Classic Trains "Mileposts" blog by Kevin Keefe, 4/3:
Fifty years of the NTSB
In a season when everyone, it seems, has a problem with some aspect of the U.S. government, it might seem foolhardy to hold up a federal agency as an object of near-unanimous respect, even admiration.
But I’m going to do that anyway, because this week marks the 50th anniversary of the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB opened for business on April 1, 1967, after years of preparation by legions of politicians, bureaucrats, and transportation professionals, all with a goal of creating a truly independent accident investigation agency.
I don’t think there is much debate that they succeeded. Say what you will about specific accident reports or particular
NTSB conclusions, but as a whole its work is authoritative. My colleague Don Phillips, Trains columnist and transportation reporter par excellence, puts it in perspective.
“No other government agency is as close to being beloved as the NTSB,” he says. “It has no power over any form of transportation, but airlines, railroads, trucking companies, and other forms know they must pay attention to everything the NTSB says following an accident.”
SNIP
The NTSB hadn’t been functioning for long when it was obligated to investigate its first major railroad accident, a grievous wreck on the NYC on Manhattan’s upper west side.
On the beautiful morning of May 22, 1967, two NYC freight trains collided head-on near 147th Street on what was then known as the West 30th Street Branch, a line still used today by Amtrak passenger trains moving in and out of Penn Station toward Albany and the west. The toll was awful: six railroaders killed and three more injured.
More here.
NTSB Railroad Accident Report: NYC Railroad Company Head-On Collision, New York, NY May 22, 1967
