Freight Trains Crash in South Carolina

From ABC NEWS (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=389006)

GRANITEVILLE, S.C. Jan 6, 2005 — Two trains collided here Thursday morning, spilling a hazardous chemical and sending dozens of people to decontamination sites.

Two Norfolk Southern freight trains collided about 2:30 a.m. EST, Aiken County sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank said.

One of the cars struck a tree, knocked it onto a car and trapped a woman inside for about two hours, Frank said. The woman was removed and taken to a hospital for treatment.

There was no immediate word on the number of people injured or the number of people exposed to chemicals.

Here is some more information.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/06/train. ... index.html
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/NAJL10603.htm
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According to a report on NPR, a switch on the main was somehow lined for a spur to a textile mill, and a through freight ran onto the spur and hit the local that was presumably parked for the night on the spur.

My heart goes out to the engineer's family and the others who died in what sounds like a preventable accident.

This from the MSNBC web site.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6795389/

steamboy wrote:My heart goes out to the engineer's family and the others who died in what sounds like a preventable accident.

All accidents are "preventable" according to the railroad. I'm sure the crew will get blamed for it regardless of whos fault it really was.

You could be in management!

"You could be in management!"

Not sure if that was a slam or not, Santa Fe.

My comment was based on RDG's post about the possible cause being a mis-aligned switch. Most accidents are preventable, some are not. I was merely expressing my sympathy for those involved.

And no, I'm not in "management". I'm retired military and hopefully starting a conductor trainee job with a short line in the near future.

what is the signal system down there? CTC?

MBTA, that is what I was wondering. Is it dark territory?

Sounds like dark territory. Either 1) the switch was accidently left lined by the local crew or 2) they were instructed to leave the switch lined by dispatch and the dispatcher forgot to give the crew proper instructions on their track warrant. Signals in ABS anc CTC would have been against the train on the main.

My prayers are with the crew and the families of the crew that were involved in this accident. This highlights the need for all Class I's to put the shareholders on notice that they are going to divert some of the mass profits to upgrading their signal structure. For what NS will pay in fines, cleanup and damages and attorney fees from the law suits, they could have up-graded many miles of track to ABS,CTC. If many more of these happen, the carriers are going to find Congress regulating that haz. mat. can oly be carried in CTC/ABS territory. Granted, CTC is not the be all end all in accident prevention, but it would have meant that the crew would have had to intentionally ignored at least two yellow and a red block before they hit the train on the siding.

Too bad the carriers are placing profits above crew lives and the public's safety. They don't think twice about upgrading engines with equipment that allows them to down load the latest event recorder via satellite to test engineers, but they'll be damned if they are going to do any more than they have to to protect the public.

With a hand-thrown switch mis-aligned on a main, I too would assume it was dark territory.

Not what I needed to see on the news just before going to work.

My heart goes out to all the victim's familes.

keep asking, keep learning
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELVIS

I just saw video of the derailment aftermath from the air. It looked like a terrible wreck and i hope that everyone in that area is doing ok and hopefully no more people will be injured by the release of the chemicals. And my prayers go out to the crews and their familes.

TerryC wrote:What locomotives were destroyed?

I am sure this info will come about in the days to come, but 8 people were killed and a few hundred others injured..........that sorta thing is not that important right now.

Just saw on the local news station here in Boston that NS has announced they will issue $100 Wal-Mart gift cards to each resident that had to evacuate so they can buy essentials while they are in shelters.

Most are not expected to be allowed back into their homes until Tuesday at the earliest.

Message to NS's lawyers and accountants:
Get the checkbooks ready ladies & gentlemen, I reckon this one's gonna cost ya!