Boston Trains Crash Below Ground; 110 Injured

BOSTON — Two commuter trains crashed at an underground station during morning rush hour Thursday, injuring at least 110 people and forcing hundreds of others to grope through a dark, smoky tunnel to safety, authorities said.

Officials of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which owns the Amtrak-operated commuter lines, said a seven-car train struck the rear of another seven-car train that was letting off passengers at a station in the Back Bay section shortly after 8 a.m.

“Everyone started falling and everything went black,” said one passenger, Geri Hansen.

“People in the aisles fell like dominoes,” said James Blanchard, 21, of Attleboro, who was standing in the second train at the time. His first recollections were of people screaming and a doctor giving emergency treatment to a woman who was tossed between the cars.

Six people were seriously hurt.

Hampered by Storm

Rescue efforts were hampered by a storm that blew about a foot of wet snow into the city. Rescue officials said it took about 90 minutes to bring out the passengers in both cars.

Boston Fire Commissioner Leo Stapleton said most of the injured passengers were aboard the first train. Each carried about 500 people and both originated in Attleboro, near the Rhode Island border.

Charles Passaisi, 25, who was in the second train, said the passengers in his car were led onto the catwalk and through the train that had been hit. Others were led through the tunnel.

“We were standing on the street in about 10 minutes after the crash,” he said.

“I was scared, there was a lot of smoke . . . especially in the tunnel, you didn’t know where you were,” said passenger Mike Hansen.

Transit authority spokesman Vicente Carbona said 110 people sought treatment and as many as 75 went to hospitals.

Dr. Erwin Hirsch, chief of surgery at Boston City Hospital, said none of those hurt suffered a life-threatening injury. Dr. Peter Moyer, head of the city’s emergency rescue services, said two conductors from the trains suffered broken legs and one of them also broke an arm.

Carbona said the train that had stopped had let out about 400 of its passengers when it was hit. The train had been running about 40 minutes late because of the weather, and it was possible the engineer of the second train had not expected to see it ahead, he said.