AIKEN - As Jan. 5 wore on, the three-man crew of Norfolk Southern Train 119 began to feel pinched for time, according to interview transcripts released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Train engineer Benjamin Aiken said he began to feel hurried at about 4 p.m. that day.

"We realized that we were going to be pressed for time," Mr. Aiken told an NTSB investigator.

He made the statement during an interview Jan. 7 in Augusta, a day after another Norfolk Southern train was inadvertently sent off the main track to a side track, where it hit Train 119.

Investigators said soon after the crash that an improperly aligned track switch was the likely cause of the accident, which resulted in the release of an estimated 60 tons of chlorine that killed nine people and injured hundreds more in Graniteville.

According to interviews with Train 119's crew after the accident, there was uncertainty about the switch's position when the crew left the parked train at about 7 p.m. Jan. 5, roughly eight hours before the deadly collision.

Brakeman Mike Ford told investigators that he had unlocked a track switch outside an Avondale Mills Inc. plant in Graniteville, according to transcripts. The train's engine and several cars were moved onto a side rail, where they were left for the night.

He acknowledged that it was proper procedure to return the switch to the main line, allowing any oncoming train to pass through.

"I had no doubt in my mind when I left" that the switch was in the right place, Mr. Ford said.

When pressed by an investigator who asked Mr. Ford whether he double-checked the switch, the conductor said he was unsure.

"In my mind I did," Mr. Ford said. "I thought that is what I ... I knew I had. It was lined when we come in. I knew that."

Later in the interview, however, Mr. Ford backtracked.

"I was not sure that I ever went back to the main track and lined the switch. I am not 100 percent sure," he said.

At one point during Mr. Ford's interview, NTSB official Russell Gober told Mr. Ford that it was "so important because we know that the track was lined and locked for the siding. And that is the way it was when the accident occurred. And the last person to line the switch and lock it was you."

Mr. Ford also told investigators he didn't call dispatchers to let them know the crew had finished work on the track until about 7:55 p.m., almost a full hour beyond the 12 hours he was legally allowed to work that day, according to investigators quoted in the transcript.

Train 119 conductor Jimmy Thornton told investigators that he never touched the track switch. Nonetheless, he told them, he felt in some way responsible.

"I would have to say I probably failed to do what I should have," Mr. Thornton said. "I won't say my crew did."

Reach Josh Gelinas at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or josh.gelinas@augustachronicle.com.