All - For the professional railroaders in this Group who were
wondering what caused the recent BNSF head-on collision in
Texas:
Rail News: BNSF Railway
NTSB: BNSF trains
collided after one train missed a red light
Two
BNSF Railway
Co. trains collided head-on in
Panhandle, Texas, last month after one of the trains missed a stop signal,
the
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced yesterday in a
preliminary
report.
Three crew members died when the eastbound and westbound
trains collided at 8:21 a.m. June 28 in BNSF's Panhandle Subdivision. The
collision caused the derailment of the locomotives and several cars from both
trains, and resulted in a significant fire.
Train movements in the area
are governed by signal indications of a traffic control system.
Positive train
control (PTC) was not
operating in the area at the time of the accident, but is scheduled to be
implemented by BNSF by the end of this year, the report stated.
Each
train was crewed by a locomotive engineer and a conductor. The eastbound train
consisted of three head-end locomotives, two distributive power units and 56
loaded cars. The westbound train consisted of five head-end locomotives and 54
loaded cars.
The signal system was lined to route the westbound train
into the Panhandle control point siding at milepost 536.1, while holding the
eastbound train on the main track before the east end of the siding. The
collision occurred about one-half mile east of the east switch of the Panhandle
siding, according to the report.
A preliminary review of signal event
recorder data and tests of the signal system indicated that the last signal the
eastbound train passed before the collision was a red stop signal. The previous
signal the eastbound train passed was a yellow signal.
The locomotive
event recorder data revealed that the eastbound train was traveling 62 mph when
it passed the yellow light at the west end of the Panhandle siding and about 65
mph when it passed the red light at the siding's east end.
The engineer
and conductor on the eastbound train and the conductor on the westbound train
were killed. The engineer of the westbound train jumped from the train before
the impact and survived with injuries.
BNSF estimated damages of $16
million.
Investigators completed sight distance tests of the signal
systems for both trains into the collision point and the results are being
analyzed, the NTSB said. Event and video recorders have been sent to the NTSB
labs in Washington, D.C., for further investigation.