Runaway Lumber Bulkhead Flat Car Hits Stopped MBTA Commuter Train Tues. PM, Injuring 150

[BaltACD]

funny nowadays that any accident that happens is because of human error. I bet that it was the car that is to blame, and that the load, wait- I Bet that the crew didn't tie down the car enough.

The reality is, that in an incident such as this, man failure is about the only possible cause....the problem in investigating this incident will, potentially, be in determining which 'man' is the failure.  Reports have stated that the car was placed in the lumber company 5 hours before the incident.  Routinely, cars that have been secured at a place for 5 hours don't start moving without something happening...the key will be in determining what that 'something' is.

[arkansasrailfan]

funny nowadays that any accident that happens is because of human error. I bet that it was the car that is to blame, and that the load, wait- I Bet that the crew didn't tie down the car enough.

[Anonymous]

I also wonder about one passenger's report of "fire outside the cars."  It was the only reference to a fire.  People see the darnedest things.

Must've hit his head really hard....

I have a lot of respect for the engineer of that train!

[BaltACD]

I just read an article stating that numerous violations of securement rules by CSX have been documented by FRA reports.  Here's the link.

http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=41181

MC is right, though--something will come out of the investigation, and everyone would be wise to wait and see.

What I find unique in the UTU issuing that news item is that they are throwing their own membership under the bus....UTU brakemen and conductors are the employees required to secure cars.  If the cars are not secured it is the UTU's members that did not do their jobs and I can guarantee you that no railroad management, CSX or otherwise, is going to instruct crews not to secure their cars and/or trains.

[CShaveRR]

I just read an article stating that numerous violations of securement rules by CSX have been documented by FRA reports.  Here's the link.

http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=41181

MC is right, though--something will come out of the investigation, and everyone would be wise to wait and see.

[BaltACD]

In about 90% or more of the incidents where a car rolls out of an industry track, the industry is responsible for the actions that caused the car to start rolling.  Industries in general figure moving rail cars around their facility require very little if any skills or knowledge.  Give the 18 year old laborer the keys to the forklift and tell him to move the rail car over there....things such as hand brakes and grades don't enter into his thinking....and it shows.  Many, many industries move rail cars around within their facilities, some go so far as to have their own locomotive, more have rubber tired 'Trackmobiles' that couple to and move cars around the facility.  Industries get in trouble when they use equipment that is not designed to move rail cars for the purpose of moving rail cars and the equipment does not have the ability to control the movement of the car/s safely.  Moving rail cars is not something for amateurs to do without equipment designed for the task.

[hrbdizzle]

MBTA engineer praised for quick thinking
CANTON, Mass. - Train engineer Ronald Gomes had 20 seconds to react as a runaway freight car came barreling around a tree-shrouded bend, down a steep grade, headed right for his locomotive and the 300 unsuspecting commuters in the cars behind him, the Boston Globe reports.
"He very well could have opted to get out of that cab and run," said Gerry DeModena, the general road foreman who oversaw Gomes's train.

Not a chance, according to those who know him. Gomes, a 61-year-old with 39 years on the rails, stood by his post Tuesday evening (March 25) and radioed for permission to reverse the MBTA commuter train. He had already stopped the Boston-to-Stoughton-bound train, responding to vague warnings from the railroad's signaling system that came in two minutes earlier.

Before he could get the train into reverse, the freight car smacked the sitting locomotive, with force great enough to knock the six-car train back 47 feet and throw Gomes "all over the cab, off the walls, all over the deck," DeModena said yesterday during a press conference and subsequent interview at South Station.

Transit police, federal investigators, and others spent yesterday trying to reconstruct the evening rush-hour crash that injured 150 people, to determine how the runaway freight car rolled nearly 3 miles from a Stoughton lumber yard, through three grade crossings, and into the southbound commuter rail train in Canton.

Some investigators interviewed employees of Cohenno Inc., the lumber yard that had received the runaway car and five others from CSX Transportation Tuesday as part of a construction materials shipment.

The freight car rolled downhill from the lumber yard to the crash site, a descent of about 100 feet, according to topographical records, giving the car plenty of momentum by the time it hit the train. An official close to the investigation said investigators do not yet know how fast the car was moving, but some estimated it was traveling at least 25 miles per hour. DeModena said it could have been going 40 miles per hour.

"The primary focus of the investigation right now is on the actions of the [Cohenno lumber yard] employees, who are not supposed to be moving freight cars," said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Investigators are also examining the hand brakes used to secure freight cars and a device on the tracks called a derail, which is intended to push runaway trains off the tracks.

Investigators have not said whether the derail malfunctioned, had been improperly set, or whether the freight car was traveling too fast out of the yard and could not be stopped.

"They have a derail . . . which obviously didn't work as intended," said George Casey, local chairman of the United Transportation Union. Casey represents the CSX conductor who delivered the lumber car to Cohenno. He said the conductor told him the two-member crew set the cars at noon and secured it.

Andrew Cohenno, whose father owns the lumber company, said his employees did not move the freight car while it was on their property, held on a railroad siding. When they saw the car roll away, they called Stoughton police.

"We're trying to help as much as we can with the investigation," Cohenno said.

It is unclear who from the company dialed 911 at 5:11 p.m.

But on a recording of the call released yesterday by the MBTA, a man identifying himself as "Cohenno Incorporated" makes several pleas to a dispatcher, to explain the problem.

"The freight car from our siding is sitting out on the commuter rail," the caller said. "We've got to somehow get the MBTA to stop the commuter rail. . . . You understand . . . we've got to notify the train to stop."

After a tense few moments, the dispatcher seemed to grasp the dilemma and hung up.

As the freight car rolled from Stoughton to Canton, it triggered sensors at Canton Center and then Canton Junction, which reached Gomes's cab in the form of a white stop light, said Stephen Urban, chief transportation officer for the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co., which runs commuter rail for the MBTA.

But such warnings are not uncommon and do not necessarily indicate a runaway train, said George Newman, chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Local 57. "It could just be a dropped circuit."

As investigators focused on what went wrong, other officials said Gomes's actions prevented the crash from being far worse. Gomes, colleagues said, is a reserved, methodical engineer who meticulously researches even the smallest personal and professional decisions before making them.

Gomes was recovering from his injuries at home in Rehoboth last night, said his niece, Mary Beth Ferreira.

She said her uncle said little about the accident except, "There was nothing he could do."

"If you'd met him, you'd know he was in the room," Ferreira said. "He's that rough and tough kind of guy, a quick thinker."

Before the crash, Gomes was at his customary post inside an 8-by-6 1/2-foot metal cab in the locomotive, filled with gauges, lights, and switches.

Although Gomes stopped the train after he was warned by a dispatcher and the warning light flashed, it was not until he saw the runaway car ahead that he knew something was very wrong. He quickly notified dispatchers.

The two conductors aboard notified as many passengers as they could, but many were standing up, getting ready to get off at Canton Junction, DeModena said.

There was no announcement over the train's intercom, said passenger Lisa Jacobs of Brockton. DeModena could not confirm that, but said it is possible the conductors were getting ready to unload passengers and did not have time to gain access to the public address system.

About five minutes after the freight car rolled out of the lumber yard, it collided with MBTA commuter train No. 917.

One passenger called 911 and said, "We've got several people with bloody noses, bruise, banged up," according a tape of the conversation.

Others at the scene reported broken arms, back pain, and other assorted injuries, none that was life-threatening.

His body bloodied, Gomes got on his radio to tell dispatchers where he was, so they could rush emergency crews to help injured passengers. Then he tried to help passengers off the train, said DeModena.

Numerous ambulances and rescuers rushed to the scene, helping to take the injured to various hospitals. There were so many injured they needed a bus.

"Who among us would have that presence of mind, that personal and professional discipline to do that?" DeModena said. "You've made the decision to sit there as this approaches you, and then [it] slams the engineer all over the cab, and then [he] gets back on [the radio] and calls."

Gomes sustained bruises on his face, shoulder, and arm and was not available for comment, said a friend at the house.

DeModena said he had spoken to him.

"I think he felt as though he personally was hit by the train," DeModena said. "He told me, in a much more humble way, 'Gerry, I did everything I could do.' "

(This item appeared March 27, 2008, in the Boston Globe.)

March 27, 2008


Sounds like the lumber yard to me, had screwed up...

[hrbdizzle]

Even with the handbrake set. If location was at grade, I have set out a badorder car before, and a single handbrake would not hold with a securement check. So I had to set out two.

Loaded lumber cars can weigh in at 60-70+ ton or better. A hand brake only exerts enough pressure on the piston as much as you can turn the wheel. My guess, car was not placed where it should have been, or a decent joint was not made with other cars at location, and It bleed off and rolled away. Failure to tie a handbrake is a chilldish mistake, and the conductor/brakeman has everything coming to him that he deserves. Everytime I set out a car,spot a set of cars, I am always worried in my mind what happens if they roll out? So i go through a checklist in my mind. Because when the day is over, I want to be clear in my mind that I did not hurt anybody due to my laziness.


Although, might be far fetched, it could have had a handbrake, and was secure, and somebody a vagrant could have kicked the brakes off. Like I said 5 hours is plenty time for the air to bleed off by itself.

Thank the lord nobody was killed in this incident. I know that I will have a debriefing of some sort about it next week with my superiors..

[mudchicken]

Awful lot of variables in play here .... Best to wait and see what the combination FRA/NTSB investigation comes up with.

[tree68]

5 hours is plenty of time for a car to bleed off by itself. If the car was spotted at the wrong spot, bleed off and gained speed, heavy cars such as loaded lumber cars, have been known to ride right over derails onto the main line..

With the handbrake set? 

[hrbdizzle]

5 hours is plenty of time for a car to bleed off by itself. If the car was spotted at the wrong spot, bleed off and gained speed, heavy cars such as loaded lumber cars, have been known to ride right over derails onto the main line..

[mudchicken]

I can think of about two dozen scenarios and none of them is "no harm-no foul ...oops" in nature.

Agree with Tree that the "safety expert" probably is not. (They are all well coached on how to talk to / deal with the [clueless] press the right way and this does not sound right...)

[tree68]

I question the unnamed "rail safety expert."  Said expert may have said that there should be chocks (and they may well have been required), but I got a call from the media after an incident here.  The local emergency management boss put them on me because he knew I knew something about railroads and worked where it all started.  In truth, I found out about the incident on the news like everyone else!

I also wonder about one passenger's report of "fire outside the cars."  It was the only reference to a fire.  People see the darnedest things.

As for the dust - you shake something hard enough and you'll get dust out of it.  No surprise there.

I'm going along with the idea that the car may have been being moved.  "That's how we've always done it...."

[ndbprr]

We had an incident in Chicago yesterday also.  Some dufus tried to beat a Metra train on the Rock Island around 106th street and didn't make it and got punted.  Then he drove off!  The train was delayed for an hour.

[mudchicken]

....And the lumber company's derail (hop-toad/flopover) was set and was the right size?

Who bled the air off? pulled the chocks? (MANDATORY placement of chocks or skates on this spur is telling)

Also curious to see the outcome....at bare minimum, I see a split-point "alligator" derail coming to the lead of a certain lumber outfit.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Links to 2 articles - read both for all the details - and an aerial photo:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/26/freight_car_rams_commuter_train_injuring_150/

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1082906&srvc=home&position=also

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO76078/

In brief: The track occupancy signal circuits apparently alerted the engineer of the commuter train in time to stop.  The investigation into the placement of the car on the lumber co.'s siding about 5 hours earlier is continuing - handbrakes, chocks, etc. 

Wonder why it sat there for 5 hours, and then decided to move - employee error ? (recall a Mud Chicken post a couple weeks ago about industries using front-end loaders to move cars often leading to runaways and heaps of wreckage, etc.) wind ?  Will be interesting to find out.

- Paul North.