Safety Recommendation Report: Using Technology to Protect Maintenance-of-Way Employees

​On April 3, 2016, about 7:50 a.m. eastern daylight time, southbound Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation) train 89 struck a backhoe at milepost (MP) 15.7 near Chester, Pennsylvania. Train 89 was authorized to operate on track 3 at the maximum authorized speed of 110 mph. Two days prior to the accident, Amtrak had started track-bed restoration at MP 15.7 on track 2 in this portion of the Northeast Corridor. Track 2 was taken out of service between control points Baldwin (MP 11.7) and Hook (MP 16.8) for the 55-hour duration of the track restoration project. As train 89 approached the work zone, the engineer saw railroad equipment and employees on and near track 3 and initiated an emergency brake application. The train speed was 106 mph before the emergency brake was applied, and 99 mph when train 89 struck the backhoe. Two maintenance-of-way (MOW) employees were killed, and 39 other people, mostly passengers, were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on the Chester, Pennsylvania, accident detailed numerous safety deficiencies that existed at the Amtrak work site immediately prior to the accident. The NTSB has several other investigations involving failures in planned safeguards to protect MOW employees. As a result of these investigations, the National Transportation Safety Board makes the following safety recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration: (1) Issue a guidance document railroads can use to assess their on-track safety program to ensure it encompasses the role of signal and train control equipment, including redundant protection, such as supplemental shunting devices to protect roadway workers and their equipment. (R-18-024); (2) Study available technologies that automatically alert maintenance-of-way workers fouling tracks of approaching trains, then require that such technology be implemented as a redundant protective measure. (R-18-025).

• Record URL:
  • https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/RSR1803.pdf
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• Summary URL:
  • https://ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/RSR1803.aspx
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Publication Date: 2018-9-28

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 5p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Fatalities; Industrial accidents; Maintenance of way; Maintenance personnel; Railroad crashes; Railroad safety; Recommendations; Technological innovations
• Identifier Terms: Amtrak
• Geographic Terms: Chester (Pennsylvania)
• Subject Areas: Maintenance and Preservation; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01684228
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB/RSR-18/03, Accident Number: DCA16FR007
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 25 2018 5:13PM