MBTA Security Camera Captures Orange Line Near-Miss

By Meghna Chakrabarti (@meghnawbur)
Nov 9, 2009, 6:17 PM
14 Comments

Just 27 seconds. That’s all the time MBTA Orange Line operator Charise Lewis had to stop her train.

MBTA security camera images released Monday show that as Lewis headed into North Station, she had just seconds to pull the emergency brake to avoid hitting a woman who had fallen on the track.

Lewis had seen panicked passengers on the platform flailing their arms. Moments later, she heard station inspector Jacqueline Osorio transmit an urgent message over the onboard radio: Pull the emergency break — fast.

Lewis managed to stop the train just inches from where the woman lay on the track.

“Afterward she came up with a big smile on her face, and I’m like ‘Oh my God, you really scared me’,” Lewis said. “The most exciting part for me is she crawled out from under.”

The woman has not been officially identified. The 26-year-old later told police she had been drinking for several hours before falling off the North Station platform. She was briefly hospitalized for cuts and scrapes but is otherwise unharmed.

Lewis, the MBTA Orange Line operator, has been driving the heavy rail trains for three years with an excellent record, said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

“It was a true act of heroism,” said State Transportation Secretary Jeffery Mullan. He awarded Lewis and Osorio formal commendations at Monday’s MBTA board meeting.

“This is a fine illustration of transit professionals. They are quite literally lifesavers,” Mullan said.

The quick thinking and happy outcome was a much needed boost for the beleaguered Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, an agency still reeling from two high-profile crashes on the Green Line. Both crashes were attributed to operator error.

Last week, an unidentified person was struck and killed by a commuter train in Franklin. The case is under investigation.

The T was also the focus of a scathing report commissioned by Gov. Deval Patrick. The report, revealed last week, identified extreme financial difficulties at the agency that have created a huge backlog of safety-related projects on the T.

Lewis and Osorio, who received calls from Patrick, and a standing ovation at Monday’s MBTA Board meeting, were humble.

“It’s just me doing my job,” Lewis said. “I was doing what I was trained to do, and I’m just glad that the people on the platform were able to let me know something was going on.”

The 27-Second Sequence:

North station Fall1

North station Fall2

North station Fall3

MBTA security cameras caught the close call at North Station. (MBTA)

Please follow our community rules when engaging in comment discussion on wbur.org.

http://abcdeology.com ABCdeology

Okay, where is the video? You can’t tease a story like this with vid caps without sharing the video!
Jesse

The MBTA did two good things this year:
1. Not kill this woman
2. Finally get transit schedules on Google Maps
jeffe

I hope she goes for rehab. To be so drunk in public that you fall on the tracks is a sign that your an alcoholic.

At least she was not driving.
Jody

Video is on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WG_qEHcGU
Silvia

The MBTA should put fences with doors along the tracks to avoid this to happen in the future.
olderworker

It looks like maybe she jumped on purpose? Hope she was taken somewhere for a suicide evaluation.

Congratulations to the excellent job on the part of Charise Lewis! (Note: when I was growing up, female train drivers were unheard of! It’s nice to see that we are doing so well!)
russella

I believe the video, and 27s time frame illustrates a need for platform personnel to have access to an EMO button which would either e-brake approaching trains, or at least sound an emergency signal in the cab of such trains.

I would estimate that at full speed, the orange line can stop in under 12s or so using the automated braking (dry tracks, rush-hour load, flat run etc). The motorwoman in this case is still a hero, but more due to the delay in getting her the message etc. and her quick action in the time remaining.

Also of note: those platforms downtown are particularly treacherous, as there is no lead-in part of the tunnel to offer the train operator any view of what’s around the blind tunnel opening to the platform.
http://www.wbur.org/news/wbur/people/aphelps Andrew Phelps

This story’s comments thread made it into our inaugural “Your Voice” segment on Morning Edition: http://www.wbur.org/2009/11/11/your-voice
Cherylac

The man who kept his head and torso in the path of the train right up until the moment it stopped is the true hero in my book. He significantly risked his own safety to ensure the fallen woman’s. Thank you, sir, for your bravery and selflessness.

I hope someone comes to the poor soul’s emotional rescue, too. Maybe this event will bring her new focus…
http://www.freewebs.com/buryinggroundstours Covalence2

She was also smoking. It would seem like someone should have gone up to her and asked her to stop smoking as well, which might have kept her from going so near the tracks.
chris

After watching this video several times, I am now convinced that alchohol could not have been the sole reason this woman was unable to get out of the way, though that is what got her in the pit in the first place. If you watch very closely at 1:57 she attempts to escape from the pit on all fours until her leg comes in contact with the 3rd rail while other parts of her body are in contact with one of the non energized rails.
The 3rd rail operates at 600v dc, and exceeds 1000A in some spots. This type of direct current high voltage is known to have paralyzing effects, and would easily have knocked her unconscious temporarily. The fact she was so drunk may have contributed to her fall, but i believe she could not have gotten out of harm’s way after that shock, and neither could any of you.
Silvia Contreras

I am sure she did not jump on purpose. If you look carefully, you will see that she lost her balance after smoking. The amount of oxigen in her body was already lowered by the amount of alcohol. If you add the effect of the nicotine to that, it makes perfect sense that she lost her balance.
Todd

I hate to sound petty, but how does this driver qualify as “hero”? She had to be screamed at over the intercom by the station inspector. Any competent person would have seen a body on the track and stopped, yes even from 100 yards, but this does not make a hero. Are we all heroes then for putting our parking breaks on when parked on a hill or stopping at a red light? Society has undermined the value of this term.
Patriot9878

I met a hero the other day. I was so drunk I could not wipe my ass and I screamed and my neighbor came in and wiped my ass and at that moment I said, you are a hero, but later I thought about it and might have overracted.