RAILROAD ACCIDENT REPORT--DERAILMENT OF AUTO-TRAIN NO. 4 ON SEABOARD COAST LINE RAILROAD, FLORENCE, SOUTH CAROLINA, FEBRUARY 24, 1978

About 2:10 a.m., on February 24, 1978, 19 cars and a locomotive unit of Auto-Train No. 4 derailed on Seaboard Coast Line Railroad trackage at Florence, South Carolina. Twenty-four of the 503 passengers were injured. The total accident damage was estimated to be $774,029. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was a locomotive unit axle fracture that originated in an undetected void that developed during the manufacture of the axle. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the lack of a system for detecting an axle failure independent of crewmembers' inspection.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1978-9-21

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: 22 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Axles; Crash investigation; Defects; Derailments; Injuries; Locomotives; Mechanical failure; Nondestructive tests; Passenger trains; Specifications; Traction drives; Vehicle design
• Old TRIS Terms: Auto-train corporation; Axle defects; Axle failures; Bearing damage; Four axle locomotives; Locomotive design
• Subject Areas: Design; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00183305
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Transportation Safety Board
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-RAR-78-6
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 14 1978 12:00AM