MBTA Releases Surveillance Footage Of Runaway Red Line Train

BOSTON (CBS) – The MBTA has released surveillance video of the so-called runaway Red Line train that traveled the rails through four stations before stopping last December.

When it bypassed Quincy Center commuter Chris Paille remembers he was coming down the stairs to the platform. "I was wondering why it didn't stop. I thought it was going kind of fast because the train comes in and stops pretty quickly," said Paille.

Train operator David Vazquez, who no longer works for the MBTA, is accused of tying off the speed control with a phone chord. When he then got out of the train to deal with a faulty signal it took off traveling driver-less for 9 minutes with at least 50 passengers on board.

"If the train is coming through without stopping there's usually an announcement and they beep the horn," said Lynn Rose, who takes the train every morning from Quincy Center. There was no such warning on this morning and in the video commuters seemed unfazed by it all until they felt the consequences.

"Seeing the train go by made me over an hour late for work that day. My boss didn't believe me at first," said Paille.

The MBTA says it has taken action warning drivers of consequences if equipment is tampered with. Supervisors are required to be present if a conductor needs to step out and deal with a faulty signal creating a "bypass".

"While the MBTA is grateful that no one was harmed, the safety of our passengers and employees is something we take very seriously," said MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola in a statement.

Passenger Lynn Rose says she now take a quick look in the cab before she boards the train. "I look to make sure there's a driver, I look to see there's somebody there."