Close to the Edge: Near Death on the Orange Line

Photo tagged “Bostonist” by Steinchester . Last night, leaving the Celtics game, we saw a woman come an inch away from death. It was on the inbound Orange Line platform at North Station. We had missed a train and had to wait an interminable 15 minutes before the next train arrived, so we were relieved when the Worflike voice of the T announced “The next Orange Line train to Forest Hills is now approaching.” The lights of the oncoming train shined through the tunnel. And then a woman fell on the tracks. We’re not sure how it happened, but she fell and she hit her head. She tried to stand but fell back onto the tracks and started flailing, coming perilously close to the third rail. Half the people on the platform, panicking, yelled at her, telling her to be still. The other half waved their hands at the oncoming train, begging it to stop. The woman stopped moving. The train, still coming, let out an irritated klaxon at all the people standing on the yellow line. Then the conductor saw what everybody was pointing at. Then the train slowed. It was like a movie. The train stopped inches away from the woman’s unstirring body, the frontmost part actually hanging over her. For a nauseating moment, we

thought she had been killed—by the train or by the third rail. The conductor burst out of the front train compartment, the color draining from her face, repeating “Oh my God.” The crowd exploded with applause like she was Ray Allen and she had just scored a wide open three pointer. The woman on the tracks crawled gingerly out, stumbled around some more, and was pulled to safety by some passengers before being taken away by MBTA cops. The conductor got yet another round of applause as she pulled the train into the station. Having nearly killed somebody, she didn’t look like she appreciated it that much. Surreally, the passengers on the train had no idea what had just happened. A woman on the platform had nearly lost her life—and the rest of us our lunch—but for the passengers on the train, it was just the T screwing up again. Onboard, a guy sitting next to us asked “Why aren’t we going anywhere yet?” “A woman almost got hit by the train.” “She die?” he asked. “Nope. Came pretty close.” “So, a woman almost died,” he said. “That means everything’s normal. Why can’t they move this freaking train?”

Read the original post: 
Close to the Edge: Near Death on the Orange Line