WASHINGTON — A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line train was speeding and passed a red signal before colliding with a parked train in a Feb. 9 incident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board preliminary investigation report released today (March 6, 2025).
Two passengers and four crew members suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the collision at the East Somerville station in Somerville, Mass., at about 12:22 a.m. [see “Five hurt as MBTA Green Line trains collide,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 9, 2025]. The collision caused an estimated $6.6 million in damage, according to the MBTA.
The report says a review of event recorder and signal data indicates the in-service train, with two crew members and six passengers aboard, was traveling about 32 mph when it entered a 25-mph zone, passed the red signal, and entered the 10-mph zone at the station where it struck the stationary train.
It is the second incident in less than six months where the NTSB has found a Green Line train was exceeding the speed limit and ran a red signal. In an Oct. 1, 2024, derailment in Cambridge, Mass., a train was found to be traveling at 36 mph in a 10-mph zone when it derailed at a switch that was still moving into the correct position [see “MBTA Green Line train ran red signal …,” News Wire, Oct. 16, 2024]. Seven people were injured.
The report says the ongoing investigation will focus on vehicle crashworthiness, human performance, internal and external safety oversight, and operating procedures.
Was the engineer who ran through a stop signal at excessive speed disciplined? Any finding of why he did not slow and then stop? This is a personnel problem, not equipment.
I’m surprised there isn’t more damage with them hitting a stopped object at 32 mph. The article has no mention if the train slowed any through the two zones.
Great article…only missing the “Who”!