On an unseasonably warm day in Boston, the MBTA's Red Line underwent a partial meltdown

Smoke poured into Andrew Station in South Boston after a train de-railed and then subsequently re-railed itself. Passengers also reported a window shattering. (Photo via Seth Hardy)

The visuals probably weren't what MBTA managers are looking for as they seek to steer paying customers towards taking public transit instead of popular ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft.

The scenes from outside South Boston's Broadway Station: Hordes of people spilling out from a partly crippled transportation system and onto the street to wait for shuttle buses.

The scenes from inside Andrew Station hours earlier: Smoke pouring out of a train, riders posting to social networking sites like Twitter and expressing alarm over shattered train car windows after a derailment.

No one requested medical attention, but the Red Line on Wednesday remain closed between Broadway and JFK/UMass Stations into the early evening hours as T workers sought to investigate the derailment, which damaged 300 feet of third rail.

At 6:46 p.m., nearly ten hours after the derailment, the MBTA's Twitter account announced that regular service on the Red Line had resumed.

By then, one of the three Democrats angling to challenge Republican Gov. Charlie Baker in the fall, had already fired out a statement decrying the derailment and saying, "Enough is enough."

"Gov Baker's failure is causing declining ridership, forcing people into cars and compounding the traffic gridlock spreading in all directions," former Newton Mayor Setti Warren said in his statement. "The Baker administration claims they are making improvements that riders can't see (WHAT does that even mean?) and that we should be patient because it will take 20 years to fix the T.  That seems right - it will take 20 years, if we leave him in charge."

Baker spokeswoman Lizzy Guyton said MBTA rider safety comes first and the governor is grateful there were no reported injuries after the train derailment.

"The governor appreciates the public's patience as the MBTA investigates this serious incident and completes necessary repairs so that regular service can resume," she said.

New Red Line cars aren't expected to hit the tracks until 2019, and state transportation officials have acknowledged the transit system still needs work after a financial management and control board was installed in response to the harsh winter storms of 2015 crippling the system.

"We are... acutely aware that while we have made immense progress in two years... it hasn't necessarily translated into improvements to people's day-to-day commute," Baker's transportation chief Stephanie Pollack, who also rides the T, told reporters in July 2017.

"That's the ultimate test of 'is the T fixed?'" she said.

On Wednesday, the question wasn't yet followed by a great answer for riders.