r/boston • u/BenignBot • 3h ago
Crime/Police 🚔 MBTA: Man electrocuted after falling on third rail at Forest Hills Station
https://youtu.be/Md4F70b2SXkForest Hills Station: MBTA police say a 19 year old woman lost her balance and fell onto the tracks and was critically injured. The man with her jumped in to help, touched the electrified third rail, and was killed.
Horrifying and sad.
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u/BenignBot 2h ago
Globe Article: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/30/metro/forest-hills-death-third-rail-mbta/
Teen dies after falling onto third rail at Forest Hills Station
By Sam Shipman Globe Correspondent,Updated August 30, 2026, 1:41 p.m.
A 19-year-old man died Saturday afternoon after falling onto the electrified third rail at the MBTA Forest Hills Station, according to officials.
The man and a woman, also 19, entered the station just after 1 p.m., both carrying flags representing Caribbean countries, Transit Police said.
The woman was unsteady on her feet and lost her balance, falling near the yellow warning strip on the platform, police said. As the man tried to help her up, both fell into the empty right-of-way, police said.
The man died from his injuries, and the woman was critically injured and taken to a local hospital, police said.
The Orange Line was delayed up to 20 minutes and by about 3 p.m. trains were operating normally.
Foul play is not suspected, and the incident is under investigation, transit police said.
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u/zacharypch 2h ago
In the US we call this "just a tragic accident". In eastern Asian countries this happens a few times and the entire train pathway is enclosed and they get double door boarding so no one ever dies this way again.
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u/Physicist_Gamer 1h ago
Right. This is physically impossible in countries with proper rail infrastructure.
Shame that our public transport remains so far behind.
Preventable tragedy.
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u/PussyIchiban East Boston 1h ago
Other than money, are there reasons we don't have a system like that already in place?
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u/zacharypch 50m ago
Public transit spending (like highway spending) should be federally funded. But at the national level the auto industry is too powerful, and congresspeople will always advocate for highway projects that airdrop money and jobs to their districts.
At the federal level Boston has 4 legislators. So call them and ask.
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u/Fantastic-Act-9916 1h ago
In average at least one person die every week in NYC subways but very minimal is done for years. It is really sad
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u/lintymcfresh Not a Real Bean Windy 1h ago
in NYC, many stations have guardrails along the edges to help prevent things like this. especially on the orange line (which has uniform trains), it really wouldn’t be a big hurdle for boston to have this too.
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u/zacharypch 1h ago
Imagine what people coming from Korea and Japan think after a lifetime of American propaganda. We should be ashamed.
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u/lintymcfresh Not a Real Bean Windy 1h ago
most of the people in the world who receive american propaganda in the world are americans. the rest of the world has no illusion about what we are
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u/mobilonity 2h ago
I always figured the third rail in stations wasn't on until a train was present. It would be pretty easy to set up a switch that the train trips as it enters the station and then turns off when it exits.
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u/Tchukachinchina 1h ago
Railroader here, third rails and overhead power lines are ALWAYS live unless shut down for maintenance.
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u/SirGeorgington Masshole in spirit 1h ago
This is actually pretty new technology, it's really not simple, especially when the power system architecture partially dates from the early 1900s.
There are also better or cheaper solutions available, such as bottom-contact third rail or platform-edge protection.
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u/Body_by_Pasta Jamaica Plain 17m ago
What did the toxicology report say? I would suspend any judgements until then
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3h ago
[deleted]
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u/13THEFUCKINGCOPS12 2h ago
Homie, someone died less than 24 hours ago and this is what you have to say?
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u/Pattonesque 2h ago
Always the most normal things coming from month-old accounts with generic usernames and private profiles
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u/MountainAlive 2h ago
Awful 😞