RAILROAD ACCIDENT REPORT: DERAILMENT OF AMTRAK TRAIN ON LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAILROAD, PULASKI, TENNESSEE, OCTOBER 1, 1975

About 12:50 p.m. on October 1, 1975, 1 locomotive unit and 11 cars of Amtrak train No. 315 derailed on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company's track near Pulaski, Tennessee. Of the 69 persons on the train, 31 were injured. Property and equipment damage amounted to about $1,067,000. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the overturning of the outside rail in a 3 degree 8 min curve by high lateral forces induced by the six-wheel truck of the SDP-40-F locomotive; these forces exceeded the capability of the track which met current FRA standards. The speed of the locomotive, although not greater than the speed allowable for Class 4 track, was too great to be sustained by the track.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Surface Transportation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1976-5-10

Media Info

• Pagination: 35 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash investigation; Crashes; Derailments; Injuries; Locomotives; Loss and damage; Overturning; Passenger trains; Passenger transportation; Railroad cars; Railroad rails; Railroad tracks; Railroad transportation; Railroads; Safety engineering; Speed limits; Standards; Steering
• Identifier Terms: Amtrak; Louisville & Nashville Railroad
• Geographic Terms: Tennessee
• Old TRIS Terms: Rail overturning; Six axle locomotives; Track standards
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00143798
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-RAR-76-6
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 17 1977 12:00AM