Jul 10, 2008 7:56 am US/Eastern
NTSB: Failure Caused SEPTA Head-On Train Crash
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
A potentially catastrophic failure of SEPTA safety systems caused two trains to crash head-on in 2006. That's the conclusion of a National Transportation Safety Board report.
CBS 3's Walt Hunter first told you about SEPTA safety problems exposed in this crash, and now the NTSB has released its findings.
The NTSB report, two years in the making, talks about an engineer and safety systems you rely on every day to protect you on your SEPTA regional rail ride.
But on July 1, 2006, those systems failed one after another. If it hadn't been for the light ridership on a holiday weekend and the train moving slowly, the head-on crash could have been a deadly disaster.
The ride aboard a SEPTA R2 train turned terrifying for Liz Cousens, her daughter, and her daughter's family when their train collided with another head-on. Cousens was among 38 passengers injured that July day in 2006.
"Then all of a sudden this huge crash, huge noise, and just totally unexpected," said Liz Cousens.
Now the National Transportation Safety Board knows why it happened: A perfect storm of mistakes.
It began with the engineer running three separate warning signals, and it was compounded by the failure or total absence of SEPTA warning systems that could have stopped the train before the potentially catastrophic crash.
"There were people screaming," said Cousens. "My daughter was thrown ten or twelve feet right into the front."
The NTSB report found when the engineer began running past the first of three signals, an alarm alerted a SEPTA dispatcher in Center City.
Instead of immediately ordering the train to stop, the dispatcher shut off the alarm and went back to other duties.
The NTSB concluded, "Nearly 4 minutes and 20 seconds elapsed between the time when the alarm initially sounded and the collision occurred. He (the dispatcher) would have had time to call and warn (the trains) of the pending collision."
As the train moved forward, its engineer ignoring signals and the dispatcher failing to intervene, there was another backup system called a cab signal that could have stopped the train automatically in seconds. But cab signals aren't installed yet on R2 trains. In fact, 23 percent of SEPTA regional rail lines aren't equipped with that important safety system.
The report offers no explanation why the engineer, who tested negative for drug or alcohol impairment, went past the signals.
The NTSB says SEPTA has improved its alarm system so it can no longer be ignored by dispatchers. The improvement was made in October 2007, fifteen months after the R2 crash.
SEPTA says it's now working to have cab signals installed on all routes within the next five years.
The engineer involved in the crash has been discharged, and SEPTA says it's made improvements in its communications center to make sure alarms warning of possible emergencies will get immediate responses from dispatchers.
RELATED LINKS:
NTSB Report
Walt Hunter's SEPTA crash investigation, November 15, 2006
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