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Answers sought in Boston-area MBTA crash
by Robert Sears, The Brockton Enterprise
CANTON, Mass. - Investigators worked through the night to determine how a parked freight car could roll more than 2 miles and slam into a commuter train, injuring 150 passengers.
Most injuries in Tuesday's crash were minor and included facial cuts and bloody noses. None were life-threatening, Canton Fire Chief Thomas Ronayne III said.
A "large percentage" of the injured were taken by bus to three area hospitals, he said.
The freight car carrying lumber rolled from a privately owned siding in Stoughton onto the track used by the commuter train, MBTA Police Chief Paul MacMillan said.
He did not know the name of the company that owns the siding.
The train stopped before the impact at about 5:20 p.m. a short distance from the Canton Junction station because the moving freight car triggered track sensors that signaled the engineer, he said.
The freight car smashed into the front of the train's engine.
"If the signal had not worked, injuries would have been more severe," MacMillan said.
About 300 passengers were on the train.
At least 50 firefighters and 20 ambulance crews responded to the scene.
Allan Gilman, 66, of Easton was in the next-to-last car on the train and struck his face on the rear of the seat in front of him, cutting his nose and dislodging a lens from his eyeglasses. He did not go to a hospital.
There was no warning before the crash, he said.
"I thought we stopped for an Amtrak train; then whammo, we got hit," said Gilman, who works in Boston for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.
The freight car's contents that were strewn on the ground appeared to be a composite outdoor deck material, he said.
A conductor got word to those in the car immediately behind the engine seconds before impact, said Mike Connor, 39, of Easton.
"I heard chirps on the conductor's radio. He left the car, then came back in and said a car had broken lose on our track and we were going to get hit," Connor said.
He was not injured.
Connor and several others recalled the lights going off on impact.
Some relatives of people who daily take Train 917, which leaves South Station at 4:40 p.m. bound for Stoughton, went to the scene looking for them.
Debbie Hildred of Canton was looking for her son, Ryan Carpenter, 26, concerned because he had not called her on his cell phone.
Stanley Gay of Stoughton, his 2-year-old son, Arthur, in his arms, was looking for his wife, Leynad. He had no way of reaching her because they do not have cell phones.
The injured went to Caritas Norwood Hospital, Milton Hospital and Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton.
Most of the 43 people taken to Norwood were treated and released for "very minor injuries," said Mary Wallan, a hospital spokeswoman.
About 10 people arrived by ambulance, but most were taken to the hospital on an MBTA bus.
One person was admitted to the hospital for observation.
Families arrived while the injured waited in long emergency room lines as reinforced ranks of doctors and nurses attempted to treat them quickly.
Rebecca Sullivan of Canton arrived at the hospital to check on her mother, Mary Ellen Gleason, who was among the first to arrive by ambulance.
Sullivan said her mother was stunned silent after the crash, then broke down crying when they spoke on the phone.
Sullivan said her mother likely broke her nose on the seat in front of her, but was otherwise OK.
Commuter rail service on the Stoughton line was restored by about 8 p.m.
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