Passenger Trains > UPDATE: Silver Star fatalities were Amtrak employees

Update: Media now report the two fatalities were Amtrak employees.
The condition of the AMTK 47 certainly suggests they would be the engine crew.

Yes, the photos show a horrific scene.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Update: Media now report the two fatalities were
> Amtrak employees.
> The condition of the AMTK 47 certainly suggests
> they would be the engine crew.

Terrible news
My thoughts and prayers goes out to all involved.
Robert

Fox reporting the freight was unoccupied.

CSX freight was tied down. Nobody on board.

Amtrak employees in the AMTK 47 were the engineer and conductor, who was copying
DTC block clearances from dispatcher.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CSX freight was tied down. Nobody on board.
>
> Amtrak employees in the AMTK 47 were the engineer
> and conductor, who was copying
> DTC block clearances from dispatcher.

Would the copying DTC block clearances be consistent with a signal suspension in the area ahead?

Posted from Android

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CSX freight was tied down.

That is what I am wondering about. How well was it tied down?

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GenePoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > CSX freight was tied down.
>
> That is what I am wondering about. How well was it
> tied down?
Not well enough, if it rolled out of a siding.

HardYellow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > tied down?
> Not well enough, if it rolled out of a siding.

The investigation, I would think, will quickly determine the initial point of impact. That would clarify things a lot.

Impact happened well inside the siding nowhere near the clearance point. Switch was open. The question will be, why was it open if the Amtrak train had authority over it, or was the train even operating with authority in effect?

From the Wahington Post:

The two people killed were Amtrak employees, the railroad said. The Lexington County coroner identified the victims as the train’s engineer, Michael Kempf, 54, of Savannah, Ga., and conductor Michael Cella, 36, of Orange Park, Fla.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/02/04/at-least-2-dead-after-amtrak-train-collides-with-freight-train-in-south-carolina/

My heartfelt condolences to family and friends of those two employees.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/18 11:42 by Cumbresfan.

trainjunkie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Impact happened well inside the siding nowhere
> near the clearance point. Switch was open. The
> question will be, why was it open if the Amtrak
> train had authority over it, or was the train even
> operating with authority in effect?

Thank you for that info.

Very sad to hear of this, condolences to the families.

My condolences to the families of the crew involved in this tragedy.

We won't know for sure until the investigation is complete, but railroader shop talk has it a CSX crew member gave the OK to the dispatcher before the switch was closed, and a last minute scramble was made by that crew to determine if the switch was indeed closed--this all with the signaling suspended. But than it was too late. A perfect storm. Again, the investigation is on-going.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com


trainjunkie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Impact happened well inside the siding nowhere
> near the clearance point. Switch was open. The
> question will be, why was it open if the Amtrak
> train had authority over it, or was the train even
> operating with authority in effect?

My recommendation to those just starting to follow the story is to use the TO search engine and enter "ARandall70" and "Totallamer" as authors and read what they have posted. Even if they are still speculating, what they have posted so far are informative.

The initial thread started by pdt has lots of "initial reaction" posts which may no longer be relevant. Of course, you can read through the entire 120+ posts like I did, but most people have demonstrated proven impatience where they are unable to do that, so this is my snarky helping hand. :-)

Did CSX employee personal fear prevent a radio "emergency" call to Silver Star #91 to tell them to stop immediately? And he killed two railroaders. Wonder what the investigation will say about CSX safety level, regarding taking "Safety First".

Wabash2800 said:
"We won't know for sure until the investigation is complete, but railroader shop talk has it a CSX crew member gave the OK to the dispatcher before the switch was closed, and a last minute scramble was made by that crew to determine if the switch was indeed closed--this all with the signaling suspended. But than it was too late. A perfect storm. Again, the investigation is on-going."



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/18 13:23 by PlyWoody.