System designed to keep Green Line trolleys from plowing into each other is finally under contract, but still years away

Green Line crashes successful 2008 and 2009 - 1 fatal - dilatory spurred the MBTA to prosecute contractors to equip the nation's oldest subway enactment with a strategy that would automatically brake trolleys whose operators tally reddish lights oregon look astir to smash into different trolley and who disregard audible alarms to stop.

But the German institution hired successful May, 2020 to physique retired the Green Line Train Protection System has yet to person the required waiver to usage a peculiar vigor frequency from the Federal Communications Commission - which lone received announcement from the T past period that it backs the $170-million project. The task is based connected recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board successful 2009.

Until the FCC waiver comes, enactment can't commencement to instal the instrumentality some on Green Line tracks and connected the trolleys to marque the strategy operational.

Under a docket approved past year, installation of track-side instrumentality was to statesman this year, with investigating successful 2022, immoderate existent usage successful 2023 and each trains moving nether the caller strategy successful 2025.

Along the tracks, a contractor would instal sensors that would trigger an on-train strategy that would dependable an audible alarm if a operator were to spell past a reddish awesome oregon failed to dilatory down due to the fact that of a velocity simplification on a peculiar stretch. If the trolley kept going, the strategy would past halt the train.

In its petition to the FCC to o.k. the strategy projected by BBR Verkehrstechnik, the T acknowledged that coming up with a solution for the NTSB's 2009 proposal that the T bash thing to halt trolleys from colliding - which came aft a akin 2008 proposal - "has taken rather a while" but urged the FCC to enactment rapidly "based connected the criticality of addressing this information recommendation."

What got the T to reasoning astir a strategy analogous to the ones agelong successful usage connected the Red, Blue and Orange lines and installed successful caller years on commuter lines, were 2 peculiar crashes: One connected the D Line successful Waban successful 2008 that killed the operator who deed different trolley stopped for a reddish awesome aft she went into what national investigators called "micro-sleep" and a clang successful the passageway adjacent Government Center successful 2009 caused by a trolley operator excessively engaged texting his woman to announcement the reddish awesome helium blew by.

The crashes caused dozens of rider injuries and millions of dollars successful trolley damage.

In its reports connected some incidents, the NTSB urged the T to instal a "positive bid power system" that mightiness person prevented further crashes, specified arsenic a 2012 crash astatine Boylston that injured respective twelve riders and was caused by a operator who hadn't gotten immoderate slumber aft getting disconnected a 2nd occupation overnight earlier the clang - and, possibly, today's B Line crash.