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Silver Star (91) vs Freight Train in Cayce, SC; 2 Fatalities 2/4/18


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#11 CNJRoss

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Posted 04 February 2018 - 08:46 PM

The above CBS news article and photo seem to validate Gov. McMaster's statement. 

 

The NTSB has already said the Amtrak train went through an open track switch.  Was this switch under dispatcher control?  If dispatcher controlled, had the switch failed and it was opened manually (with or without dispatcher authority)?  Was is inadvertently left open?  The questions go on and on.

 

I've seen some 'railfan' reports that CSX maintainers had been working in the area.  Add that to a statement that the signal system was "down for maintenance."  

 

A signal system failure should have resulted in trains treating the first failed signal as though it displayed its most restrictive aspect.  This is usually (but not always) stop.  A train could then be given authority to travel at 'restricted speed.'  I'm not sure which rules are in effect at this location. 

 

Here's a "typical" restricted speed definition from the General Code of Operating Rules 7th edition:

 

Movement at Restricted Speed

 

When required to move at restricted speed, movement must be made at a speed that allows stopping within
half the range of vision short of:

• Train.
• Engine.
• Railroad car.
• Men or equipment fouling the track.
• Stop signal.
or
• Derail or switch lined improperly.

 

When a train or engine is required to move at restricted speed, the crew must keep a lookout for broken rail
and not exceed 20 MPH.

 

 

If the system is out of service for maintenance, an alternate train control system could be authorized.  Any of these would likely have resulted in reduction in maximum authorized track speed, but not as slow as restricted speed.

 

I don't have any problem with the conductor being in the cab, although it is unusual in passenger operations.  The conductor is the operating crew member responsible for safe operation of the train.  Train operation is the conductor's primary duty; everything else is secondary.  If there was work in the area, he may have chosen to ride in the cab to assist the engineer is maintaining safe operation.  The engineer may have asked the conductor to join him in the cab.  However, any speed faster than restricted speed would make it impossible to stop short of the misaligned switch.

 

I think this is going to be a "messy' investigation.  I see a huge number of questions to answer.  The NTSB has its work cut out on this one.

 

Ross



#12 CNJRoss

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Posted 04 February 2018 - 09:02 PM

The Hill, Washington, DC 2/4/18:

NTSB: Train safety feature could have prevented S.C. train collision

 

 

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Sunday that the correct implementation of a key train safety feature could have prevented the early morning Amtrak crash in South Carolina.

 

Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at a press conference that the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC), which automatically decreases the speed of a train traveling over the limit, could have prevented the collision that left two people dead and dozens of others injured.

 

Railroads have until the end of 2018 to enact the costly safety feature, which lawmakers typically push for following deadly crashes. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who sits on the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, advocated on Sunday for the implementation of PTC following reports of the crash. 

 

"America’s railroads must be made safer. Proven technology like Positive Train Control cannot continue to be delayed," Blumenthal wrote on Twitter. "On safety, business as usual must end."

 

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#13 CNJRoss

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Posted 04 February 2018 - 09:18 PM

The State, Columbia, SC 2/4/18:

Amtrak train crash that killed 2 in SC could have been avoided, NTSB chief says

 

 

A railroad switch that was apparently locked in the wrong position is being blamed by federal investigators for a train collision early Sunday that killed two people and injured up to 116 others near Cayce.

 

Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Sunday afternoon that there’s no evidence of foul play, although the FBI is assisting in the investigation.

 

Sumwalt said the accident could have been avoided if a federal safety system, under consideration for years, had been in place. The system is supposed to slow down trains when a problem lies ahead on a track. He called the damage to the trains “catastrophic.’’

 

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#14 CNJRoss

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Posted 04 February 2018 - 11:11 PM

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt's 1st Media Briefing in Cayce, SC

 

NTSBgov

 

Published on Feb 4, 2018

 

Accident description begins at 6:55.



#15 CNJRoss

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Posted 04 February 2018 - 11:46 PM

NTSB B-Roll of Cayce, SC Amtrak Accident Site

 

NTSBgov

Published on Feb 4, 2018

 



#16 KevinKorell

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Posted 05 February 2018 - 11:47 AM

The State, Columbia, SC, 2/5/18:

 

 

Amtrak engineer had been ‘voicing concerns about getting killed’

 

 

One of two Amtrak staffers killed in Sunday’s crash had told his brother he worried about dying in a wreck on the rails.


 

Article



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#17 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 February 2018 - 09:40 PM

Full Remarks: Feb. 5 NTSB Press Conference on Cayce Amtrak Crash

 

SouthCarolinaETV

 

Published on Feb 5, 2018

 

Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, gave reporters more details Monday on the tragic collision of an Amtrak train and a CSX freight train that left two dead and more than 100 injured on Sunday.

 

The Miami-bound train crash killed Michael Cella and Michael Kempf, the train's conductor and engineer.

 

Preliminary findings of the investigation point to human error as the main culprit of the crash since an improperly set CSX switch sent the train speeding down a separate side track into a parked freight train.

 

A data recorder, recovered from the Amtrak train, illustrated the frantic final seconds before the train hit the stationary freight train at 50 m.p.h. Sunday just after 2:30 a.m.

 

Chairman Sumwalt's briefing today is enlightening. 

 

The signal system was out of service while being upgraded for PTC.   The train was operating under 'Track Warrant Control'  which explains the conductor riding in the cab.  The second person is needed to copy (and repeat) track warrants as they are issued by the dispatcher.  If the engineer was alone in the cab the train would have to be stopped each time a warrant was being issued.

 

-Ross



#18 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 February 2018 - 07:59 AM

CNN 2/5/18:

Investigators are piecing together details of deadly Amtrak train crash

 

 

(CNN) - An Amtrak train inadvertently diverted to a side track traveled for 659 feet before colliding head-on Sunday with a freight train at 50 mph in South Carolina, federal officials said Monday.

 

The crash pushed the unmanned freight train back about 15 feet, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters.

 

Two Amtrak employees were killed and more than 100 people injured when the Amtrak train collided with the stationary CSX freight train around 2:35 a.m.

 

The passenger train's engineer sounded the horn and seconds later slammed on the emergency brake before the crash, said Sumwalt, who revealed details of the first day of the investigation, including preliminary information from the Amtrak train's event data recorder, which was recovered intact.

 



#19 KevinKorell

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Posted 06 February 2018 - 12:07 PM

Daily News, New York, NY, 2/6/18:

 


 

Mother of slain Amtrak engineer says he was shaken by accident year earlier 

 

 

The engineer killed in Sunday’s Amtrak crash in South Carolina was shaken by a previous accident and sought help, his relatives claim.

 

 

Story



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#20 KevinKorell

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Posted 06 February 2018 - 12:15 PM

WAVY-TV, Channel 10 in Portsmouth, VA, 2/5/18:

 


 

 

Perquimans Co. family was on Amtrak train that crashed, derailed

 

 

A local North Carolina family is recalling a train crash that killed two and injured many others in South Carolina.

 

 

Story



Kevin Korell


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