Late Saturday morning, June 8, 2019, a single-car Green Line trolley was traveling down its usual route from Kenmore station to Fenway when it suddenly derailed. The trolley struck the side of a subway tunnel and then came to a sudden stop, throwing many passengers to the floor and resulting in the hospitalization of ten people, including the train’s operator. Authorities reported that some of the injuries from the green line accident were serious, but none were life-threatening.

The accident happened at the busy time in the city of Boston, shortly before the Red Sox were to play at Fenway and before the start of the 49th annual Boston Pride Parade. After the train’s derailment, its passengers, as well as around 500 additional passengers on trains behind the stopped trolley, were forced to evacuate through the tunnel.

The cause of the derailment, which occurred on the outbound track of the D-Line branch, remains unknown. Steve Poftak, the MBTA’s general manager, assured reporters that the MBTA will launch a comprehensive investigation to look at whether there were any problems with the train, tracks, signals, electrical systems, or human error that led to the derailment, and per standard procedure, the train’s operator will be interviewed and undergo drug and alcohol testing.

Massachusetts residents are no strangers to the problems of the MBTA transit system. The last derailment on the Green Line occurred on February 5, 2019, during the championship parade for the New England Patriots (the cause for which is still pending investigation), and the MBTA was reported to have the highest number of derailments in the nation in 2015 and 2016.

Railroad liability cases are unique and notoriously complex, as has been noted in previous blogs, and they require careful handling. SUGARMAN’s experienced personal injury attorneys have extensive knowledge of the intricacies of cases against railroad companies such as Amtrak and the MBTA, and have litigated many such cases. If you or a loved one has been a victim of a railroad accident, call us for a consultation at (617) 542-1000 or email info@sugarman.com.