Hard rain, bad wiring and good Samaritans cause day of woe for T service

Wednesday was a tough day for the MBTA. Bad weather, good Samaritans, and an electrical fire caused major delays in service during morning and evening rush hour commutes.

Problems started at 6:50 a.m. when a disabled Orange Line train caused a snag at Downtown Crossings. About an hour later, the first of many delays hit the Red Line when a southbound train got stuck underground. The Orange Line hit another delay after a “medical emergency” and Downtown Crossing at 8:25 a.m.. This instance caused travel to crawl at “moderate delay” speeds for an hour.

Then the real trouble began. A man got his hand and his bag stuck in the doors at Central Square at about 9:45 a.m.. Ten minutes later, the MBTA declared a “severe delay” on the Red Line after a good Samaritan heard the cries of the man trapped in the doors, pulled the emergency brake and called for help on the train’s intercom.

This had serious unforeseeable consequences once officials tried to release the emergency brake. The mechanism was stuck in place and the train was unable to pull out of Central Square. Passengers sat at the height of the morning commute until the T announced that regular service was back on track at 11:56 a.m..

At 2:53 p.m., the C and D lines on the Green Line hit delays due to a signal problem at Kenmore Square. These issues slowed down travel until 4:16 p.m..

At 3:43 p.m., the Orange Line experienced more woes and a “severe delay due to a medical emergency,” which hampered travel for a half hour.

The next round of delays and weather troubles began on the Red Line at 4 p.m. when the front entry of the Shawmut Station was closed due to flooding. At 4:20 p.m., the T announced delays on the Red Line due to “severe” power problems at Broadway. This turned out to be an electrical fire, requiring the Boston Fire Department to respond. Service between Park Street and JFK/UMass was suspended as fire fighters handled the fire on the tracks. There were no reports of injuries. Service resumed at 5:11 p.m..

The MBTA did not respond to emails sent before the time of publishing.

RELATED: MBTA posting score card

The T introduced a scorecard program on Monday, asking riders to give feedback on travel safety, punctuality and other service related issues. There Winter Resilience Program has put construction crew out on the tracks every weekend, prompting shuttle bus service between designated stations as they beef up the rails for another brutal winter.