International Railroad Discussion > Brazil: Runaway Train + Massive Derailment

MRS Logística suffered a runaway train which, in the end, resulted in the collision with another MRS freight train, causing a massive derailment. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

From a friend in Brazil:

"The train was going uphill and stalled inside a tunnel. The engineer following the standard procedure applied emergency brake, hand brakes on several cars and uncoupled the engines and moved out of the tunnel."

"Some time later the cars and the helper engine simple started going downhill and later hit a another train that was approaching a siding."

"The engineer on the train that was hit communicated the dispatcher that he was approaching a yellow light and suddenly the light became red and in seconds he started hearing on the radio about the runaway, so he stopped and jumped from the train."

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Messy!

Tom Y

That's a real pile up, thank goodness no one was injured, I guess the investigation will look at precisely what the driver of the stalled train did, mind you if it was in a tunnel he may have been working in pretty intolerable conditions.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/14 13:53 by 86235.

How do you say "Oh ----!!!" in Portugese?

This looks like it was a Iron ore train so I wonder if it is a private operator.

Rick

MRS Logística S.A. One of Brasil's largest railways MRS stands for the three major states in which the railway operates. Minas Gerais, Rio de Janiero, Sao Paulo. The operate a large fleet of AC44i's and a good batch of former US units in the form of rebuilt SD45's, C30's and C36's. Broad gauge/Irish Gauge

MRS 7288 Jaoquim Murtinho May 6, 2013 by Yukon YEti

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This seems eerily similar to the recent Lac Megantic disaster in Quebec. A train that was supposed to be properly tied down at the beginning of a long down grade -- wasn't.

Mother Nature, i.e., gravity, performed as advertised, and it wound up roaring into the town of Lac Megantic, locomotives leading, derailing and burning out the center of town, with considerable loss of life.

Kudos to the engineer of the Brazilian train that was approaching for having the common sense to realize that something really bad -- that was beyond his ability to prevent -- was about to happen. He stopped his train, jumped, and got the hell outta Dodge.

What a terrible mess, but thankfully, nobody was hurt!

Fritz in HSV, AL

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/14 22:44 by darkcloud.

darkcloud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> navy5717th Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > This seems eerily similar to the recent Lac
> > Megantic disaster in Quebec. A train that was
> > supposed to be properly tied down at the
> beginning
> > of a long down grade -- wasn't.
> >
> > Mother Nature, i.e., gravity, performed as
> > advertised, and it wound up roaring into the
> town
> > of Lac Megantic, locomotives leading, derailing
> > and burning out the center of town, with
> > considerable loss of life.
> >
> > Kudos to the engineer of the Brazilian train
> that
> > was approaching for having the common sense to
> > realize that something really bad -- that was
> > beyond his ability to prevent -- was about to
> > happen. He stopped his train, jumped, and got
> the
> > hell outta Dodge.
> >
> > What a terrible mess, but thankfully, nobody
> was
> > hurt!
> >
> > Fritz in HSV, AL
>
>
> Actually very different. The engineer/trainman in
> Quebec had much better circumstances in which to
> tie down as many handbrakes as needed to hold,
> then properly test them (which it appears he
> didn't, though the final report will hopefully
> clear that up.) In contrast, the
> engineer/trainman in Brazil may have been forced
> to make a Sophie's Choice of staying in increasing
> smoke/fumes to keep tying handbrakes (and risk
> passing out) or get out while he was still alert
> and able to do so.


darkcloud: I'm not saying that the circumstances were the same as far as which engineer had the better opportunity to tie down his train. Clearly the fellow at Lac Megantic had all the time in the world to do it right. The fellow in Brazil was dealing with a train that had come to a stop all by itself -- in a tunnel. Things in there undoubtedly were much more difficult for him to deal with -- and he'd reached the point at which he could do no more without dying in the process, so he uncoupled his power and beat it out of the tunnel.

The Lac Megantic runaway might not have happened had it not been for a fire in the locomotive -- after the Engineer was long gone. The Nantes firemen shut down the engine which, if I remember correctly, the Engineer had left running to maintain air brake pipe pressure. Although hand brakes are principally (and officially) responsible for keeping a tied-down train from moving, the loss of the air brakes certainly exacerbated the situation. As an aside, the lead locomotive (of five total) was already sick belching sparks, blue smoke, etc.-- and the engineer knew it. It was doing that as he departed for Lac Megantic.

I'm sure the crash in Brazil will be thoroughly investigated. That said, I'm inherently curious about the circumstances attending this and other such tragedies. So I have some question. Maybe you or some other reader can answer some of them

1. How long was the tunnel?

2. How far into the tunnel was the head end power when the train came to a stop?

3. After the engineer had exited the tunnel, did he call his dispatcher and advise him of the situation … and when?

4. How far from the tunnel's entrance was the point of collision?

5. Regardless of that, if the approaching train had been warned, could its engineer have stopped in time and at a such a distance from the tunnel that the runaway would've rolled to a stop and the collision have been avoided?

6. Could the engineer of then eventual runaway have backed his train out of the tunnel and and then advised his dispatcher so that the latter could then have halted the approaching train?
I ask this because the engineer and his conductor (if he had one) had spent some amount time trying to tie down his train, and then uncoupling his power and leaving then train there.

Thanks, and best regards,

Fritz in HSV, AL, USA

Sure glad none of the EMDs were hurt:-)

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