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NTSB_logoThe recent spate of accidents in the U.S. and Canada involving trains carrying crude oil demonstrates that “far too often, safety has been compromised,” the head of the top U.S. transportation safety agency said today.

The amount of crude oil transported on railroads — shipments that frequently pass through the Chicago area — has more than quadrupled since 2005, and some of it is especially volatile, said National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman.

Read the complete story at the Chicago Tribune.

Visibility was 10 miles and the morning sun had pushed the temperature close to 90 as Danny Joe Hall guided his mile-long Union Pacific freight train east through the grasslands of the Oklahoma Panhandle. Near the farming town of Goodwell, federal investigators said, the 56-year-old engineer sped through a series of yellow and red signals warning him to slow down and stop for a Los Angeles-bound train moving slowly onto a side track.

The 83-mph collision killed Hall and two crewmen. Dozens of freight cars derailed, and the resulting inferno sent towers of black smoke over the plains, prompting the evacuation of a nearby trailer park. As it turned out, Hall was colorblind. The National Transportation Safety Board’s subsequent probe of the June 2012 wreck faulted the engineer’s deteriorating eyesight and inadequate medical screening that failed to fully evaluate his vision problems.

But the Goodwell crash underscored a far larger concern: Railroads are the only mode of U.S. commercial transportation without national requirements for thorough, regular health screenings to identify worker ailments and medications that could compromise public safety.

 Read more from the Los Angeles Times.

CHICAGO – An emergency track-side braking system activated but failed to stop a Chicago commuter train from jumping the tracks and barreling to the top of an escalator at O’Hare International Airport, a federal investigator said Tuesday.

The events that led to Monday’s accident, which occurred around 3 a.m. and injured more than 30 passengers, might have begun with the train operator dozing off toward the end of her shift, according the union representing transit workers. But Tuesday’s announcement that a piece of emergency safety equipment might have failed was the first indication the accident could have been caused by human error and mechanical failure.

Read the complete story at the Associated Press.

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Hersman

ITASCA, Ill. – The National Safety Council (NSC) announced March 11 the appointment of Deborah A.P. Hersman as the president and CEO of the 100-year-old organization chartered by Congress to prevent unintentional injury and death. Hersman, who is currently the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), will be joining NSC at its headquarters in Itasca, Ill., in suburban Chicago.

“Debbie is a recognized leader in safety, with a frontline understanding of the value of protecting human life through thoughtful attention and management of risk,” said Jeff Woodbury, chairman of NSC board of directors. “Her proven leadership and expertise made her the ideal candidate to take the Council successfully into its second century.”

Hersman is acknowledged as a visionary and passionate safety leader who advocates for safety across all modes of transportation. At NTSB, the preeminent accident investigation organization, she has been on-scene for more than 20 major transportation accidents, chaired scores of NTSB hearings, forums and events, and regularly testifies before Congress.

Hersman was first appointed as a NTSB board member by President George Bush in 2004 and was reappointed to two additional five-year terms by President Barack Obama in 2009 and 2013. She was appointed chairman by President Obama in 2009, 2011 and 2013, with unanimous Senate confirmation votes. Previously, Hersman was a senior advisor to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation from 1999-2004 and served as staff director and senior legislative aide to former U.S. Rep. Bob Wise (D.-W.Va.) from 1992-1999.

Hersman has appeared at past United Transportation Union regional meetings as a guest speaker.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead an organization dedicated to saving lives and preventing injuries,” said Deborah Hersman. “The National Safety Council vision of ‘making our world safer’ has the potential to improve every workplace, every community and the way we travel every day.”

oil-train-railThe National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day public forum next month on the safety of moving crude oil and ethanol by rail, the agency said Thursday.

The NTSB has been warning for years that a common type of railroad tank car, known as the DOT-111, was not suitable for transporting flammable liquids and cited its tendency to puncture or rupture easily in derailments.

Read the complete story at The Modesto Bee.

 

The SMART Transportation Division Transportation Safety Team (TST) is comprised of 21 members of the SMART TD, each of whom is on call 24 hours a day to assist in determining the facts in rail-related accidents.

The team members are selected by the SMART Transportation Division president based upon their knowledge of operating rules and understanding of general railroad operations, train movements and dispatching. Each member receives extensive training from the National Transportation Safety Board.

When a major rail accident occurs, the TST coordinator immediately assigns one or more TST members, who immediately depart for the scene. The coordinator also notifies the SMART TD general chairpersons in the region and the respective state legislative director, as well the NTSB. TST members assist the NTSB in ascertaining factual data relating to the accident.

Transportation Safety Team members also assist NTSB investigators in locating crew members and others familiar with the territory where the accident occurred, as well as operating rules in force, the motive power, equipment and signal systems in use, and characteristics of track and rail operation.

When a serious rail accident occurs, and the NTSB launches an investigation, the team’s chairperson/coordinator assigns one or more TST members, who immediately depart for the scene. The chairperson/coordinator also notifies SMART TD general chairpersons in the region and the respective state legislative director.

The NTSB is a congressionally created fact-finding body, with no regulatory authority. SMART TD Transportation Safety Team members walk a very narrow line. Their role is to assist NTSB investigators as requested. Two of their toughest responsibilities are never to speculate and always to keep their lips sealed. 

From experience, NTSB investigators and safety team members know first-hand that with facts, the devil is in the details. Initial eyewitness reports often are incomplete or even incorrect. Even after the NTSB conducts exhaustive interviews with those involved and those who may have witnessed an accident, facts often are cloudy. Evidence must be collected and laboratory tests conducted.

It can be weeks and even months before the NTSB has enough evidence to reach a determination as to cause. When the NTSB does reach a determination as to the probable cause of an accident, it generally makes recommendations for new safety regulations and laws. In fact, 85 percent of NTSB recommendations result in new federal guidelines, regulations and laws.

The Transportation Safety Team also performs another important service of direct benefit to SMART members. A SMART member involved in an accident can demand that a safety team member or union officer be present during questioning to serve as a witness to what was said.

Transportation Safety Team members can also assist SMART members in ensuring that a SMART TD officer is present should railroad officials seek to question a SMART TD member – and that railroad officials not violate terms of the UTU/SMART TD contract with that carrier.

The Transportation Safety Team should not be confused with the three-person SMART TD Transportation Safety Task Force, which is chaired by Georgia State Legislative Director Matt Campbell. Its role is to craft, in conjunction with the FRA, an action plan to reduce rail-employee risk while on the job.

NTSB_logoThe National Transportation Safety Board Jan. 23 issued a series of recommendations (see Safety Recommendation Letters R-14-001-003 and R-14-004-006) to the Department of Transportation to address the safety risk of transporting crude oil by rail. In an unprecedented move, the NTSB is issuing these recommendations in coordination with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

Crude oil shipments by rail have increased by over 400 percent since 2005, according to the Association of American Railroad’s Annual Report of Hazardous Materials. The NTSB is concerned that major loss of life, property damage and environmental consequences can occur when large volumes of crude oil or other flammable liquids are transported on a single train involved in an accident, as seen in the Lac Megantic, Quebec, accident, as well as several accidents the NTSB has investigated in the U.S.

“The large-scale shipment of crude oil by rail simply didn’t exist ten years ago, and our safety regulations need to catch up with this new reality,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “While this energy boom is good for business, the people and the environment along rail corridors must be protected from harm.”

The NTSB issued three recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the first would require expanded hazardous materials route planning for railroads to avoid populated and other sensitive areas.

The second recommendation to FRA and PHMSA is to develop an audit program to ensure rail carriers that carry petroleum products have adequate response capabilities to address worst-case discharges of the entire quantity of product carried on a train.

The third recommendation is to audit shippers and rail carriers to ensure that they are properly classifying hazardous materials in transportation and that they have adequate safety and security plans in place.

The NTSB has investigated accidents involving flammable liquids being transported in DOT-111 tank cars, including the Dec. 30, 2013, derailment in Casselton, ND, and the June 19, 2009, derailment in Cherry Valley, IL. After the Cherry Valley accident, the NTSB issued several safety recommendations to PHMSA regarding the inadequate design and poor performance of the DOT-111 tank cars. The recommendations include making the tank head and shell more puncture resistant and requiring that bottom outlet valves remain closed during accidents. Although PHMSA initiated rulemaking to address the safety issue; it has not issued any new rules.

“If unit trains of flammable liquids are going to be part of our nation’s energy future, we need to make sure the hazardous materials classification is accurate, the route is well planned, and the tank cars are as robust as possible,” Hersman said.

The NTSB and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada issued these important safety recommendations jointly because railroad companies routinely operate crude oil unit trains in both countries and across the U.S-Canada border.

Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger responded to the NTSB’s recommendations around the safe movement of energy products by rail saying, “AAR is in full agreement with the safety boards’ recommendations today, as they align with our previous calls for increased federal tank car safety standards as well as the work the industry is undertaking with our customers and the Administration in an environment of shared responsibility for the safe movement of America’s energy products. Through these efforts and more, railroads are doing all they can to make a safe rail network even safer.”

 

Last month, a Metro-North Railroad train plunged off the track while taking a sharp curve at 82 miles per hour, killing four and seriously injuring 20. In the aftermath, some experts said the disastrous results could have been prevented by positive train control (PTC). An automatic braking system built to slow down dangerous trains, PTC has been available since 1990. But the lifesaving tech remains widely unadopted.

“The Metro-North accident claimed four lives,” says Robert Sumwalt, a vice chairman at the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB). “We looked at the situation and said, had PTC been implemented, it would have prevented the accident, more than likely.”

Read the complete story at Popular Mechanics.

NTSB_logoWASHINGTON – The National Transportation Board today released its preliminary report in the Dec. 30, 2013, derailment, collision, fire and explosion that occurred near Fargo, N.D. A BNSF train carrying crude oil struck a derailed BNSF train on a parallel track that was carrying grain.

The full report can be found here.

 

NTSB_logoWASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board’s go-team will leave New York City this week after completing the necessary on-scene investigative work into the cause of the derailment of a Metro-North passenger train on Dec. 1. The NTSB will continue to gather factual information and investigators will return to New York as needed for follow-up work.

The following investigative update is provided regarding the Dec. 1 derailment:

Over the weekend, investigators completed the mechanical inspection of the train and found no anomalies. As stated last week, there were also no anomalies found with the tracks or with the signal system. Investigators examined car 6222, the lead car in which the engineer controlled the train. The “dead-man” switch, a foot-pedal on the floor of the cab that must be depressed to keep the train moving was evaluated. The pedal moved and released as expected. No anomalies were noted. In addition, the control key switch worked as designed. The team also conducted a site/distance test and found no problems with visibility.

As a result, at this time, the NTSB believes that if positive train control technology was installed on this line and train, it would have required the engineer to slow the train to an appropriate speed or stop the train in the event the engineer did not do so, likely preventing the derailment. The NTSB has been advocating for PTC for more than 20 years and it is on its Most Wanted List of transportation improvements. More information can be found at http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/mwl8_2012.html.

Investigators completed interviews with all crew members. All have been cooperative and forthcoming. All said it was a normal run until shortly before the derailment sequence.

Investigators are still awaiting results of crew drug tests and cellphone records.

Investigators also interviewed the engineer of a train that passed the accident train, 8808, near Riverton at about 7:11 a.m. That engineer said the headlight on train 8808 was on high and the engineer did not dim his light as is required by Metro-North.

Mechanical examinations, such as shop testing of the of dead-man switch, inspection and testing of speed sensors and tachometer rings, the brake control unit, and the propulsion controller from the control car have been completed. No anomalies were found.

Ongoing activities include interviews with passengers, Metro-North employees who were riding on the accident train and first responders. Records continue to be gathered.

Investigators will also take 3-D scans of the damaged cars and locomotive for use in a digital accident re-creation and for detailed measurements.

The NTSB would also like to talk to passengers on the train that derailed to learn about what they experienced and causes of injury. Our goal is to ultimately make future improvements in the design of passenger rail cars.

Passengers on Metro-North train 8808 on Dec. 1 can contact the NTSB by email at eyewitnessreport@ntsb.gov.