(The Associated Press circulated the following article on January 11.)
BOSTON — Federal investigators probing the cause of a fatal commuter train crash have ruled out mechanical problems and are now focusing on human error, officials said.
“We’re focusing on several aspects of (the) human element, but there are several people that help operate a railroad,” Ted Turpin, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said Wednesday.
Turpin said the signals and the equipment that moves the tracks were working properly.
Two workers were killed and four were injured Tuesday when a Boston-bound Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter train on the wrong track struck a repair vehicle in Woburn, 12 miles northwest of Boston. Ten passengers on the train suffered minor injuries.
The NTSB interviewed dispatchers and maintenance crews on Wednesday. One dispatcher in the rail system’s Somerville control center, whose name has not been made public, has been placed on paid administrative leave. No one has been found at fault.