GRANITEVILLE - A railroad signaling device commonly found on busier tracks might have prevented the deadly Jan. 6 train collision and chlorine spill in Graniteville, some experts say.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
|
Have a thought?
Go to the Forums or Chat.
|
|
|
But there was no such safety device, and basic economics can explain why the Norfolk Southern Corp. hadn't installed one.
"We would not invest more in a line than we would anticipate getting from that line in revenue," railroad spokesman Robin Chapman said.
Norfolk Southern declined to say how much money it makes off of its line between Augusta and Columbia, but there are no signals on either side of Graniteville, which sits between the two cities. On average, only six trains per day travel the route.
Norfolk Southern and the country's other six major railroads typically reserve signals for heavily traveled lines. More trains represent a higher return on a railroad's investment, making the average $180,000 cost for a signal easier to justify.
The signals are typically placed several miles in front of an intersection. They use circuits in the track to alert dispatchers and engineers of what lies ahead - such as a misdirected switch - and whether the track is open for passage.
Without the signals, dispatchers must rely on train crews for information, as was the case on the morning of the Graniteville accident. Train 192 Engineer Christopher Seeling was told the track was open for passage, when in fact a track switch was directing traffic onto a spur line to Avondale Mills, where a parked train sat.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have said human error is most likely to blame for the mistake, which sent train 192 barrelling into the parked locomotive. Chlorine released from a punctured tanker killed nine people, including Mr. Seeling and six Avondale Mills workers, and sent hundreds more to the hospital.
For most of the past decade, the railroad industry has looked for cheaper ways to ensure train safety in "dark territory," or tracks where there are no signals. The Federal Railroad Administration issued a safety advisory after the Jan. 6 crash, urging the railroads to strengthen switch procedures by increasing communication between train crews and dispatchers.
At least one American railroad has started using radio technology to monitor and move switches that direct train traffic.
Kansas City Southern Railway uses robotic switches with radios that allow engineers to check a switch's position and even change its direction miles before the train arrives at an intersection.
Kansas City Southern started using the technology two years ago and now uses it with 27 switches between Meridian, Miss., and Shreveport, La. It uses two other switches near Dallas and plans to add about six this year, the railroad said in a statement.
So far, there have been no accidents involving the switches.
The railroad uses the technology to improve "efficiency of train movements, and to increase capacity on the line" between Mississippi and Louisiana, which handles between 25 and 35 trains per day, it said in a statement.
"We eliminate the human factor issue that comes with a hand-thrown switch within dark territory," said Coy Beaman, the chief operating officer and chief railway technologist with Global Rail Systems Inc., which developed the radio-controlled switches. The switches, like those used by Kansas City Southern, cost about $60,000 each, he said.
Mr. Beaman said he had also spoken with the Norfolk Southern railroad, but Mr. Chapman was unsure about the company's position on the technology.
The railroad and the Federal Railroad Administration also are evaluating a safety proposal called "positive train control," which uses satellite technology to monitor train positions and their proximity to each other, among other mechanisms.
The technology remains too expensive, however.
"I think cost has a lot do with it," said John Bentley, a spokesman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. "Railroads are really driven by Wall Street forces. They want to turn a profit."
Some observers say there's no substitute for the standard signal, though only 60 percent of the country's tracks are equipped with them.
Others contend that accidents are going to happen with or without signals.
In June, three people were killed in Macdona, Texas, when two trains traveling on signalized track collided, said Steve Kulm, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration.
"Simply because there's a signal there doesn't automatically prevent this type of accident from occurring," he said.
Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 648-1395, ext. 113, or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.
Special Section: Graniteville Train Wreck
On January 6, 2005, a Norfolk Southern Corp. freight train carrying chemicals hit a parked train near an Avondale Mills plant in Graniteville, South Carolina. The impact caused poisonous chlorine gas to leak from three of the moving train's cars. Nine people were killed and more than 5,000 people were evacuated from the site.
For complete coverage of the Graniteville train wreck, visit our special section.
