Five people went to hospital after two Green Line trains collided at East Somerville Station in Massachusetts at about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 9. An in-service train ran into a parked, out-of-service train. One car on each of the two-car trains came off the rails.
The train in service had five passengers aboard. Of the five taken for evaluation, four were operators and one was a rider; the rider was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with a neck injury. All were conscious and alert. The MBTA said the four operators were released.
A Reddit user who said he was aboard posted a picture of what looked like a train with a smashed front. He wrote that most passengers were bruised and that an operator was bleeding from a split in her forehead. That account has not been confirmed.
Investigation
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to Somerville on Sunday, and the Federal Transit Administration was notified. No cause has been released. “Safety is our top priority,” the MBTA said on X. “We are conducting a comprehensive investigation with our partners at (the National Transportation Safety Board).”
The agency also apologized to riders affected by the disruption. Shuttle buses ran between North Station and Medford/Tufts Station through Monday morning’s commute, and full service came back just after 10 a.m.
A second NTSB case on the line
This is the second time in a few months that federal investigators have been called to a Green Line incident. In October, a train derailed at Lechmere Station in Cambridge. The NTSB found the operator was traveling at more than three times the speed limit and had failed to stop for a signal.
Anti-collision technology is already in place on other subway and Commuter Rail lines, but officials have been slow to put it on the Green Line, even after the FTA recommended it following a pair of trolley crashes in 2008 and 2009. Riders noticed. “Why is the Green Line, like, singled out like this?” MBTA rider Kevin Phan said. Another Somerville resident, Ethan Weiner, said he had ridden the line often and, despite the usual delays, had never seen anything like this.
Sources
- Two Green Line trains derail after collision in Somerville; five injured
- 5 hospitalized after Green Line cars derail in Somerville
