BOSTON — A Boston commuter train left its station on Thursday morning with passengers on board but no driver, traveling one stop toward downtown before transit officials deactivated it.
None of the passengers on board were hurt, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said, although a transit employee suffered minor injuries, local media reported, citing unnamed sources.
Officials are investigating whether a safety device in the driver’s compartment was tampered with, the MBTA said in a statement.
MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola said the incident was “highly troubling.”
The MBTA has been under intense scrutiny since it experienced extreme and prolonged service delays and briefly shut service during last winter’s record-setting snowfalls, which led DePaola’s predecessor to resign.