Railway accident at Chase

Aerial photo of the scene of the accident (from the NTSB)

The Chase railway accident was a rear-end collision between a passenger train and a locomotive train that had run over a stop signal . The accident occurred on January 4, 1987, the Northeast Corridor of the United States near the town of Chase in eastern Baltimore County of Maryland . 16 people died on the Amtrak train.

initial situation

Railway infrastructure

the later scene of the accident from the driver's cab view

The northeast corridor between Washington DC and New York City is largely four- pronged, and is often wider near cities. However, a number of bridges still come from earlier expansion stages of the line and these are only double-tracked. At the corresponding crossings, the outer tracks flow into the middle, continuous tracks . These are used for high-speed traffic in the northeast corridor and are therefore electrified , while the outer ones are not. They are mainly used by freight trains hauled by diesel locomotives . This state of the railway infrastructure also existed at the bridge at Chase, with which the railway line is led over the Gunpowder River .

Conrail locomotive train

On January 4, 1987, one approached around noon Lokzug the railway company Conrail bridge on the outer track on its way from Conrail- depot Bayview in Baltimore for marshalling yard Enola in Harrisburg . This locomotive train consisted of three diesel-electric locomotives of the GE B36-7 series , which were equipped with the classic Pulse Code Cab Signaling (4-aspect system). The buzzer, which warned in the driver's cab when the train was approaching a signal indicating a stop, was covered with adhesive tape so that it was significantly quieter and almost inaudible at high speeds. The train was traveling at around 100 km / h (around 60 mph). The leading locomotive was manned by a driver and an assistant. They had failed to check that the instruments were working properly before they left, and both had smoked marijuana .

Amtrak passenger train

Also coming from the south was the regional express No. 94 of the Amtrak , Colonial (today: Northeast Regional ) railway company . He came from Washington Union Station and went to Boston . The last time he had stopped at Pennsylvania Station in Baltimore , the next stop should have been Wilmington , Delaware . The train consisted of two EMD AEM-7 locomotives and 16 passenger cars . When approaching the bridge at Chase, the decisive signal for this train for the continuous track was set to “free travel” and the train was traveling at the maximum speed of 190 km / h (120 mph).

the accident

As the train approached the bridge, its driver and assistant ignored the distant signal , which pointed to the main signal indicating the stop . The train went on at undiminished speed. When the train crossed the main signal to stop, an emergency brake was triggered. However, the slip path here was not long enough to prevent the locomotive train from driving over the connecting switch onto the continuous middle track, which happened directly in front of the approaching Amtrak train. The passenger train hit the locomotive at 13:04. Since both were driving in the same direction, this happened with a differential speed of “only” 174 km / h (108 mph). This was the most momentous accident to date to an Amtrak train. The course of this accident is very similar to the 1990 Rüsselsheim railway accident .

consequences

Immediate consequences

The leading locomotive of the Amtrak train was completely destroyed, with up to three cars lying on top of each other. The engine driver , a train attendant and 14 passengers on the Amtrak train died, 175 others were injured. Most passengers died in the first car. The front cars of the train were only sparsely occupied. Most of the more than 600 travelers seated further back survived. Parts of the train caught fire.

The rescue operations took place under the difficult conditions of extreme cold. It took almost ten hours to get everyone out of the rubble. Some uninjured travelers probably ran away in shock, so that the exact number of people on the train could not be determined.

Criminal consequences

The two men on the Conrail locomotive were immediately suspended by the company and left the company before the in-house inspection was complete.

They were charged with manslaughter by the Maryland District Attorney . The next man made a procedural arrangement with the public prosecutor and testified against the engine driver in court. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and another year on probation . A second charge of false testimony and drug driving was brought by the federal prosecutor's office at the instigation of its railroad inspectorate, the National Transportation Safety Board . It resulted in a second conviction, an additional three years' imprisonment. The engine driver had previously become suspicious of drug offenses. He was released after serving four years and has worked as an addiction counselor ever since .

Technical consequences

As a consequence of the accident, all locomotives traveling on the north-east corridor were equipped with a speed monitor (Locomotive Speed Limiter - LSL), a device that uses a computer to monitor the maximum speed and the braking curve on the way between the main signal showing the front and the stopping point. Freight trains in the north-east corridor are now generally limited to 80 km / h (50 mph) by the LSL. The Chase rail accident was also a reason why the United States Congress passed the 1991 Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act. It allows engine drivers to be tested for drug use regardless of suspicion. The train driver of the Conrail train himself advocated this in the hearing on the legislative procedure before the parliamentary committee and pointed out that drug abuse was widespread among train drivers.

39.376388888889 -76.356944444444Coordinates: 39 ° 22 ′ 35 ″ N , 76 ° 21 ′ 25 ″ W.