RAILROAD ACCIDENT REPORT: REAR END COLLISION OF AN ALASKA RAILROAD FREIGHT TRAIN WITH A PASSENGER TRAIN{ NEAR HURRICANE, ALASKA, JULY 5, 1975

About 3:46 p.m. on July 5, 1975, an Alaska Railroad freight train, Extra 1502 South, collided with the rear of passenger train No. 5, which had stopped south of Hurricane, Alaska, to permit the passengers on the train to view Mt. McKinley. All cars of the passenger train and the first four locomotive units of the freight train were derailed. Sixty-two persons were injured and one of the injured subsequently died. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of the engineer of Extra 1502 South to operate the braking system on the locomotive properly and the failures of both trancrews to comply with railroad operating rules. As a result of its investigation, the Safety Board made three recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration concerning improvement and compliance with operating rules and a modification of locomotive brake valves.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Surface Transportation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1976-2-19

Media Info

• Pagination: 24 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air brakes; Braking performance; Crash investigation; Crashes; Job analysis; Locomotive engineers; Locomotive operation; Operating rules; Radio; Railroad trains; Trainmen; Workload
• Identifier Terms: Alaska Railroad
• Old TRIS Terms: Locomotive engineer's tasks; Train radio; Trainman's tasks
• Subject Areas: Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00131656
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Transportation Safety Board
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-RAR-76-3
• Files: NTIS, TRIS
• Created Date: May 14 1977 12:00AM