The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recently leased a report on the head-on collision of an Amtrak train with a stationary CSX Transportation local freight train in Cayce, South Carolina on Feb. 4.
Shortly before the collision, the Amtrak train diverted from the main track through a hand-thrown switch into a siding. Two crew members died, and 92 passengers and crewmembers received medical treatment. No one on the CSX train was seriously injured.
A traffic control system with wayside signals indicating authorized movement in either direction is installed on the track. On Feb. 3, however, CSX signal personnel were installing components for implementing positive train control and suspended the traffic control signal system.
The suspension was scheduled to last until the next day, and during the suspension, dispatchers would use track warrants to move trains through absolute blocks.
The NTSB examined the accident scene and downloaded data from the event data recorder and its video recorder hard drive.
For this information, the NTSB discovered that the Amtrak train was moving at 56 miles per hour seconds before the collision. The train’s horn blew, and brake pipe pressure was applied. The emergency brake was applied a few seconds later. The braking efforts only slowed the train to 50 miles per hour.