In The News

Train safety order issued

Railroads must improve track switch procedures

By RICK BRUNDRETT
Staff Writer, The State
October 21, 2005

FEDERAL DEADLINE

The nation’s railroads have 30 days to improve procedures for operating manual track switches under an emergency order announced by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta.

Citing nine serious train wrecks nationwide this year on tracks with manual switches — including the Jan. 6 Graniteville crash that killed nine people — Mineta said railroads "must put an end to these avoidable and deadly mistakes."

The Federal Railroad Administration order requires railroads to retrain and periodically test employees on switch operating procedures and to increase communication among crew members regarding switch positions.

Railroads, supervisors or workers who don’t comply with the order by Nov. 22 face civil penalties up to $27,000.

Steve Seeling — father of 28-year-old Christopher Seeling of West Columbia, a Norfolk Southern engineer killed in the Graniteville wreck — said Thursday the order doesn’t go far enough.

"You can have all the rules and regulations and sign-off sheets ... but you’re still going to have human error."

Seeling said the problem is manual switches are located in "dark territories," areas without electronic warning signals. Manual switches should be equipped with electronic signals that warn approaching trains when switches are improperly set, or train speeds should be lowered in those areas, he said.

Warren Flatau, a Federal Railroad Administration spokesman, said Thursday his agency has no plans to require railroads to install warning signals in dark territories.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys and experts have said warning signals could have prevented Christopher Seeling’s 42-car freight train from entering a side track at Avondale Mills and slamming into a parked Norfolk Southern train.

Deadly chlorine was released from a ruptured tank on the moving train, killing Seeling, six Avondale Mills workers and two others. Graniteville was evacuated for more than a week.

Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay declined comment Thursday on the emergency order, saying the railroad was reviewing it. After the wreck, the railroad fired the three-man crew of the parked train.

Peggy Wilhide, a spokeswoman for the Association of American Railroads, said the latest order is "basically the institutionalization" of a safety advisory issued shortly after the Graniteville wreck. Member railroads have complied with that advisory, she said.

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