Western Railroad Discussion > Freight Trains Collide in New Mexico

Unfortunate story. Will be interesting to see what the investigation finds as the story unfolds. 

http://krqe.com/2015/04/28/trains-crash-near-roswell-old-dexter-highway-closed/

That's the Southwestern Railroad of The Western Group, on an ex-AT&SF line from Clovis to Carlsbad.  Sad to hear.

mapboy

Not good..

An unfortunate event, sorry to hear of this.  NTSB is enroute:NTSB Investigates Freight Train Accident in New Mexico  April 28, 2015
WASHINGTON -- The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a go-team to investigate today’s head-on collision between two freight trains near Roswell, New Mexico.

NTSB investigator Ted Turpin is leading the team as investigator-in-charge. NTSB Board Member Earl Weener is accompanying the team and will serve as the principal spokesman during the on-scene phase of the investigation.

Public Affairs Officer Terry Williams will also be on-scene in New Mexico to coordinate media-related activities. He can be reached at terry.williams@ntsb.gov or by mobile phone at 202-557-1350. The team will arrive in New Mexico this afternoon.
###

Aerial photo from KOB-TV:

http://www.kob.com/kobtvimages/repository/2015-04/traincrash.JPG

Next to Roswell??? Aliens?

Let the speculation commence....

It appears a wide open area and if on an unsignaled shortline, perhaps a misaligned switch.   Hope the crew is ok - relatively speaking.

Location of collision:

33.270091° N, -104.425465° W

The collision occurred shortly after dawn around 6:15 a.m.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/15 12:56 by Cumbresfan.

Looks like maybe there was a siding there? I see lots of extra track yet the mainline rails look intact.

Dave Toussaint
Riverside, CA
SoCalRailFan.com

Cumbresfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Location of collision:
>
> 33.270091° N, -104.425465° W
>
> The collision occurred shortly after dawn around
> 6:15 a.m., which should tell us armchair
> investigators something.

Which puts it right at the switch just south of Vista Largo Rd. I expect to have this investigation "in the can" on Trainorders by sundown today!

Bob

Local video here:

http://krqe.com/2015/04/28/trains-crash-near-roswell-old-dexter-highway-closed/

Southbound on the main, northbound on the siding



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/15 12:17 by Cumbresfan.

Channel 4 in ABQ has the story update. Only one train, southbound was occupied, which switched onto the siding and hit an unoccupied standing train (or cars) at speed. Unclear if there were two sets of engines (total eleven from video), but if only one, the cab of the southernmost one (which has been completely destroyed as seen in KRQE video) would account for the casualties. The cabs of the other engines look intact.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3779485.shtml?cat=500



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/15 12:56 by Cumbresfan.

Seriously, it's not good:

"One person was killed and another injured after a freight train carrying non-hazardous materials crashed into a stationary train between Midway and Dexter early Tuesday, according to the general manager of Southwestern Railroad.

The crash took place near State Road 2 and Vista Largo Road around 6:15 a.m...."

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3779485.shtml?cat=500#.VUAA5WNTdyI

One rule in unsignaled territory is all trains approaching any mainline switch must proceed prepared to stop short of that switch until it can be seen that switch is indeed lined for their movement.

This is a very common rules compliance situation for trainmasters and road foremen based on my experiences.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

chuchubobnv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Which puts it right at the switch just south of
> Vista Largo Rd. I expect to have this
> investigation "in the can" on Trainorders by
> sundown today!
>
> Bob

BEFORE sundown!!!!

If my speculative instincts are correct, it wouldn't be the first time that someone has forgotten to return a switch to the normal position lined for main track movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnOKIkhwPuA

Graniteville, SC also comes to mind:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graniteville,_South_Carolina,_train_crash

If it turns out to be the case, expect a plethora of new rules from the FRA regarding main track switches in dark territory.

Here's some websites regarding the carrier involved:

http://www.thewesterngroup.net/        date of website: 2009
http://www.southwesternrr.com/         date of website: 2015
http://www.westernrailroadbuilders.com/

Between this incident and the mishap that occurred on November 30, 2013 near Bayard, NM that killed three people, the FRA / NTSB may be looking at this entire operation under an extra powerful microscope.  



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/15 22:25 by CA_Sou_MA_Agent.

Not speculating on what actually happened, but they don't need any more rules about reversed switches.  What they need is compliance with existing rules.  Clearly, the only thing that can stop accidents due to open switches is SIGNALS.  If they can make PTC work on dark track, and if the PTC can detech reversed switches, that would work too.

Barry Draper

Already have rules based on FRA Emergency Order 24. Crew leaving train would have to log times that the switch was opened and closed and report clear. Is this TWC territory.

Posted from Android

Condolences to the family of the deceased engineer, Mr Coburn, and hopes for a speedy recovery to the second crew member

Not anymore.

fbe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One rule in unsignaled territory is all trains
> approaching any mainline switch must proceed
> prepared to stop short of that switch until it can
> be seen that switch is indeed lined for their
> movement.
>
> This is a very common rules compliance situation
> for trainmasters and road foremen based on my
> experiences.
>
> Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

Posted from Android

DG .
Unknown, US

fbe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One rule in unsignaled territory is all trains
> approaching any mainline switch must proceed
> prepared to stop short of that switch until it can
> be seen that switch is indeed lined for their
> movement.

That is incorrect unless this is in a yard or in yard limits territory.  In a dark territory mainline/siding situation the requirement is for the siding switch to be left lined for the main track.  Whenever a crew uses a mainline switch they have to brief with the dispatcher regarding the position the switch was left in, and if the crew left that switch open for any reason and they tell the dispatcher about it, then that dispatcher will include that information on the next train's track warrant.

Without a line on their warrant telling them that a specific mainline switch is open that crew has absolutely no reason or requirement to expect that switch to be open, and can proceed at track speed.  This leaves three likely options as the primary cause (Although we know the NTSB will delve much deaper to determine exactly how that error happened).

Option 1 (Northbound crew's fault):  The crew which parked the northbound train on the siding opened the switch and did not close it for whatever reason, but failed to report this fact to the dispatcher.  As a result the information was never communicated to the southbound train and they had no expectation that the switch was open.  Given the exact location, if this is determined to be the cause I wouldn't be surprised if somebody accidentally opened the switch while thinking they were actually closing it (Thus why you're supposed to check the switch before and after you line it.  This is much more likely if you have multiple people handling the switches).

Option 2 (Dispatcher's fault):  The crew which parked the northbound train on the siding opened the switch and did not close it for whatever reason, but did follow through and report that fact to the dispatcher.  Then for whatever reason the dispatcher subsequently failed to provide this information to the southbond train on their track warrant and they had no expectation that the switch was open.

Option 3 (Southbound crew's fault):  The crew which parked the northbound train on the siding opened the switch but did not close it for whatever reason, but did follow through and report that fact to the dispatcher.  The dispatcher then reported the open switch to the southbound crew on their track warrant, but for some reason the crew on the train forgot about the open switch and operated the train as though it was lined for them.

Then, this being the railroad, weird things can happen.  There is always a possibility that something else happened;  These are just the most likely probably causes.