May 29, 2008 NTSB on scene of fatal train crash in Newton Play video

(Scot Yount, NECN: Newton, Mass.) - Federal investigators are on the scene of Wednesday's fatal MBTA crash in Newton, Massachusetts.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) examined signals because the T's Green Line trains are run manually and guided by "wayside" signals. The first trolley was stopped at a red light on an outbound track just outside Newton's Woodland Station when it was hit.

The NTSB team will assess equipment, human performance and safety systems. They will interview operators of the train that was struck, the surviving crewman in the second trolley and supervisors at the T's command center. The first interviews are planned for Friday.

Passengers report seeing the trolley operator who died, on the phone in the moments before the collision. Terrese Edmonds, 24, was a part-time trolley driver.

(Some of the above information is taken from the Associated Press.)