CHELMSFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - Crews in Chelmsford removed an MBTA Orange Line train car Wednesday night that became separated from the truck hauling it almost 24 hours earlier.
Officials said the train car and the truck separated on Tuesday night, prompting a lane closure and traffic delays on I-495 stretching through the day Wednesday.
The train car wasn’t damaged. Crews were unable to remove the train car during the overnight hours Tuesday night, though, saying on Wednesday morning that they were waiting for a tow truck to arrive in the afternoon.
The Massachusetts State Police announced new lane closures Wednesday afternoon beginning at 5 p.m. to make way for removal operations.
The collector/distributor road adjacent to I-495 northbound closed just north of the offramp to exit 89A around 5 p.m. with detours in place for I-495 northbound traffic seeking access to exit 89B or 89C.
An additional lane closed on I-495 northbound itself at 7 p.m., state police said, with the left lane remaining open to traffic.
Officials said planned removal and repair work had to be moved up because of inclement weather arriving in the area.
Crews could be seen around 6 p.m. with multiple cranes ready to remove the stuck Orange Line car as traffic crept by during the rush hour commute.
The car had been removed as of 8:30 p.m. Massachusetts Department of Transportation Director of Communications Jacquelyn Goddard later announced around 10:45 p.m. that the full scene was clear, allowing all lanes to reopen.
The new Orange Line car was on its way to Wellington Station in Medford from Springfield when it got stuck on I-495 on Tuesday.
An investigation into how the train car became dislodged is underway.
The train car is part of the Orange Line Transformation Project, which aims to phase out all the Old Orange line trains and replace them with 152 new train cars. The MBTA says they have all 152 shells of the train cars produced by China, but they go to Springfield first for final assembly.
So far, 81 of those Orange Line cars have been assembled and delivered to the Boston area. That number will soon rise to 82 when the train car stuck in Chelmsford arrives in Medford.
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