At least one T rider was dancing with joy Friday after the agency was able to resume train service at Alewife station six days after a car crashed through a concrete barrier on the top floor of a parking garage, sending a five-ton block tumbling into the main station.
Train service at the Alewife MBTA station in Cambridge, Massachusetts, resumed Friday morning, nearly a week after someone crashed into the top floor of the parking garage, sending a concrete barrier crashing down.
Trains were back at the Red Line terminus — which has relied on shuttles this week to get riders to and from the Davis Square stop — and passengers were very happy.
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"I was just dancing right over there. If you had just caught me over there you’d see me dancing," commuter Swati Dass said.
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The MBTA had riders going in through the Russell Field entrance, which is smaller and a longer walk. People should load their CharlieCards ahead of time, since the main lobby remained closed Friday morning.
Most of the parking garage reopened on Wednesday, but the fifth level and lobby floor were still closed as of Friday, as was the main entrance to the Red Line at Alewife. It could be a long time
But the return of service Friday meant that the roughly 5,000 people who take the train from Alewife daily no longer need to rely on shuttles, which rider Steven Dray said "probably added another half hour to an hour commute."
On Saturday, a car drove into a barrier on the fifth floor of the parking garage, which pushed a 10,000 pound slab of concrete onto the roof of the station and sent glass and other debris down below, authorities said.
The 29-year-old driverfrom Medford, who hasn't been identified, now faces charges. Transit police said he drove through the barrier intentionally because he was looking to hurt himself.
A child was hit by glass and sent to the hospital, but MBTA Interim General Manager Jeff Gonneville said it could have been worse.
"This could have been an absolutely horrific event," Gonneville said during a news conference on Monday.
