Mar 26, 2008 5:46 pm US/Eastern
Investigators Search For Cause Of Train Collision
CANTON, Mass. (WBZ) ―
Investigators are trying to figure out how a runaway freight train car could roll nearly three miles before slamming into a commuter train in Canton Tuesday, injuring 150 people.
The CSX freight car, loaded with lumber, rolled from where it had been parked at a lumber yard and traveled onto the Stoughton commuter rail branch line, then onto the main line where it struck the passenger train's locomotive near Canton Junction just before 5:30 p.m.
Six freight cars were reportedly delivered to the lumber yard Tuesday.
"We didn't touch the car," Scott Cohenno, of the lumber company Cohenno, Inc. told WBZ.
"They (CSX) dropped it at noon-time and at 5 o'clock someone saw it leaving and we ran after it… and the thing was gone."
The company says a breaking system, known as derailer, should have triggered once the car went off the property. But, for some unknown reason, it was not working.
150 people were treated at the scene and about 80 of those were taken to hospitals. None of the injuries were life-threatening. Most were minor.
The engineer, Ronald Gomes, 61, was released from an area hospital after suffering non-life threatening injuries.
Gomes was alerted by a track signal that something was on the line and was able to stop the commuter train before the crash, likely preventing a more serious disaster.
"This box car came at him and he immediately got on the radio," said MBTA spokesman Jerry Demodena. "His train was already stopped and he immediately informed the dispatcher responsible for traffic on that track. He also informed the conductor, who in return, informed as many passengers as he could."
"It felt like an earthquake, you know? The whole car started shaking. People were falling," said Karen Bell of Randolph, a passenger on the train.
"Everybody was afraid. Nobody knew what was going on."
"A man next to me had bumped his head pretty badly and was bleeding in the back of his head. There were people lying down in the aisles. It just was very frightening."
About 300 passengers were on the Stoughton-bound train at the time of the crash.
Service was on a normal schedule Wednesday.
If you were on this train, or snapped pictures of the crash, email us and share your story.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
