From the Jacksonville Business Journal:
Incorrect information from CSX employee led to Sunday's fatal crash
The National Transportation Safety Board on site investigating Amtrak's deadly collision with a parked CSX freight train.
Incorrect information from a CSX Corp. employee at the site of Sunday's deadly Amtrak train crash led to the accident, according to CSX records and a source.
A signal system that would have warned the Amtrak train that it was being sent onto the wrong track was shut off at the time of a crash Sunday that killed two people — including Orange Park resident Michael Cella — and injured 116.The system in the area was being upgraded and the signals were shut down as of 8 a.m. Saturday, according to CSX documents obtained by the Jacksonville Business Journal.
According to safety procedures during such a situation, an on-site employee is responsible for making sure the switch that directs a train to a particular track is in in the proper position. This switch was not, however.
Shortly before the 2:35 a.m. crash, Amtrak 91 stopped five miles before the site of the collision and waited for a go-ahead from a CSX dispatcher, per CSX protocol when a signaling system is being worked on, CSX documents show.
After the CSX conductor on site told a dispatcher that the switch was properly aligned, the dispatcher gave the go-ahead for the Amtrak train, which was carrying 139 passengers and eight crew members bound from New York to Miami, to proceed.
However, CSX had earlier backed a freight train from the main track onto the siding, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said during a news conference.
"The switch was left in a position to line up for this siding," Sumwalt said. "We want to understand exactly why that's the case."
From the train’s last stop, the maximum speed reached 57 mph. The track speed, under signal suspension rules, is 59 mph. About 7 seconds before the end of the recording, the train’s horn was activated for three seconds. Speed was 56 mph.
— NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) February 5, 2018The misaligned switch sent Amtrak's train directly into the parked CSX freight train, train F77703. The switch was padlocked in place when investigators arrived, Sumwalt said.
The distance from the switch to the site of the crash was 659 feet.
Seven seconds before the crash, the Amtrak train sounded its horn for three seconds, according to the train's event data recorder.
Five seconds before the crash, the Amtrak train started braking.
Three seconds before the crash, the Amtrak engineer hit the mushroom-shaped emergency brake, slowing the train down to 50 mph.
The head-to-head impact pushed the parked CSX train back 15 feet.
NTSB investigators have interviewed the dispatcher as well as the CSX conductor, engineer and train master and plan to remain onsite this week. The organization will release a preliminary report a few weeks after investigators return to NTSB headquarters.
