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May 29, 2008 10:01 am US/Eastern
In Their Own Words: Train Crash Passengers
NEWTON (WBZ) ―
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About 200 passengers were on the two trains.
WBZ
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One of the trains involved in a deadly train crash in Newton was removed from the scene Thursday morning.
WBZ
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About two hundred passengers were aboard the two Green Line trains that collided in Newton Wednesday evening. Several of them shared their stories with WBZ.
"The train was stopped at the time. I thought we were waiting for the track to clear ahead of us. The train was not moving. I remember because I was annoyed. I had a meeting to go to, and I was going to be late and then all of a sudden… Wham!
"And everything broke loose. The chairs broke loose. I wound up on my butt about 4 seats forward. I lost my glasses, cap, briefcase… We walked to the front of our car… and then I noticed there was a fire to the right of the accident site. It looked like a brush fire ignited by the sparks from the accident."
- Bob Brodeur, passenger on first train
"I was on the train, though I didn't suffer any major injuries. I still don't really know what happened, one minute I was gathering my things and the next minute I was being pushed over the rail by the stairs. I managed to get out and step across the marsh since people advised that it might catch on fire. A few people remained on board when I got off, but I think most have been rescued by now."
-Nicole, Newton
"I was on the front train that was stopped. There actually seemed to be 2 separate impacts. The first knocked me out of my seat, as as I tried to steady myself there was a 2nd which sent me sprawling down the aisle. As soon as we settled down, an old man went ballistic on the conductor accusing him of killing his wife (the wife meanwhile kept insisting she was OK). One woman remained on the floor for quite awhile, but someone told us that the back of the train was on fire, so we all ran out. We were directed to a car heading inbound and told to wait on it for further instructions.
"After a few minutes, and no more direction, most of us got out and walked back to Woodland and then Riverside. Of the people I saw, there was one badly cut lip, but no major injuries. When we got to Riverside, there were a couple of T-employees milling around - and they were very upset that we were allowed to walk on the tracks. I blame this on the T.
-Matt, Framingham
"I'm not sure… Something happened and we kind of propelled forward and saw sparks."
- Lindsey, train passenger
"I just was sitting in my chair and all of a sudden I slid across the seats and the door got smashed. Three of us took our feet and kicked the door open.
"There were two women who, their chairs got wedged and they couldn't get out. One woman was crying and the other woman was just sitting."
- Ed, train passenger
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