News: Railroad Employee and FELA

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Train Illegally Boarded and Stopped

Three transients boarded a locomotive hauling hazardous materials and went on a dangerous ride in Colorado, authorities said.

The three blew the train’s horn and triggered the emergency brakes, bringing the train to a halt in a western Colorado canyon. Fortunately, no damage or injuries were reported in the incident. Officials said that activating the brakes could have caused a derailment.

The Garfield County Sheriff’s Department and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway say the three boarded an unoccupied “helper” locomotive at the rear of the eastbound train.

The BNSF train crew called authorities who found the transients had locked themselves in the cab of the locomotive. Deputies opened the cab with the help of the crew and arrested the three.

The train held general freight including hazardous materials and was heading from Provo, Utah to Amarillo, Texas.

Interestingly, a spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF railroad, Steven Forsberg, said he wasn’t sure what sort of hazardous material the train was carrying.

FRA Report Says Human Error Caused Train Crash

Human error caused a freight train collision and derailment near Dresbach, Minnesota, according to the Federal Railroad Commission. The crash resulted in injuries to the engineer and conductor, derailed 26 cars, and sent a locomotive into the Mississippi River. The damage was estimated at more than $1.5 million.

The FRA report says that a Canadian Pacific Railroad freight train did not comply with a stop signal. It then crashed into another, larger, Canadian Pacific Railroad train.

Canadian Pacific Railroad spokesman Mike LoVecchio said the company has no comment until a full report is released.

According to the FRA, human error was the leading cause of train crashes in 2008.

Train Rolls Through Fatality Investigation

A fatal rollover had occurred at about 2:15 a.m. near Lolita, Texas. The driver of a 2005 Nissan Exterra, Roland Canchola of Victoria, apparently did not stop at the intersection of Farm Road and went into a ditch. He was ejected and both he and the Exterra came to rest on the railroad tracks.

Upon arriving at the scene to investigate, Department of Safety Trooper Jeannie Slovacek asked that all train traffic be stopped because the victim and vehicle were on the railroad tracks. However, at around 4:00 a.m., a train came through, sounding its horn, and causing officials and emergency personnel to scatter for safety. The Texas Department of Transportation is investigating the incident.

BNSF Train Crash in Tacoma, Washington - Engineer Injured

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad spokesman said the engineer was treated for bumps and bruises at a Tacoma hospital after a low speed collision in a Tacoma rail yard. A reported 1,500 gallons of locomotive diesel fuel were spilled in the incident. One locomotive derailed in the accident, which occurred in a switching yard near the Tacoma Dome.

Gus Melonas of BNSF said the diesel fuel spill was contained and cleaned up without environmental damage.

Phineas Gage: Famous Railroad Worker Brain Injury Case

Phineas Gage was the foreman of a railroad construction crew in 1848, using powder to blast rock. As he was packing powder and sand into a hole in rock, the powder exploded, launching the 13-pound tamper through his cheek and completely out of the top of his head, landing some 25 to 30 yards away.

Though most of the front of the left side of his brain was destroyed, he lost consciousness only momentarily and made a full physical recovery over the following 10 weeks. His personality, however, was irreversibly altered. Gage had previously been an intelligent and even-tempered worker. He became irreverent, profane, obstinate, capricious and ill-tempered. His friends said he was “no longer Gage.”

Gage’s case influenced beliefs about the localization of functions of the brain, and was perhaps the first to tie specific behavioral attributes to particular parts of the brain. His case has subsequently been the subject of many books and scholarly papers.

Gage was never able to return to work for the railroad. He spent some time at P.T. Barnum’s American Museum in New York City. He also made appearances in several large cities in New England. He later found work in a livery. In February 1860, Gage began to suffer a series of increasingly severe seizures, and died in May of that year.

Derailment Kills Two

Two employees of the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad Corporation died in a train derailment in Bettendorf, Iowa the early morning of July 14. One of the deceased men is the twenty seven year-old conductor, Andrew Reed. Reed was based out of Savanna, Illinois.

At the request of the family, authorities are not releasing the name of the locomotive engineer. He, too, was based out of Savanna.

A spokesman for the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad said the train was comprised of two locomotives and eighty three cars. The engineer and conductor were in the lead locomotive at the time of the derailment.

The train was southbound when it crashed into some stationary cars near the State Street Crossing. Emergency response crews did contain a small diesel leak. Most of the railroad cars were empty.

Declining to respond to questions about the speed of the train and the focus of the investigation, railroad spokesman Jeff Johnson said the focus on Tuesday is with family and friends of the men who died.

Railroad Worker Killed at Crossing

A CSX railroad worker was killed Monday, May 11, 2009 as he worked to repair damage to warning lights from an accident earlier in the day. The name of the 53 year-old man has not been released pending notification of his family. He was killed at 3:58 p.m. at Big Oak and Township Line roads in Middletown, when a tractor-trailer hit him while making a very sharp right turn, said Middletown Officer Mark McLeod. CSX workers in the same crew did not see the accident because they were working farther down the tracks in Lower Makefield, McLeod said.

The officer stated that the intersection has been the scene of many accidents. For safety reasons, the train crossing light poles were moved back four feet off the road years ago.

The CSX railroad worker was wearing all the proper safety clothing, including his white helmet and there were orange cones in the area where he was working, according to McLeod. ''The driver saw him, but didn't realize he had hit him. He did stop and is very shaken up. It is a tragic situation,'' said McLeod.

Earlier in the day at 8:25 a.m., another large truck made a similar turn at the same intersection and tore down most of the lights and gate that stops traffic when a train approaches. McLeod said the driver stopped immediately. Perhaps these trucks should not be permitted to use the road or intersection. Two trucks in one day hitting a pole four feet off the road is unusual.

The driver of the truck that killed the CSX railroad worker is a 56 year-old New Jersey resident. He was taken for a drug test, which police described as routine in a fatal crash.

The crash forced the closure of a portion of Big Oak Road to Oxford Valley Road, which is known for long waits at the traffic signal at rush hour. Fire police from the Yardley-Lower Makefield Fire Co. directed traffic as police investigated the accident.

Officials said the victim suffered massive chest and leg injuries.