CSX coal train derails in Ellicott City, Md

[Loco421]

Feeight train derails over Main St. Bridge in Ellicott City, Md killing two teenagers who were also on bridge. One coal car fell off bridge onto parking lot, and coal dumped around surrounding area. Reported that 21 of 80 cars on the ground. The crew was not hurt.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local ... 64916.html

[Rbts Stn]

Wow.

I wonder if the derailment was due to hitting the emergency brake because of those kids.

[MBTA1016]

At least the locos didn't come off the bridge, and the train crew is ok.

[walt]

Wow.

I wonder if the derailment was due to hitting the emergency brake because of those kids.

As of 1:30pm this is not certain. Several of the Baltimore & Washington news outlets have published photos which the young ladies' had tweeted just prior to the accident, one is of their feet hanging over the bridge as they were sitting on it and the other shows a shot of downtown Ellicott City taken from the bridge. In that location, there is no room between the track and the edge of the bridge, though there IS a walkway on the other side of the tracks. The trains only do 25 MPH going through there, but I wouldn't be surprised if an emergency brake application turns out to be the cause of the derailment.--- BTW- this location is in the exact location of the first outbound terminus of the B&O railroad at Ellicott Mills ( Ellicott City).

[ThirdRail7]

For those of you who aren't familiar, it is a picturesque little area, particularly in the fall. As you approach from the general area of Catonsville by car (RTE 166 if I recall), you drop down a steep hill, make an S curve and start following a little river(Patapsco?). AT the base of this hill is the winding ROW on the other side of the river. You can see an old spur, leading to a trestle that crossed the river and serviced some sort of factory. The road makes a sharp curve and you cross the river, duck under the tracks and you enter Historic Downtown Ellicott City. To me, it is a beautiful area...an old railroad town that refuses to be killed off by the trappings of the modern suburbs. Normally, I couldn't care less about a passing train. This is one of the few areas where I'll stop and admit" well, that's just pretty," as the train goes by.

This is a terrible story for the young ladies, their families, the horrified train crew, CSX and the many mom and pop stores of Ellicott City that are already struggling to survive.

[Mike Doughney]

NTSB lead investigator is cited as saying there was no brake application before the wreck.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/pos ... _blog.html

According to Jim Southworth, NTSB’s lead investigator, there was a head-in camera on the train. The footage hasn’t been reviewed, and Southworth could not say whether the train struck the women.

It is unknown whether the train operators saw the women on the bridge, but Southworth said there is no indication that they applied the brakes.

When asked whether the women may have caused the accident, Southworth said, “This is an area that we’re looking into very closely — what the operators of the train, the engineer and the conductor, what they saw or didn’t, what the train recorder picked up.”

[davinp]

Take a look at picture 13 here:
http://www.wjla.com/pictures/2012/08/el ... -1733.html

Notice the track is bent. It doesn't say if this caused the derailment or if the derailment damaged the tracks

Those girls were trespassing on the tracks. Remember that railroad tracks are private property.
NEVER EVER walk onto train tracks. You never know when a freight train will be coming down the tracks.
Unfortunately, MD has more crossings then VA and so they have more people hit & killed by trains.

[jkovach]

The Washington Post is reporting that the derailment occurred after a brake line failed, applying the emergency brakes. They do not give a source for this information.

It is unclear whether the two women got up too late when they heard the train. But as the engines chugged over the bridge, past the station and near a sharp curve to the left, a brake line that connects each car to the next severed, and an automatic system began slamming on the brakes on each of the cars.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tra ... ml?hpid=z1

[num1hendrickfan]

The Washington Post is reporting that the derailment occurred after a brake line failed, applying the emergency brakes. They do not give a source for this information.

It is unclear whether the two women got up too late when they heard the train. But as the engines chugged over the bridge, past the station and near a sharp curve to the left, a brake line that connects each car to the next severed, and an automatic system began slamming on the brakes on each of the cars.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/tra ... ml?hpid=z1

A brake line failure does make sense, and would certainly have caused an emergency brake application to be caused. At 25 mph over a curve an emergency brake application would probably also have enough force to cause a derailment. Of course it's best to wait on what the NTSB finds out from the event recorders, which thankfully in this incident are intact.

[Mike Doughney]

Frame grab from a Baltimore Sun aerial video (below, preceded by the same area in Bing bird's eye view) shows the derailment may have been about 6 car lengths from the bridge, in the middle of a curve, one of a series of curves in that stretch of track.

[sd80mac]

the people in that building are pretty much very lucky to escape the death... cars spilled left and right and didn't even rammed into the building... I'm sure that it had apartment upstair.

I think that in one photo, shooting toward to bridge, showing a hopper car on the road, behind the bridge in good distance. so it appears that car slided past building on parking lot and into the road... or tumbled down the wall, right after it passed the building (between bldg and track).

[WSH]

Some updated info:

"Autopsies by the state medical examiner's office found the women died of accidental "compressional asphyxia," Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said. The women were not hit by the train, she said."

"Investigators have also said the train's emergency brakes were applied automatically — not by the three-man crew — but they don't know why part of the train jumped the tracks."



http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/s ... 4.htm&sc=a

[JimBoylan]

That doesn't sound like the injuries caused by leaving the bridge. Now, were their bodies found anywhere on railroad property?

[walt]

According to one report, the women's bodies were found, still seated, on the edge of the bridge, buried under the coal.

[habu]

What will CSX do with the train crew? Is the crew going to get fired or punished in any way?