Word: subway
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...passengers heading up an escalator toward the exits at King's Cross, London's busiest subway station, figured they were nearing the end of their commute home. At 7:29, their routine ride became an ascent into hell. Flames erupted along the moving wooden stairs and spread rapidly upward. Those people riding near the top of the crowded staircase were delivered directly into the center of the blazing inferno. Unable to turn back, they could only push forward into the flames, their clothes and hair catching fire as they dashed for the exits...
...escalator, most within yards of exit doors. Eighty more were injured, twelve critically, by the intense heat and smoke. The fire was by far the worst in the 124-year history of the London Underground. Until last week's disaster, in fact, only four passengers had died in subway blazes since World War II. But the solid reputation of the city's venerable "Tube" is now under question as Londoners wonder whether the disaster could have been better contained...
...precise cause of the inferno remains a mystery. Initially, word spread that the fire might have started with a carelessly tossed cigarette that ignited trash in a machine room beneath the escalator. But when subway authorities inspected the room, they found it to be, as one said, "clean as a whistle." Other theories looked to the escalator mechanism, which might have produced a spark; or to the prewar wooden stairs, which might have come in contact with a cigarette or other flame. Officials found faults with both explanations. And although they received some telephone calls claiming sabotage, authorities were inclined...
Instead of waiting on subway platforms, late-night commuters can relax near the collectors' booths until a computer-synthesized voice announces the arrival of their train, said Vicente Carbona, public affairs officer for the MBTA. The system will be installed at approximately 30 stations, including Harvard, and is targeted at night travelers who "may not feel very safe being alone on a platform," said Carbona...
According to MBTA General Manager James F. O'Leary, the special emphasis on passenger safety, and this train annunciator system is a very important component." The subway group decided to install the system after a test site at the Red Line's Shawmut stop operated successfully for six years, said Carbona...