Trolley on the left smashed into the trolley on the right, NTSB says
The National Transportation Safety Board reports its initial analysis of a trolley-smashing crash at the East Somerville Green Line stop last month is that the driver of train in service came into the station way too fast, especially given that there was a stopped, out-of-service trolley sitting at the station.
A preliminary review of event recorder and signal data indicates the striking train was traveling about 32 mph when it entered a 25-mph zone, passed a red (stop) signal and entered the 10-mph zone in the station where it collided with the stationary out-of-service train.
The crash, around 12:20 a.m. on Feb. 9, sent two passengers and four drivers to the hospital with injuries not life threatening, the NTSB says.
The train stopped at the station was awaiting the go-ahead from a Green Line dispatcher to head into the Inner Belt train yard, the NTSB says.
The brief report does not discuss whether the crash might have been avoided had the MBTA's long delayed "Green Line Train Protection System," which would use sensors on both trains and tracks to stop trolleys from slamming into each other, been in place. The NTSB first urged the T to install a system after Green Line crashes in 2008 and 2009, one fatal.
The NTSB also cited speed for an October incident, also on the Green Line Extension, in which a trolley derailed because the driver got his train to a switch before it had fully changed positions for his train.
In 2021, a driver crashed his trolley into the rear of another trolley on the B Line near BU's Agganis Arena.
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Comments
Crazy idea
By AM
Thu, 03/06/2025 - 9:36pm
Has the MBTA ever considered teaching operators pointing and calling instead of these multi-million dollar safety systems? How many wrecked trains will we have to accept because the operators don't know how to use their eyes?
Of course one of the trains
By TD
Fri, 03/07/2025 - 1:43am
Of course one of the trains damaged had to be an old type 7. They're old but they have so much character and now there's one fewer.
This seems like a driver exhaustion thing since it happened at 12:20, getting near the end of their shift. Obviously the driver messed up but yeah of course the new control system would have prevented this if the old cars were rereofitted for it.
You can't retrofit for something that doesn't exist
By mg
Fri, 03/07/2025 - 12:22pm
The control system has yet to be created/implemented.
We need the real story of what this driver was supposedly doing
By Dan-O
Fri, 03/07/2025 - 1:05pm
He missed a red light and also claimed he "couldn't find the brake." Really? I bet he was on his phone.
They should not need this securoty system, because the drivers should be using their eyes, ears, and brains.
GL North?
By johnmcboston
Sun, 03/09/2025 - 6:03pm
Curious why we are seeing all these issues on the new GL segment. Does the track just lend itself to speeding? Or something about the signals that they are not getting noticed...
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