported.
WBZ's Eileen Curran also contributed to this report.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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