MBTA Makes Safety Changes After Deadly Crash At Wilmington Rail Crossing
WILMINGTON (CBS) – The MBTA is making safety changes after a deadly crash at a train crossing in Wilmington last month.
Keolis, the company hired by the MBTA to operate the Commuter Rail, has retrained all signal maintainers on the process of performing regular testing of railroad crossing systems.
After maintenance is completed, Commuter Rail dispatchers will check with workers to make sure that crossing gates are functioning. Signal maintainers must also stay at a crossing after maintenance to visually verify that the gates are working.
In January, a 68-year-old woman was hit and killed by a Commuter Rail train when the crossing arms failed to come down at the Middlesex Avenue crossing. A Keolis worker was placed on leave after the crash.
The MBTA said the Keolis worker was doing maintenance on the crossing gate system before the crash and never turned the system back on. MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said "human error" is the primary focus of the investigation.