Feds: Fatal trolley crash could have been avoided

National Transportation Safety Board investigators said this morning that either of two possible fixes could have kept a Green Line operator from plowing her train into another train in Newton last May - while one board member suggested the federal government find a way to withhold money from the MBTA until it fixes its "failure in the safety net for transit riders."

Also, investigators said trolley drivers were not reporting broken signals to the department responsible for fixing them. At a hearing in Washington this morning, Board member Robert Sumwalt said he was "incredulous" at "the lack of a safety culture of this organization."

Investigators say they will urge the MBTA to install a "positive train control system" on the Green Line. This sort of system - already in place on the other three subway lines, either sounds an increasingly loud alarm when the driver drives through a red light or stops the train automatically.

The T recently announced it would test a radar-like alerting system on the Mattapan Line, which uses ancient, reconditioned Green Line trolleys.

NTSB acting Chairman Mark Rosenker blasted the T for not installing such a system earlier: "If technology exists, and it exists on the other lines, why would the Green Line not have everything possible that is going to prevent the accidents from happening? I don't understand that, as an operator, I just don't."

Also, investigators said that requiring MBTA drivers to alert their "trailing" operators (the ones who sit in the second car) of any red signals, the trailing operators could question the drivers when they proceed through the signals. In the Newton crash, the NTSB says driver Terese Edmonds blew through a red light at 38 mph and ran right into the back of another trolley that had itself just stopped for a red light and was just beginning to get moving again.