BOSTON — Two Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority trains collided near Newton, Mass. The National Transportation Safety Board is dispatching a Go Team to investigate the collision. NTSB Rail Investigator Wayne Workman will serve as Investigator-in-Charge and lead the 7-member team. Board Member Kitty Higgins will accompany the team and serve as spokesman for the on-scene investigation.
WASHINGTON — National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark V. Rosenker told members of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) that, while grade crossing accidents and railroad employee fatality rates have declined in the past quarter century, there is still room for improvement. Addressing rail executives at the AAR’s annual safety awards luncheon, Rosenker called upon attendees to move more quickly on safety improvements by adopting new technology, such as positive train control and electronically controlled pneumatic braking, two of the technologies that show great promise for improving safety. “As many of you know,” Rosenker stated, “I strongly believe that the
WASHINGTON — Norfolk Southern Railroad’s inadequate rail inspection and maintenance program resulted in a rail fracture from an undetected internal defect, which is to blame for an October 2006 derailment. Contributing to the accident was the Federal Railroad Administration’s inadequate oversight of the internal rail inspection process and its insufficient requirements for internal rail inspection. On Oct. 20, 2006, a Norfolk Southern freight train (68QB119), en route from the Chicago area to Sewaren, N.J., derailed while crossing the Beaver River railroad bridge in New Brighton, P.a. The train consisted of a three-unit locomotive pulling three empty freight cars and 83 tank
WASHINGTON — To increase public awareness about the causes of specific train accidents and to reduce the need for individuals to submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is for the first time making its investigation reports of major train accidents and other incidents available online, FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman announced. “There’s no reason that anyone who’s interested shouldn’t be able to find out the probable cause of a train accident,” said Boardman, explaining that formal FRA accident investigation reports generally focus on high-consequence train-to-train collisions, derailments, certain highway-rail grade crossing collisions, and all
TOLEDO, Ohio — The National Transportation Safety Board today dispatched two investigators from its Office of Railroad, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations to investigate an accident that occurred early yesterday morning at CSX’s Stanley Yard near Toledo, Ohio. A CSX Transportation employee switching rail cars on one track was seriously injured after being struck by a moving rail car on an adjacent track within Stanley Yard. Some movement activities within the rail yard are performed using Remote Control Operations technology. Jeff Leaman is the NTSB Investigator-in-Charge. — Special to 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
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
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
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
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
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