MBTA

Surveillance footage shows smoke billowing from Red Line train at Charles/MGH

The incident didn't lead to any injuries, but passengers had to self-evacuate and there were service interruptions as a result

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New surveillance footage has been released by MassDOT showing plumes of smoke coming from a Red Line train car on Thursday at the Charles/MGH station in Boston's West End.

The video shows crowds of passengers getting off of the train, as smoke began coming out from under the front train car on the northbound side of the station. The train pulled up to the platform at around 5:45 a.m.

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Many of the passengers walked off the platform, while others stood and watched or even filmed it with their phones. Firefighters arrived at around 5:54 a.m., and shortly after, the passengers still on the platform were asked to leave. Fire crews were seen in the surveillance footage spraying fire extinguishers as the first part of their response.

No one was hurt during the incident, but it proved to create a headache for commuters, who had to rely on shuttle buses for several hours between Harvard and Broadway.

Smoke on an outbound Red Line train nearly full of passengers Thursday morning disrupted service for hours.

The exact cause of the smoke remains unclear. A deputy chief with the Boston Fire Department told news media that there was a "small fire" on a piece of equipment on the underside of a train car.

A spokesman for the MBTA said the smoke was coming from an air compressor control box, but said "there has been no confirmation of flames." Flames were not visible in the surveillance footage released.

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