Friday, December 28, 2007 11:08 PM CST
Norfolk Southern conducting investigation of derailment
By HUEY FREEMAN, Staff Writer
hfreeman@herald-review.com
MONTICELLO — Crews worked through the night and into Friday, repairing the railroad tracks on the south side of town, where 30 cars of a mile-long train derailed early Thursday morning.
Norfolk Southern Corp. is conducting an investigation into the cause of the derailment, which interrupted power to about 1,900 customers in Monticello and nearby communities.
Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern spokesman, said the company is examining the condition of the track at the time of the accident, the condition of the train and how the train was being handled.
The engine’s data recorder will reveal the speed at which the train was traveling. The speed limit at that point is 50 mph.
There were no injuries in the accident, which occurred in a mixed-use area containing industrial plants and homes. The train carried two crew members.
Several of the derailed cars crashed into power poles carrying transmission lines, causing the outages, which lasted about 3¼ hours for some of the AmerenIP customers.
Husband said the north-south track was expected to be fully restored Friday.
Some of the empty grain cars rested on their sides at the edge of a farm field Friday afternoon, just west of the railroad embankment. A company specializing in railroad emergencies had cleared away the cars that blocked the tracks. Apparently the rain and mud delayed efforts to reach some of the cars in the field.
The railroad is required to file a report on the cause of the accident by Jan. 30. The railroad is examining the engine’s data recorder, which contains information, including speed of the train.
Warren Flatau, Federal Railroad Administration spokesman, said most derailments are caused by track conditions. Other factors, such as the speed of the train, could play a role.
“Typically, railroads set their timetable at just under the permissible track speed,” Flatau said.
The Railroad Administration received word of the derailment early Thursday, and decided not to perform its own investigation at this time, Flatau said.
“A determination was made to gather preliminary information, but we weren’t going to do anything further,” Flatau said.
An investigation could be conducted later, depending on the report filed by the railroad, he said.
“There was nothing that warranted a full-blown investigation,” Flatau said, adding the railroad oversight agency tends to investigate major incidents, especially involving deaths and injuries.
Flatau said railroads are required to inspect tracks regularly, with different guidelines depending on the loads carried and whether the tracks run through rural or urban settings. In many cases, companies will inspect tracks more regularly than guidelines mandate.
Husband said Norfolk Southern has been inspecting the Monticello track at least twice each week.
A train derailment is an unusual event in Monticello.
Max Olson, Piatt County Board president, said the only other derailment he recalls occurred in the 1940s, at the Park Road overpass, overlooking the Pioneer Cemetery.
“One car went off the bank,” Olson said. “It hit close to the street.”
Olson said he is curious about the cause of the accident, especially if it was something that was preventable.
He said he believes the railroad does its best to maintain its equipment. He has noticed increased train traffic in the county, particularly in Bement.
Stephen Rittenhouse, Bement mayor and fire chief, said 70 to 80 trains run through the small town some days, sometimes an eastbound running past a westbound.
He recalled that there was a derailment in Bement recently, which also had damage limited to the train cars and track. On Oct. 11, 2006, four cars on an eastbound Norfolk Southern train derailed while traveling from Bement Elevator to main eastbound track, as a result of widening tracks from missing or defective crossties.
Rittenhouse said a derailment in Bement could be disastrous, as the tracks run past the water plant, water tower, several houses and the business district. The railroad has an excellent safety record for many years, but it always poses a threat.
“If you live by a railroad, anything’s possible,” Rittenhouse said. “Most everything here was built later than the railroad was here. If you’re going to live by a hazard the chance is always there.”
Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.
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