NTSB – Page 10 – Railfanning.org

NTSB: 2007 Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority Rail Accident Was Failure to Provide Signal Protection for Track Maintenance Workers

March 18, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of the collision involving a Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority train with a maintenance truck in Woburn, Mass., was the failure of the train dispatcher to maintain blocking that provided signal protection for the track segment occupied by the maintenance-of-way work crew, and the failure of the work crew to apply a shunting device that would have provided redundant signal protection for their track segment. “This tragic accident occurred because several employees of the railroad failed to do a very important part of their job,” NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker

Rosenker Stresses the Need for Sleep During Sleep Awareness Week

March 5, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said the occasion of National Sleep Awareness Week (March 3-9) should remind operators of vehicles in all modes of transportation about the inherent dangers of fatigue. “The Safety Board is very concerned about reducing accidents and incidents caused by human fatigue,” Rosenker said. “We have seen numerous accidents where human fatigue was the probable cause or a contributing factor.” Fatigue has been on the Board’s Most Wanted List of safety improvements since the list’s inception in 1990. Throughout its 41-year history, the NTSB has seen the issue of fatigue reoccur

NTSB: Inadequate Procedures and Safeguards Contributed to Two Fatal WMATA Accidents

January 23, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board is calling on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to tighten rules governing wayside worker safety following a pair of Metrorail accidents that resulted in three employee fatalities. “The safety provisions that are in place are understandably geared to the thousands of the daily Metro commuters,” said NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker. “However, we also need to make sure that the same attention to safety is established for employees who service and maintain the track, signals, and railcars for the Metro system.” On May 14, 2006, a southbound WMATA Metrorail Red Line

NTSB to Discuss Two Fatal Subway Accidents

January 17, 2008 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public Board meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 23) regarding two fatal Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail accidents. The incidents happened within six months of one another that involved wayside workers. On May 14, 2006, a southbound WMATA Metrorail Red Line subway train struck and killed a Metrorail employee as the train was about to enter the Dupont Circle station in Washington, D. C. The employee was an automatic train control system mechanic who had been working with two other mechanics at the interlocking just north of the Dupont Circle

Amtrak Train Speeding at Time of Derailment

December 3, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

CHICAGO — An Amtrak train that crashed into the rear end of a Norfolk Southern freight train last week was speeding, the NTSB said. Amtrak’s Pere Marquette was traveling 40 mph when it should have been traveling 15 mph Though the speed limit is usually 79 mph along that stretch of track, the Amtrak should have slowed to 15 mph because of a signal. “Part of our investigation is to figure out why that signal was not obeyed,” The Associated Press quoted NTSB Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt as saying. “We’re not here to point fingers,” Sumwalt said, according to The

Chicago Derailment Under Investigation

December 1, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

CHICAGO — The National Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a Go Team to investigate yesterday’s collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Norfolk Southern freight train on NS tracks south of Chicago. NTSB Rail Investigator Ted Turpin will serve as Investigator-in-Charge and lead the 7-member team. Vice Chairman Robert Sumwalt will accompany the team and serve as spokesman for the on-scene investigation. At the time of the crash, there were 187 passengers and six employees on board the Amtrak train. Most passengers and crew members were unhurt and were later transported to Amtrak Chicago Union Station and on to

NTSB Hands Down Three Recommendations in 2006 Derailment

November 27, 2007 Todd DeFeo

The National Transportation Safety Board this week handed down a trio of recommendations in response to a January 2006 Norfolk Southern derailment that injured three people and caused more than $5 million in property damage. First, the NTSB recommended that Class I Railroads “modify, as necessary, your initial and recurrent training and operating rules to emphasize to your employees and the crews of other railroads operating on your territory that any signal that appears to display extra lighted aspects in a signal head should be treated as an improperly or imperfectly displayed signal.” Next, the NTSB recommended that Norfolk Southern

NTSB to Release Two Factual Reports on D.C. Subway Accidents

October 23, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

As part of its continuing investigations into two metrorail accidents the National Transportation Safety Board will open public dockets and release a series of factual reports on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007, at 11:00 am. The two docket items are: About 10:16 a.m. on Sunday, May 14, 2006, a southbound Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail Red Line subway train struck and fatally injured a Metrorail employee as the train was about to enter the Dupont Circle station in Washington, D.C. The fatally injured employee was an automatic train control system mechanic who had been working with two other mechanics

House Approves Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007

October 17, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The House voted 377-38 to approve the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2007. HR 2095 will reauthorize the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and improve the safety of our Nation’s railroads. In addition to authorizing $1.1 billion over the next four years, the bill imposes new work rules that require longer rest periods and work shifts for rail workers that generally cannot exceed 12 hours; and it increases the number of rail safety inspection and enforcement personnel. “A comparison of the modes is revealing,” Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., said. “A commercial airline pilot … can work up

NTSB: Mechanical Problems Led to WMATA Derailment

October 16, 2007 Railfanning.org News Wire

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board has found that mechanical problems led to a subway derailment in Washington, DC earlier this year that injured 23 passengers. The Board said that the probable cause of the derailment of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) train was a wheel climb on a car as it traversed a standard turnout near the Mt. Vernon Square station. The wheel climb was initiated by a rough wheel surface created during maintenance, the Board determined. The accident was also caused by the lack of quality control measures to ensure that wheel surfaces were smoothed