Amtrak 91 - CSX Collision Cayce, SC - 2/4/18

[Wayside]

It does say that the CSX crew was present. The engineer got off the train when he saw Amtrak headed for them. He got clear. The conductor went to the rear of the lead unit and was knocked off and injured when the collision occurred.

[justalurker66]

It does say that the CSX crew was present. The engineer got off the train when he saw Amtrak headed for them. He got clear. The conductor went to the rear of the lead unit and was knocked off and injured when the collision occurred.

It was the same chronology that was given a week before. Let me fix your punctuation: "The engineer got off the train. When he saw Amtrak headed for them he got clear." (The NTSB said: "The engineer of the stopped CSX train had exited the lead locomotive before the Amtrak train entered the siding, ran to safety, and was not injured.")

So nothing new from the previously release. No information on the conversations between the CSX crew and dispatcher. (When did the conductor report clear of the main? If the conductor reported clear of the main did he explicitly state that the switch was realigned? Were there any other CSX employees on site? An earlier report mentioned a "conductor on site" - were they referring to the injured conductor of the CSX train or another conductor responsible for reporting the switch position as part of the signal suspension procedure?) Many questions remain unanswered.

[litz]

The only information we have re: the dispatcher (and dispatcher communications) is during the Q&A after the 2nd press conference (it's on the NTSB channel on YT if you want to hunt it up), the question was asked "was there anything in the Dispatcher radio communications?" and the answer was "nothing of note at this point".

That's it.

Eventually we will get full transcripts when the documentation is added to the docket. Possibly even audio/video recordings.

And the whole scenario will come clear as to where, and with whom, the error occurred.

[sullysullinburg]

This might be splitting hairs over the word choice, but why would the engineer jump out of train when saw saw another train coming on a different track? The NTSB said he saw the train coming, and before it eneteted the switch he jumped off. If you threw the switch, then you wouldn’t be worried, right?

[justalurker66]

This might be splitting hairs over the word choice, but why would the engineer jump out of train when saw saw another train coming on a different track? The NTSB said he saw the train coming, and before it eneteted the switch he jumped off. If you threw the switch, then you wouldn’t be worried, right?

The NTSB said: "The engineer of the stopped CSX train had exited the lead locomotive before the Amtrak train entered the siding, ran to safety, and was not injured."

The engineer did not jump out of the train when he saw another train coming. He was already off the train before the Amtrak entered the siding. (The conductor was still on the engine and ran to the back of the engine before being thrown clear by the impact.)

Crews jumping off of engines before impact has been reported in other incidents. In this case the engineer was already off of the train and the conductor was thrown off by the impact.

[east point]

The engineer did not jump out of the train when he saw another train coming. He was already off the train before the Amtrak entered the siding. (The conductor was still on the engine and ran to the back of the engine before being thrown clear by the impact.)

Maybe engineer was off loco and walking toward switch ?

[litz]

The engineer did not jump out of the train when he saw another train coming. He was already off the train before the Amtrak entered the siding. (The conductor was still on the engine and ran to the back of the engine before being thrown clear by the impact.)

Maybe engineer was off loco and walking toward switch ?

That's a plausible hypothesis ... but at this point it's just speculation. the investigation will tell us that, though, for sure.

As for the Conductor, what the NTSB actually said was he saw the Amtrak coming into the siding and ran to the back of the locomotive, then was thrown off by the impact (the collision shoved the CSX freight backwards some 16 feet, I think they said).

Judging by where the collision was, where the wreckage was, and the fact that he survived, he was a very, very lucky man ... the only way for that to have occurred was that he got all the way back to the rear platform, and and around the end, when the impact happened ... there's just nowhere survivable on the engineer's side of that carbody.

[David Benton]

It seems to point to a fairly tight timeframe, i.e , the freight wasn't parked up an hour or so before the crash, and left with the switch in the wrong position , they seem to be still in the process of tying up.

[litz]

We haven't seen any kind of timeline yet, but from what we've seen so far, that's probably a good hypothesis.

Until we have more facts though it's just speculation.

[Jeff Smith]

Amtrak has stopped paying medical bills: TheState.com

COLUMBIA, SC
Amtrak is refusing to pay any more for the medical bills of those injured in a February train crash in Cayce that killed two and injured 100-plus, lawyers for more than a dozen of those injured say.

"Folks that were injured, it's hard for them to get well by a specific deadline," said attorney Bob Pottroff, who said Monday that Amtrak had notified his clients that it would no longer pay medical claims as of May 1.


A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation said in February that "human error" on the part of CSX railway employees caused the crash. However, Amtrak has assumed responsibility for paying medical claims for the injured, most passengers on its train, Pottroff said.
...

[Jeff Smith]

Decision day on blame approaches: WLTX.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The National Transportation Safety Board will meet 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 23, to determine the probable cause of the Feb. 4, 2018, collision of an Amtrak passenger train and a CSX train near Cayce.
...
The meeting will be open to the public and held at the NTSB Boardroom and Conference Center in Washington, DC. The meeting will be streamed live at http://ntsb.windrosemedia.com/.

[Jeff Smith]

CSX to blame: CTPost.com[/b]

Deadly 2018 Amtrak crash caused by safety oversights, delays

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Federal safety officials ruled Tuesday yet another fatal train crash in the United States has been caused by easy-to-fix human errors.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the crash of an Amtrak train into a parked train on a side track near Columbia, South Carolina, in February 2018 was CSX's fault. The board blamed the company for failing to implement a safety plan during track upgrades and its engineer for not following specific steps including filling out paperwork to make sure he flipped a switch after parking the train to shift the tracks back to the main line.

The NTSB also ruled years of delays in implementing a safety system called Positive Train Control that would have automatically stopped the Amtrak train before it got to the switched track contributed to the wreck.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the irony of the South Carolina wreck is that to install the Positive Train Control safety system, workers had to turn off the red and green safety signals train engineers have used for decades to indicate whether train tracks have been turned off the main line.
...

[Jeff Smith]

Wow, no attempt at diversion of blame: WashingtonPost.com

The Latest: CSX agrees on blame for deadly 2018 Amtrak crash

4:30 p.m.

CSX is agreeing with federal officials who say the company and one of its train crews were responsible for an Amtrak crash that killed two people and hurt nearly 100 passengers in South Carolina in 2018.

CSX spokeswoman Cindy Schild says the company’s rules and procedures were not followed when a CSX crew parked a train on a side track near Columbia and then didn’t flip a switch to move the tracks back to the main line.

The Amtrak train then went down that side track at full speed and hit the parked train head on.

Schild said in a statement that CSX changed some of its safety procedures and in the first half of 2019 recorded the fewest train accidents over a six month period in its history.
...

[Gilbert B Norman]

Absent a finding of "gross negligence" and that the contractual provisions regarding indemnification have not changed over the past thirty years as well as resembling those in force between Amtrak and my road, self-indemnification remains in force. Therefore Amtrak is "on the hook" for both personal injuries to passengers and employees as well as repairs to equipment. CSX is of course liable for personal injury to their employees and damage to their equipment.

Since I've "been gone" since '81, there could well have been changes in this bilateral Agreement exempt from public disclosure. I certainly respect the privity of any active employee who might know of such.

[Backshophoss]

Any link to the NTSB report? or are waiting for it's release?