Just four months after a green line train derailed on its way into Somerville, two green line trains collided at the East Somerville station shortly after midnight Sunday, sending five people – four of whom were train operators – to the hospital.
The crash, which is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, puts a renewed focus on safety precautions for a transit line that’s already under scrutiny. The preliminary report from the board for the derailment in October found that “human error” and not a track issue was likely responsible and that the train was traveling at an excessive speed.
The event quickly drew the attention of state Rep. Mike Connolly, who shared on the social media app Bluesky that the “MBTA clearly needs to do more to ensure safety.” Speaking with Cambridge Day, Connolly elaborated, saying he would work to continue delivering resources to hire more personnel. The transportation agency has been working in recent years to significantly expand its staff.
“It’s just another reminder that the MBTA still has work to do when it comes to safety,” Connolly said. “Had this happened at rush hour, this may have been more catastrophic.”
The MBTA said in a statement that “incidents of this nature are unacceptable, and the T is committed to learning what happened here and taking any steps necessary to prevent it from happening again. We are working with the NTSB on their investigation and will closely review their findings.”
While injuries may have been minor, frequent safety incidents may make the T seem less reliable, even as it’s been working to increase on-time performance and improve speed of service.
Cambridge city councillor Catherine Zusy, chair of the city’s Transportation and Public Utilities Committee, said the news of the collision was “unfortunate and disturbing.”
“We need our mass transit to be more safe and reliable, not less, as we strive to be an ever greener and more climate resilient city,” Zusy said.
Chris Cassa, a member of Cambridge Bicycle Safety, said the T has made significant progress in fixing “decades of neglect,” but that more transformative investments are needed to create a safe and reliable system.
Local transit advocacy group TransitMatters declined to comment on the collision before additional information is released on the cause of the crash.
Radio transmissions from before the crash may reveal some hints to the cause, however. Channel 5 reported Monday that an MBTA operator said he “couldn’t find the brake” in the immediate aftermath of the collision.
The NTSB will likely release a preliminary report on the collision within the next 30 days, but a final report could take more than a year.
This post was updated Feb. 11, 2025, with comment from the MBTA.
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Still wish we would treat injuries and deaths on our roadways as seriously. A single crash and minor injuries on transit is treated far more seriously than multiple times daily crashes and hundreds of deaths a year on our roadways, which generally just go on without mention.
Even at its worst the T is significantly safer than driving but our media and public officials never seem to want to acknowledge that out loud.
relevant article: “When you design roads, that is public health.” Research shows people in the U.S. think traffic deaths are inevitable, but they aren’t: https://harvardpublichealth.org/policy-practice/vision-zero-aims-to-reduce-traffic-deaths-through-better-road-design/