(The following article by Raja Mishra and Mac Daniel was posted on the Boston Globe website on January 10.)
WOBURN, Mass. — An improperly set track switch sent a commuter train barreling into a repair crew yesterday, killing two workers and injuring four others, two critically.
After hitting the track maintenance vehicle just before 2 p.m., the Lowell-to-Boston train screeched to a halt, tossing the 43 passengers in their seats, slightly injuring 10 who were treated at Winchester Hospital.
Officials identified the workers who were killed as Christopher Macaulay , 30, of Brentwood, N.H., and James Zipps , 54, of Lowell.
MBTA officials said they were investigating why the track switch did not shift the No. 322 train onto the parallel outbound tracks and instead sent it straight into the six-member crew, one operating the maintenance vehicle, the others working nearby.
The crew had been replacing ties on a short stretch of the Boston-bound tracks between Mishawum Station and the Montvale Avenue crossing in Woburn since just after the morning rush hour, T officials said.
The track switches are remotely set from an operations center on Cobble Hill Road in Somerville, which controls train movements north of Boston. T officials said four inbound trains had been rerouted without incident through the work site prior to the accident. Four outbound trains also passed the area safely.
It was not clear last night why the switch wasn’t set properly at the time of the crash or whether equipment or human error was to blame.
MBTA Transit Police and the National Transportation Safety Board plan to focus on the mechanics of the switch itself and the actions of the Somerville dispatcher, officials said. The dispatcher, who was responsible for setting the switch and monitoring the track, has been placed on paid leave during the investigation, said Scott Farmelant, spokesman for the commuter rail system.
A source with knowledge of the investigation said it is also looking at why a lower speed limit and a visual warning about the work crew were lifted before the accident.
A flagman who had been working with the crew all day waved down the No. 322 train, but the engineer could not stop in time, officials said.
“A train cannot stop on a dime; there’s a certain amount of space a train needs,” said MBTA Transit Police Lieutenant Sal Venturelli.
Venturelli said the train’s driver and engineering crew were being tested for drugs and alcohol and interviewed about the accident. Also last night, James F. O’Leary , general manager of the commuter rail system, announced a five-day moratorium on nonessential track repair work. Some service will be restricted today on the line, forcing commuters to take buses between Winchester and Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn, officials said.
The violent crash left the crew’s vehicle in a mangled heap at tracksidee, as dozens of emergency crews descended on the scene. The train had several shattered windows but no significant damage.
The workers were employed by Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad, a private consortium that runs and maintains the commuter rail fleet for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
“MBCR is stunned and deeply saddened by today’s horrific tragedy,” Richard A Davey Jr., the consortium’s general counsel, said in a prepared statement. “Our hearts go out to the family and loved ones of these workers.”
Neighbors said that Macaulay and his wife have one daughter, about 2 years old. The family moved to Brentwood about four years ago from Amesbury. “They’re really nice people,” said Meghan Johnson , a 12-year-old neighbor. “I know them because of their dog.”
Kathy Connor, 56, a neighbor who lives directly across the street from Zipps and knew him for 13 years, said he grew up in Lowell, attended St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church, and was from a large Irish-Catholic family with deep roots in the city.
Zipps often helped her with maintenance around the house, Connor said. “He was always so helpful. He was the nicest kid, he would do anything for you. My heart is broken.”
Arthur Solmonson, another neighbor who said he had known Zipps for about 30 years, said Zipps had been a foreman on a maintenance crew for many years. “He was just a great guy,” Solmonson said.
John Hickey , 50, of Lowell, another worker who was severely injured, was flown to Boston Medical Center. Edward Olson , 55, of Lowell, who also suffered serious injuries, was taken to Lahey Clinic in Burlington.
Officials withheld the names of the other two workers, who had lesser injuries and were taken to Winchester Hospital, until their families could be notified. MBCR said it is offering grief counselors to its employees.
Two other MBCR workers have been killed since the consortium took over commuter rail in 2003 from Amtrak under a $1.07 billion, five-year contract and with promises of better service. In December 2003, a worker was struck and killed by a passing freight train as he cleaned snow off the Wellesley Farms station platform. And in June 2006, a 36-year-old MBCR track worker was crushed by track maintenance equipment in Gloucester.
MBCR has been credited with making improvements in service and operations, though it faced numerous complaints for overcrowded, overheated, and late trains last summer. Last week, T officials announced plans to buy 38 locomotives and 75 double-decker coaches to improve on-time service and ease crowding.
Last month, Governor Deval Patrick named former MBCR executive Bernard Cohen as his transportation secretary. Patrick and Cohen yesterday were briefed on the accident and were monitoring the MBTA’s investigation, said Patrick’s spokeswoman. MBCR said it would cooperate with state authorities.
On board the train, commuters described a loud bang and a violent stop. Because it was inbound, the train was being pushed by a locomotive in the rear, so the front passenger coach struck the maintenance vehicle. The train engineer controls the locomotive from that lead coach.
It wasn’t known yesterday how fast the train was traveling, but the speed limit when there is no work going on is 60 miles per hour.
Justin Pimpare , an environmental engineer on his way home to Boston after a meeting in Lowell, was on the train’s second car. “It was like going from 50 miles per hour to zero,” he said. “We were traveling along, and I heard a large bang and the train came to a screeching halt. It felt like we had been derailed.”
His colleague, Maureen McClelland, 55, a toxicologist from Boston, said, “We got knocked into our seats and then went forward.” Her head and hands were driven into the seat back, causing slight bruising on her knuckles. She said most passengers in her car did not panic.
The MBTA bused stranded passengers to train stations in Woburn and Winchester, where many continued to Boston on other trains.
Dozens of curious residents flocked to the scene in Woburn, drawn by news helicopters circling overhead.
One of them, Derek Sooley , 28, said the scene was gruesome.
“I saw three bodies on the track,” he said, and another body was pinned beneath the train.