200-lb thing that fell on woman at Harvard Red Line stop was meant to detect biological-warfare agents in test that ended 10 years ago

Sera Congi reports that the 200-lb. frame and device that fell on a woman at Harvard yesterday was a leftover from tests conducted by the T, the state and the federal Department of Homeland Security to see if sensors could provide early warnings of a biological attack on a subway system.

In an unusual display of T efficiency, the T actually started the tests early: Inactivated B. subtilis spores were sprayed at Harvard, Davis and Porter on the Red Line to determine if the sensors worked.

And then, in more typical T fashion, even after the tests ended, the T never took the sensors down, even after the tests ended in 2013. At least, not until today, the day after one of them came loose from what were supposed to be temporary mountings, and fell on a woman at Harvard.

In announcing the tests, DHS said it had:

[D]eveloped a series of sensors that can rapidly detect biological material, and has installed these sensors in three MBTA stations (Davis, Harvard, and Porter). In order to be sure that these safety systems are effective, several tests will be conducted using a harmless killed bacterium that is non-infectious and is approved as a food supplement. These tests will begin on August 29, 2012 when the MBTA stations are closed to the public, and will continue periodically over the next year. Signs will be posted in the MBTA stations one day before each scheduled test. While these systems are evaluated, Massachusetts public health officials will work closely with DHS and the MBTA to monitor the results.

More detailed DHS analysis of the safety of the testing, which focused entirely on the bacteria, not on the effects of age and gravity on the sensors should they not be removed after the testing was completed.

In addition to releasing bacteria, DHS also conducted what it called the Big Sniff, in which it released a couple of different types of supposedly non-toxic gases on the T - chosen because, unlike Washington's Metro, on which earlier tests had been done, the T was old and not ventilated very well.