Gov. Baker Honors 2 MBTA Employees For Stopping 'Runaway Train'

BOSTON (CBS) -- As an MBTA train was zipping through Red Line stops without an operator last Thursday, two T employees rushed to shut off power to the third rail and halt the train before passengers got hurt.

On Monday, those two employees were honored in a State House ceremony. Gov. Charlie Baker praised Mark McNeil and Ainsley "Lee" Saunders for their work.

"Based on all accounts after the fact, you two performed in exemplary fashion, made a whole series of strategic decisions, executed them perfectly, and turned what could have been a far more dangerous circumstance into something that, while it was temporarily messy for a lot of the people involved, did not lead to any sort of significant or even minor disaster," Baker told McNeil and Saunders.

Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack and MBTA General Manager Frank DePaola were also be present at the ceremony.

McNeil and Saunders have a combined 48 years of experience with the MBTA, and both work in the Operations Control Center. The center was notified of the incident one minute after the driverless train left Braintree Station. The employees worked to cut power on sequential sections of track in order to slow the train down.

They also had a ten-minute window to get the closest train ahead out of the way.

"There was a train just leaving Wollaston at the time," said DePaola. "So they told those trains to express, don't stop at any more stations, so that they could create some spacing between the driverless train and the trains with drivers and passengers on them."

Related: Passengers Recall Dangerous Ride On Unmanned Red Line Train

After a tense nine minutes, McNeil and Saunders were able to cut power to the Braintree line, and the train coasted to a stop just past North Quincy Station.

McNeil and Saunders will receive a citation from Governor Charlie Baker in his office.

Also Monday morning, David Vazquez, the operator of the runaway Red Line train, faced an MBTA disciplinary hearing.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Kim Tunnicliffe reports