(The following story by Noah Bierman appeared on the Boston Globe website on April 18.)
BOSTON — The MBTA filed suit yesterday against CSX Transportation and the Cohenno lumber company of Stoughton, accusing them of failing to take several basic safety steps to secure a freight car that got loose and crashed into a commuter train in Canton last month.
The 19-page lawsuit marks the first time since the March 25 crash that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has publicly laid out its theories on what caused the 112-ton freight car to escape from the Stoughton lumber yard, barrel down 3 miles of track, and ram into an MBTA commuter train, injuring 150 people.
The suit claims that workers for CSX, who had delivered the car to the lumber company earlier that day, failed to set a hand brake on the freight car while it was stored at the yard on a side rail. The suit also claims that CSX workers failed to close and lock a steel gate that separates the lumber yard from the commuter rail tracks and that they failed to place a chocking device next to the car’s wheels. Such a device would have prevented the wheels from rolling down the steep rail.
Even after the car got away, the suit claims, it could have been stopped by another device, known as a “derail,” that sends cars off the tracks before they reach the main rail line. But the derail was not set properly by CSX workers, the suit asserts.
The suit also alleges that Cohenno workers were moving the freight car in question, lost control of it, and allowed it to roll down a steep grade and onto the main passenger tracks. The crash occurred during the heart of rush hour.
A CSX spokesman said company officials have yet to review the suit and would not comment on it.
“As we understand it, the FRA [Federal Railroad Administration] is still investigating the accident, in terms of the cause,” spokesman Bob Sullivan said.
The FRA is the lead investigator of the crash, though MBTA police have also participated in piecing the evidence together.
Brad Cohenno, the owner of the lumber company, also declined to comment. His son had previously said that employees did not move the car while it was at the yard.
In filing the suit, MBTA officials are attempting to shift liability in case the authority is sued by passengers injured in the crash. Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co., which runs commuter service under contract with the T, is also a plaintiff in the suit.
Though most injuries were not serious, 120 people have filed medical claims with the MBTA, said Dan Grabauskas, the T’s general manager. The passengers are not a party to the suit.
Grabauskas also wants to hold CSX and Cohenno liable for the cost of repairing the MBTA’s train, the overtime costs the T incurred in the crash’s aftermath, and any other expenses caused by the disruption. Grabauskas estimated the costs to be as much as $1 million.
“It was a mess, plain and simple,” Grabauskas said. “We wanted to make sure also that this never happens again.”
The suit alleges that some of the practices that led to the crash were routine, that CSX has a pattern of leaving freight cars parked without hand breaks.
There were six freight cars at the Cohenno property the day of the crash. The suit claims that none of the six cars were properly secured, either with a hand brake or a chocking device.
George Casey, the head of the union representing the CSX engineer who delivered the freight cars the day of the accident, said the two-member crew followed procedures, properly securing the cars.
Massachusetts political leaders have been negotiating separately with CSX on the possible sale of sections of the Worcester-Framingham tracks, now owned by the private company. But CSX has been insisting that the state assume liability in case commuter rail passengers are injured by freight cars on the line.
State Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen said the Canton crash proves “why the issue of shared liability is so essential to our negotiations.”
“From my point of view, it’s clear that there was a serious lapse in safety,” Cohen said. “No doubt in my mind.”