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Trolleys bump, derail in Brigham Circle; three hurt

Collision scene. Photo by Michelle Murray.Collision scene. Photo by Michelle Murray.

A trolley collision in Brigham Circle around 4 p.m. sent three people - one of them a T worker - to nearby hospitals with neck and back injuries, Rob Grover reports. One train came off the tracks due to what the T called human error related to a switch. Traffic on Huntington Avenue was at a standstill; the road was set to be shut outbound well into the night as the T works to right the trolleys and fix track damage.

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Comments

Out of curiosity, which car were they? Are the Type 8's at it again? Or were they Type 7's this time?

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Boston to a T tweets.

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Hmm, the word o'er Twitter (as well as the photos) seem to show that it was a case of simply splitting the switch. Yet, the T website states that despite running on Saturday time all Huntington service was to run through to Heath Street; so outside of a serious headway adjustment, why was this crossover even being used today?

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It was right around rush hour. Often the T will short turn trains at Brigham to keep the trains on schedule. Seems like a switch was left misalligned after such a move was done.

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and the other collided with it? Or was it a switching error?

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The inbound train started to cross over for some reason while there was an outbound train going straight.

They're calling it human error now, it seems, so it's possible that the inspector didn't secure the switch, and either it was set wrong or the point was accidentally shifted.

Either way, a basic interlocking system to control the switch and associated signals would have prevented this, by ensuring only safe paths could be setup at one time.

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