Amtrak passenger train collides with freight train in SC, injuries reported

[mobeau69]

Source: ABC News

An Amtrak passenger train collided with a freight train in South Carolina early Sunday morning, causing injuries, the national passenger railroad service said.

Amtrak said in a statement, "Amtrak Train 91, operating between New York and Miami, came in contact with a CSX freight train at around 2:35 am in Cayce, South Carolina."

The statement continued, "The lead engine derailed, as well as some passenger cars. There were 8 crew members and approximately 139 passengers, with injuries reported. Local authorities are on the scene responding. More information will be provided as available."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/amtrak-passenger-train-collides-freight-train-sc-injuries/story?id=52826058

[mobeau69]

1. 2 killed, 50+ injured. n/t

CNN just changed it to 2 dead.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Good morning, and thanks. I just heard this on the 6:00 a.m. ABC radio news.

Last edited Mon Feb 5, 2018, 04:23 PM - Edit history (7)

There's not much yet at Trainorders:

Passenger Trains > Amtrak #91 collison, possible sideswipe w CSX, Columbia, SC

For some reason, the OP links to two British newspapers. One reply links to NBC.

The newspaper in Columbia:

The State

https://twitter.com/thestate

https://www.facebook.com/thestatenews

The newspaper in Charleston:

https://www.postandcourier.com/

https://twitter.com/postandcourier

Retweeted by the Post and Courier: https://twitter.com/postandcourier

Live update on Lexington County train collision: 2 dead, 70+ injured. Shelter opened. No word if both trains were moving at time of crash.

Link to tweet

https://twitter.com/AndyShain

Columbia Bureau Chief @postandcourier. Philly bred-Southern cured. Gooner. Board @scfathers. [e-mail]

Also nearby:

The Greensboro News & Record:

http://www.greensboro.com/

https://twitter.com/NewsandRecord

https://www.facebook.com/newsandrecord/

The Raleigh News & Observer:

http://www.newsobserver.com/

https://twitter.com/newsobserver

Many AP reports will be originating from writers at these three papers.

Hat tip, Good Morning America: the Lexington County Sheriff's Department Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/LCSD_News

Via that account, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division's Twitter feed:

Media briefing at 6:30 A.M. with @LCSD_News & @CountyLex regarding train incident in Pine Ridge, S.C. Media staging area at SCEMD, 2779 Fish Hatchery Road, West Columbia, SC 29172 http://scemd.org @lex #alert

Link to tweet

Sorry, I'm on a really slow connection this morning.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. WaPo breaking article

At least 2 dead after Amtrak train collides with freight train in South Carolina

By Alisa Tang February 4 at 6:14 AM

An Amtrak train operating between New York and Miami collided with a CSX freight train and derailed near Columbia, S.C., leaving at least two dead and more than 50 injured, police and Amtrak officials said.

The accident occurred at 2:35 a.m. in Cayce, S.C., causing the lead engine and “some passenger cars” to derail, Amtrak said in an emailed statement. There were eight crew members and approximately 139 passengers, and injuries were reported, Amtrak said.

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department tweeted a photo of emergency vehicles at the scene.

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/02/04/at-least-2-dead-after-amtrak-train-collides-with-freight-train-in-south-carolina/?utm_term=.71bb83f2a683&wpisrc=al_news__alert-national&wpmk=1

[MBS]

4. we need to separate passenger tracks from freight tracks.

that's number 1 and it's way, way overdue.
And improve the safety warning systems. (Just implementing fully the systems that were already mandated would be a welcome start).
And improve the tracks themselves.

Way, way, overdue, and it's a disgrace that we continue to lag behind other countries in modernizing this important transportation system.

[marybourg]

9. Remember these publican memes from

a few years ago?: We don't want to pay taxes. We each know how we want to spend our own money.
Well, I guess none of us decided to spend our own money on train safety.

[MBS]

12. The Reubs have a bizarre antipathy to rail transportation in particular.

I've have wondered if they WANT Amtrak to have lots of accidents so that they can stop supporting it entirely. Trains not use enough fossil fuel for their taste.

[marybourg]

17. Mass transportation is lib'rul, don'cha know.

Real 'Muricans drive their own cars (virtual horses).

[brooklynite]

22. Sp being money had nothing to do with it...

CSX dispatching put the train on the same track as the oncoming Freight.

[inwiththenew]

5. At this rate it is going to be news when an Amtrak train arrives without crashing

They've had a bad run of luck.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Republicans, moving our infrastructure forward to the 1870's...

[LiberalArkie]

7. Who put the CSX and Amtrak on the same set of tracks?

Someone did not switch one of the trains onto the other set of rails.

[marybourg]

11. Amtrak shares tracks with freight carriers.

That's how it was set up, and that's how it has always been.

[LiberalArkie]

16. Yep, but that does not mean the exact same point of time.

Someone did not switch the tracks to let the Amtrak to go around the freight train. There are 4 sets of track there.

[R B Garr]

26. Yup, Amtrak was on a hot track and didn't know it. nt

[LiberalArkie]

20. Found out who..

Richard Anderson, Amtrak CEO and president, told CNN's Rene Marsh that the signal system along the section of track where the crash occurred was down and the tracks were being manually controlled by CSX.

He said the CSX dispatch center directed the Amtrak train to the track where the derailment happened. Anderson said the CSX dispatch center was manually directing the Amtrak train via telephone communications.

According to Anderson, CSX has complete control of the tracks, signals and switches in the area where the crash happened.



https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/04/us/amtrak-south-carolina-crash/index.html

[kimbutgar]

8. I seem to remember in the new tax scam they cut funding of amtrak

Who could have ever imagined more crash would start occurring.

[csziggy]

13. The Amtrak Silver Star 91 was the train I took 9 November 2016

We left from Alexandria, Virginia in the afternoon. Sometime in the middle of the night the train engine broke down. We waited at a small station in North Carolina in the mountains for a freight engine and crew to get the train farther along. They sent the train to Sanford, Florida, to get a faster Amtrak engine but we arrived in Lakeland, Florida, nine hours after the scheduled time.

Between that and the short bunks, my husband does not ever want to take another train trip. I enjoyed the trip, even with the delays, but I guess any long train trip I take will be alone.

[dlk]

14. Our Infrastructure is Crumbling

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. Here are two more threads from Trainorders:

Last edited Mon Feb 5, 2018, 12:28 PM - Edit history (2)

Passenger Trains > CSX maintainers had been working at Amtrak wreck site

Passenger Trains > UPDATE: Silver Star fatalities were Amtrak employees

[Cold War Spook]

18. Can't wait

for the bullet train.

[LanternWaste]

24. It's safety record is indeed, much better than conventional rail.

It's safety record is indeed, much better than conventional rail.

[LenaBaby61]

19. I'm looking for ...

Fatso-in-chief and thuglicans to get RID of Amtrak.

[Eugene]

21. South Carolina train crash: Amtrak 'on the wrong track'

Source: BBC

South Carolina train crash: Amtrak 'on the wrong track'

4 February 2018

An Amtrak train involved in a deadly crash with a stationary freight train in South Carolina appeared to be on the wrong track, the state governor says.

Officials will investigate whether points in the area misdirected the passenger train.

The Amtrak's engineer and conductor died and 116 people were injured in the crash early on Sunday.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said the incident should "begin a conversation" about rail safety.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42938148

[mahatmakanejeeves]

23. Link to an article at Trains magazine and at The State:

Last edited Mon Feb 5, 2018, 04:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Hat tip, commenter Robyn Watt at Joe.My.God, who, I gather, is a railfan who grew up a few miles from where the collision occurred: http://www.joemygod.com/2018/02/04/south-carolina-least-two-dead-dozens-injured-amtrak-collision-freight-train-video/

UPDATE: NTSB: Misaligned switch directed 'Silver Star' into parked CSX autorack train

By R G Edmonson, Steve Sweeney | February 4, 2018

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The head of the National Transportation Safety Board says a misaligned switch is the immediate reason Amtrak’s southbound Silver Star collided with a parked CSX Transportation freight train early Sunday, killing two people and injuring dozens. Investigators say they’ll now try and find out why the switch was misaligned.

NTSB Chariman Robert L. Sumwalt III told media in a Sunday afternoon news conference that a manual switch was aligned and locked in position for a siding off the CSX Transportation main line near Cayce, S.C. The alignment led the New York City to Miami Silver Star into a CSX autorack train that was parked on a siding.

One locomotive and seven passenger cars collided with the freight train of 34 empty autoracks and two locomotives. The allowable maximum speed for the main line in the area is 59 mph. Eight Amtrak employees were on the train at the time, and 116 of 136 passengers were treated for injuries. There is no information on whether a CSX crew was present.

Officials identified the victims as engineer Michael Kempf, 54, of Savannah, Ga., and conductor Michael Cella, 36, of Jacksonville, Fla.

ETA, 3:24 p.m.:

Fatal train crash puts spotlight on CSX railroad crew

2:35 PM

[Rollo]

25. According to this link, the switch that sent the Amtrack train down the wrong track was padlocked...

... in the wrong position. Apparently that is SOP, but whoever threw the switch and locked it, failed to switch it back and relock it.

I hope the investigators got prints off that padlock, unless the employee who threw it comes forward.

Also the system that monitors train positions etc was down for maintenance and the train routing was being handled by telephone communications.

What a royal fuck up. Our train infrastructure is shithole quality.