The incident happened on Dec. 10 when the driver, identified as David Vasquez, allegedly disabled a safety device in the driver's cabin while the train was stopped at Braintree Station and then stepped out of the cab.

The MBTA Friday released surveillance video showing a Red Line subway train as it traveled down the rails without a driver last December, a journey that ended without injury to the passengers who were trapped onboard the runaway subway train.

The train rolled out of the station on its own and traveled north towards Boston until it reached the North Quincy Station, where T employees were able to stop it by cutting electricity to train.


The train traveled about five miles. It was believed to be the first case of a runaway train barreling down the tracks of Boston's subway system, officials have told the Globe.

The video shows the driverless train rolling through two the Quincy Adams and Quincy Center stations without slowing down. The passengers on the platform are unfazed as the train speeds past them.

MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo wrote in an email that the two final stations, Wollaston and North Quincy, were not equipped with surveillance cameras at the time of the incident.

In releasing the video, the T also released a statement by General Manager Frank DePaola in which he said the transportation agency "took immediate steps to prevent such an incident from ever happening again. While the MBTA is grateful that no one was harmed, the safety of our passengers and employees is something we take very seriously.''

The T moved to fire Vasquez, whose attorney has said in the past that his client was not responsible for causing the train to leave the station without a driver. Vasquez no longer works for the T, Pesaturo wrote in an email on Friday.


He said the video was released following a public records request by a Boston television station.

In the video below, the runaway Red Line train begins passing through the station around the 4:10 mark.

In the next video, the runaway train begins passing through the station around the 3:24 mark.