RAILROAD ACCIDENT REPORT: COLLISION OF PENN CENTRAL TRANSPORTATION COMPANY OPERATED PASSENGER TRAINS NUMBERS 132, 944, AND 939 NEAR WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, OCTOBER 17, 1975

On October 17, 1975, about 6:37 p.m., a northbound Penn Central Transportation Company (Penn Central) passenger train, No. 944, struck the rear of Penn Central passenger train No. 132, which had made an unscheduled stop near Wilmington, Delaware, because of an equipment malfunction. Train No. 939, a southbound Penn Central passenger train that was approaching on an adjacent track, struck the derailed equipment from No. 944. The collisions injured 25 persons and caused property damage of $817,866. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the rear end collision was the engineer's failure to operate his train according to established procedures. Contributing to the accident was the operational practice of the railroad industry which permits trains to enter occupied blocks. The second collision was caused by the absence of flagging.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Surface Transportation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1976-6-16

Media Info

• Pagination: 23 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash injury research; Crash investigation; Crashes; Disasters and emergency operations; Human factors; Injuries; Operating rules; Passenger trains; Passenger transportation; Railroad signals; Railroads; Regulations; Research
• Identifier Terms: Amtrak; Penn Central Transportation Company
• Uncontrolled Terms: Emergency procedures
• Geographic Terms: Delaware
• Old TRIS Terms: Signal rules
• Subject Areas: Law; Passenger Transportation; Railroads; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00143764
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-RAR-76-7
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 17 1977 12:00AM