Lowell Line collision at Woburn - 1/9

Channel 7 reports that the dispatcher did not shift the inbound train to the track the maintenance crew was not on.

From what I've heard, the maintenance crew had the proper written permission to be there, and the dispatcher made an error. The rumor I'm hearing is dispatcher error, and at least two MOW employees dead. Tragic.

I was saddened to hear their were deaths in this accident, never the less, it's not a good thing. I will keep the famlies in my thoughts!

NellsChoo - The news says the crew was replacing ties.

The crew has been working on a switch to a siding there for sometime. The guys that were killed were best of the best on the Lowell Line and maybe the entire system! It's a very sad day for the commuter rail. Several close friends of mine were very close to these guys When the time comes I will post what happened, but until then... I ask respect for those involved. All are very professional railroaders and I ask no speculation in respect of the lost.

sery2831 wrote:The crew has been working on a switch to a siding there for sometime. The guys that were killed were best of the best on the Lowell Line and maybe the entire system! It's a very sad day for the commuter rail. Several close friends of mine were very close to these guys When the time comes I will post what happened, but until then... I ask respect for those involved. All are very professional railroaders and I ask no speculation in respect of the lost.

I agree, respect for those who have passed is the right thing to do. What I've learned, simmilar to when I was in the fire service, is that railroaders, themselves all of them are like brothers and sisters, very close to each other, simmiar to the fire service or law enforcement field's. When something as tragic as this happens, respect and whatever time to heal is something we should all understand, as I am sure we do

My thoughts and prayers are with the members of MBCR on this tough day

I was at North Station around 6 pm, and have a little information about the evening's operational situation.

The accident was between Winchester and Anderson stations. Trains are running between North Station and Winchester, and between Anderson and Lowell, with shuttlebus transport between Winchester and Anderson.

Because of this split in service, commuter rail equipment and crews are in the wrong places at the wrong times, and this is affecting all northside lines. So there are significant delays and/or cancelled trains on the Fitchburg, Haverhill, and Newburyport/Rockport lines.

With the renovations at North Station, the situation there is somewhat muddied. People are waiting outside by the tracks for trains that aren't going to be ready for a very long time, but people who wait inside the station lobby have a good chance of missing trains entirely when they get filled to capacity by people who are effectively ahead in line. But people are doing the best they can with the situation.

The MBCR had an employee in the lobby going around and explaining the situation to people, and his information was clear, concise and informative.

I saw an Amtrak Downeaster inbound through Sullivan Square at 6:22, coming in from the Haverhill - Reading line. Didn't see if there were passengers on the train, but probably so.

I was in North Station around the same time as you. My 6:15 train to Fitchburg left only 7 minutes late. A pretty good showing, considering the problems the T had to deal with. Passengers seemed to be aware of what had happened.

I was just informed that one of the crew members is one of my relatives. I was up in Concord, NH today with Bernie when he told me the news; it wasn't until I got home when my father told me who was involved. I will not say his name because no names have been officially released at this time but he did survive though badly banged up. On a sad note however his best friend an co-worker did not survive. Whatever it was they were working on they never heard the train coming; when they finally did, it was too late. My thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families of the loved ones they just lost; for me this one hits close to home.

I went and watched for Downeaster 687 to come north through Reading, but it didn't show. This was from about 6:40 to about 7:20. The train should have left Boston at 6:20, as mentioned earlier. So I don't know where this train went, unless perhaps they were able to let it through on the Lowell line. Or else it was very late.

Downeaster 687 came through Melrose Highlands at about 6:55 pm so it would have been in Reading not too long after that but it was much later than you would expect a 6:20 departure to be.

My thoughts and prayer to the families, train crew and everyone that had to deal with this unfortunate accident.

Fair amount of information here:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/10 ... etail.html

Here's an amazing thing... my boyfriend and I just got back from a night in the Ayer area. As we headed home on rt2 east by the Lake Street exit at 10:05pm, I saw this big truck hauling something similar to a clip I saw of the equipment that got hit.

We turned around, and to make a short story shorter, it was the equipment that got hit today. License plate T 401. Looks like it got hit in the rear. The truck was headed towards the maintainance facility in West Cambridge (Fresh Pond). Once I realized for sure it was the equipment involved, I didn't want to look too close... rather morbid... and sad...



JD

Let me first say my thoughts are with the victims and their familes, this is an extremely tragic event.

I'm by no miens a rail expert (I'm just some kid who likes reading about trains) but I thought when track work was being done there was a devise that was put in place (along with warning flags and what not) to derail the train in the event that it entered a work zone. Does the MBTA not use this? Does the FRA not require it? If these devises do exist how severely would they derail the train (in other words - would it be worse to derail the train with the passengers on board)?

Thanks,

-Jody-