MEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) – All of the new Red and Orange line trains have been taken out of service to allow vehicle engineers to perform a thorough analysis of the cars’ performance after a train jumped the tracks at Wellington Station in Medford on Tuesday.
A northbound train traveling at a slow rate of speed with about 100 passengers on board was crossing over to the southbound track when it derailed around 11:40 a.m., according to an MBTA spokesperson.
The train was crossing to the southbound track to accommodate the ongoing Orange Line maintenance work, the spokesperson added.
Shuttle buses replaced service on the Orange Line between Oak Grove and Sullivan Square stations disrupting thousands of commuters.
These buses will continue running between Oak Grove and Sullivan Sq. for the next three weeks, according to MBTA officials who say workers will use the time to replace a decades-old track switch that was significantly damaged during the derailment.
“They are never on time. There is always issues, they never, no information and they never respect the customer,” one woman said
There were no reported injuries.
Riders say things have been very slow going since construction began
“They’ve been doing work for weeks and now I think the work they’ve been doing is messing up the track and it got derailed,” commuter Brandon Ivy said.
This isn’t the first problem for the new orange line trains.
Shortly after they were rolled out in 2019, some cars were taken out of service because the doors weren’t closing.
Then later that year, another Orange Line train was pulled from service because of a strange sound that came from the new cars.
In this latest incident, there is some damage to the side of one of the train cars.
MBTA officials said they will be using the temporary shut down in service to make additional infrastructure upgrades and improvements at stations along the Orange Line.
The cause is still under investigation.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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