WILMINGTON, MASS. (WHDH) - The MBTA’s general manager said railroad crossing gates did not come down on time because of “human error” before a train fatally struck a motorist in Wilmington on Friday.
Police responding to reports of a crash on Middlesex Avenue near the North Wilmington Station found a inbound Haverhill Line train had struck a car, officials said. The driver, 68-year-old Roberta Sausville, of Wilmington, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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In a statement Saturday, MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said a worker for Keolis, which runs the Commuter Rail, had been performing regular testing and maintenance on the railroad’s safety system an hour before the crash, and that the safety system was not returned to normal.
“Following the testing, our preliminary finding is that the safety system was not returned to its normal operating mode. This failure resulted in the crossing gates not coming down in a timely manner as the train approached Middlesex Avenue,” Poftak said in the statement. “Investigators have not found any defects nor any other problems with the various elements that comprise the infrastructure of the railroad crossing system.”
“Human error is the primary focus of investigators from MBTA Transit Police, State Police and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office,” Poftak said.
The crash remains under investigation.
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