Murder on the Fitchburg Express

Creepy things are afoot on the Boston T lately. This past week, three people were killed by a train on three consecutive days.

On Tuesday, a 15 year old boy got hit by a commuter rail train; on Wednesday, another man got hit by a commuter rail train - the one that stops at my station; and on Thursday a woman was hit by the Orange line in Sullivan Square.

Sadly, the man who was killed on Wednesday was actually one of Sarwar's favorite math professors at Clark. We were shocked and saddened to hear the news.

What's going on? Why has the MBTA suddenly become the most dangerous mode of transportation? Perhaps it's the phenomenon of the copy-cat crime coming into play. Sometimes all you need is the media to start buzzing around one kind of freak-accident tragedy, and then everyone else who wants to commit suicide decides that that would be a fantastic way to go.

In general, there has been way too much drama surrounding the T nowadays. A few weeks ago, a Green line train crashed into another one, killing the T driver. Then, there were two subway fires on the Red line in the span of a week, forcing half the stations on the line to shut down - which, along with construction delays, made that line painful to ride on. And just a few days ago, a Green Line operator was fired because a woman reported that she saw him asleep at the wheel of a train.

It's madness. It seems like every day you turn on the TV or go to Boston.com, and there is a new T-related tragedy to deal with. Next thing you know the ferries will start sinking, buses will begin self-combusting, and the Blue line (so far, the only train line to be spared) will come to a screeching halt, too.

When does it end?