Operator killed after MBTA trains collide in Newton
NEWTON, Mass. -- Federal investigators arrived Thursday at the tracks outside Boston where two commuter trains collided and derailed during rush hour the day before, trapping and killing the operator of one train and injuring more than a dozen passengers.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board were trying to determine what caused Wednesday's crash, which killed 24-year-old Terrese Edmonds near a station in suburban Newton, said Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The two-car train Edmonds was operating struck the back of another two-car train approaching Woodland Station outbound on the D branch of the Green Line about 6 p.m., Pesaturo said. The trains had about 200 passengers combined.
"The first one was stopped at a red signal and was ready to proceed to the station when it was struck," he said.
The MBTA expected to bus passengers around the crash site most of Thursday, Pesaturo said. The train struck from behind had been removed from the scene, but the second remained as the investigation began.
"They need to thoroughly examine the second train before it is removed," Pesaturo said.
A full report is not expected for up to 18 months, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said.
For several hours Wednesday night, firefighters struggled frantically to free Edmonds from the mangled wreckage. Her body was extricated early Thursday morning, about seven hours after the crash.
"It is my unfortunate duty to report the death of one of our employees," MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas said. He said it was a "miracle" that there weren't more deaths.
One passenger remained in stable condition in a Boston hospital Thursday, Pesaturo said. Nine others were treated at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and about five were treated at the scene, he said.
Passenger Barry Gallup, standing aboard the train that was hit, told reporters the impact threw him to the floor.
"I may have been knocked out for a few seconds. ... The next thing I knew I was lying on the ground," Gallup said.
He described a confused scene, with some passengers screaming and small fires breaking out on the side of the train. Other passengers concurred about the chaos.
"There was a 70-year-old old guy who went ballistic, screaming at the conductor, 'You killed my wife! You killed my wife!' And the wife is going, 'I'm OK! I'm OK,"' passenger Matt Stone, 46, told The Boston Globe.
Massachusetts transit officials interviewed the surviving three operators Wednesday, Pesaturo said. Gov. Deval Patrick also telephoned Grabauskas at the scene of the accident to offer any necessary assistance.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Two Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line trains have collided in Newton. Both trains consisted of two cars, one of which rear-ended the other causing major damage on both trains, multiple injuries and trapped the female operator of one of the two trains, 24 year-old Terrese Edmonds, who subsequently died. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board is underway.
Green Line D train 
The crash happened yesterday around 6 p.m. EDT between the Waban and Woodland Green Line stations on the Green Line's D Branch. One train was stopped at a red signal waiting to enter to Woodland when it was struck from behind by the second train. 

According to MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo, "The first one was stopped at a red signal and was ready to proceed to the station when it was struck."

The Green Line, which is the most heavily used light rail line in the United States, is made up of four branches. The D Branch runs along a dedicated right of way and the stations are more spaced out as opposed to the other branches which run on the street. 

This is one of several accidents the MBTA has experienced recently. Exactly two weeks ago, a trolley on the B Branch derailed and caught fire, and Tuesday, a fire broke out between Park Street and Downtown Crossing on the MBTA's Red Line. The MBTA's Commuter Rail division has also experienced accidents including the death of a 5-year old in Revere who was stuck by a commuter train in the middle of a grade crossing this Tuesday and a MBTA commuter train that was rear-ended by a runaway boxcar belonging to CSX back in late March. Quick thinking on behalf of the engineer on that train is believed to have averted a larger accident.