Multiple media outlets reported passengers may have seen the operator on a cell phone just before the crash. When asked about the possibility by reporters, National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said it was too early to confirm or deny that information. “I’ve heard something about that, but we don’t know,” Higgins said Thursday.
NEWTON. Federal safety officials began an investigation Thursday into the horrific collision of two outbound MBTA Green Line trolleys in Newton that claimed an operator’s life Wednesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board was on the scene all day gathering data and reviewing evidence. Interviews with anyone involved in the accident will begin Friday, said NTSB member Kitty Higgins.
The NTSB will review the equipment, tracks and signals involved, as well as operations and human performance. It could be months before the probe is finished and recommendations are made.
Higgins told reporters Thursday that there were no preliminary findings related to the cause of the accident. The trolleys aren’t equipped with black box recorders that aircraft carry, but Higgins said data related to the trolleys’ wheels can be retrieved. Investigators may also learn more when they interview T employees who were in the command center, she said.
The victim was identified by family members as 24-year-old Terrese Edmonds. She had worked at the T for only nine months and was operating the first car of the trolley that struck another from behind, according to a T spokesman.
The two-car trolleys were carrying a total of between 180 and 200 passengers when they collided at 5:55 p.m. on the D branch as they were both approaching Woodland station. The first train had stopped at a signal light and was beginning to move forward when it was struck from behind.