BOSTON -- Federal officials will look into all possible causes of a collision between two Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority trolleys that killed a young operator, including a report that the woman may have been on a cell phone at the time of the crash, officials said Thursday.

Terrese Edmonds, 24, was killed when the trains crashed near an MBTA station in Newton, Mass. Officials will look at the equipment, train tracks and signals and operations as part of the investigation, but a full report could take up to 18 months, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

VIDEO: Victim's Family Mourns Operator

During a briefing Thursday afternoon, federal officials were asked to comment on a report that cell phone use may have played a role in the crash.

"I've heard something about that, but we don't know -- again we are just beginning to look at this. We will look at everything. I just heard that someone said there was a cell phone. That is part of the information that is out there. I don't know if it is accurate. Our investigators have not interviewed anybody but it is one of the things we look at in every investigation," National Transportation Safety Board Member Kitty Higgins said.

NewsCenter 5 has learned that investigators are analyzing cell phones found near the driver in the wreckage.

It took rescue crews several hours to extract Edmonds' body from the wreckage near the Brae Burn County Club golf course after the trains collided at about 6:10 p.m. Wednesday.

There were about 180 to 200 passengers on the trains at the time of the collision. In addition to the fatality, seven people were injured. One passenger was air lifted to a Boston hospital, and the other six were treated at local hospitals, National Transportation Safety Board Member Kitty Higgins said.

"As I understand, the speed limit in this area is 40 mph," Higgins said. "Operators respond to signals. Their job is to look at the signals at the side of the track and respond as appropriate. We will interview the crew of the first train, and there was a second person on the accident in the striking train. We will look at their training and their experience."

Higgins said that officials would be looking at information investigators hope to obtain from the wheels of the trolleys.

"There is data that we think we can get from the cars related to the wheels of the cars -- but there is not a black box or an event data recorder, as we are familiar with in aircrafts," she said.

"There's no speculation as to what might be the cause. We're going to leave that to the experts who come on the scene as we reconstruct what happened," MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas said.

Leon Edmonds, Edmonds' brother, said that he could not believe his sister is gone.

"I love her. She just makes everything around brighten up when she comes around," he said. "She waited for a long time -- a couple of years -- for the job, and she finally got it. She was so happy."

Neighbors said that they are shocked that the crash they saw on television involved a woman they've known all their lives.

"She was always smiling. She never had anything bad to say. She is a lovely girl. When she got that job she was so happy. When I saw her with that jacket, I said, 'You go girl. I am so happy for you,'" neighbor Lorraine Marshall said.

Police released a Newton resident's frantic 911 call to police, which detailed the moments after the crash.

"Two trains are smashed together," the caller said. "People are very hurt. I can see that one train's on fire," the caller said.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said that training for a trolley operator involves a 7-week program, which includes classroom and trolley instruction.

"New hires are instructed in all facets of train operation, including defensive driving," Pesaturo said in a statement. "Near the end of the program, new hires must pass tests that evaluate them on the knowledge of signals, switches, safety rules/regs, operations procedures and defensive driving techniques."

If the new employee passes the test, he or she spends three days with an experienced, qualified trolley operator followed by a final day of classroom instruction, he said.

The crash had an effect on the commute Thursday, as thousands of passengers were shuttled on buses from the Riverside MBTA station to Newton Highlands.

"I would hope that we would be able to get regular trolley service back. We still have to wait to get that second trolley off the tracks. We are hoping to be able to move it today," Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen said.

Passengers arriving at MBTA stations on Thursday morning said that their hearts went out to the victim's family.

"It's really, really sad. I don't know what the problem was. It seemed to be a relatively young driver," passenger Ken McIntosh said.