TRAIN DERAILMENTS CAUSED BY HUMAN ERRORS ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO PLAN FOR AND INHERENTLY THE MOST DANGEROUS: HUMAN ERROR — UNINTENTIONALLY BACKING THE REAR OF A FREIGHT TRAIN ONTO ANOTHER RAIL LINE — CAUSED A TWO-TRAIN COLLISION AND DERAILMENT LAST JULY IN SLINGER, WI THAT PROMPTED THE EVACUATION OF MORE THAN 120 VILLAGE RESIDENTS AND THE SPILL OF 4,000 GALLONS OF DIESEL
Human error — unintentionally backing the rear of a freight
train onto another rail line — caused a two-train collision and derailment
last July in Slinger that prompted the evacuation of more than 120 village
residents, according to reports submitted to federal transportation officials.
The jumble of overturned locomotives, upended freight cars
and broken track visible the next morning immediately south of Slinger High
School amounted to more than $3.1 million in damages, say the incident reports
publicly released by the Federal Railroad Administration.
An estimated 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled
from the lead locomotive.
Minutes before the July 20 collision, a northbound Wisconsin
& Southern Railroad train of two locomotives and 64 freight cars
stopped after it had cleared the other track at the crossing of two rail lines
east of Kettle Moraine Drive.
The engineer then decided to back up the long train — known
as a shoving movement — to pick up a crew member at the rail crossing, according
to the company's report.
Without the aid of a spotter at the train's end as it backed
up, the engineer drove too far in reverse and several cars were pushed across
the other rail line, according to the company's incident report. Federal
regulations do not require a person to be placed at the end of a train when it
is reversed.
By that time, a southbound Canadian National Railway Co.
train with three locomotives and 98 freight cars already had entered the
village and a signal light gave it authority to proceed into the crossing when
the crash occurred at 8:34 p.m. It was traveling at a speed of 38 miles per
hour, the company's report says.
Wisconsin & Southern officials in Madison did not
respond to telephone messages and emails requesting comments on the crash.
On July 21, a Wisconsin & Southern official said the
company was investigating if equipment failure or other emergency stopped the
northbound train or delayed it from clearing the crossing before the arrival of
the southbound Canadian National train.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has requested — but not yet
received — the Federal Railroad Administration's accident investigation report
of the Slinger crash.
All three of the Canadian National locomotives and four
freight cars derailed in the violent collision. The company's report lists
$1.86 million in equipment damage and $1.1 million in track damage.
Five cars derailed from the Wisconsin & Southern train
and the company's report lists damages of $219,844.
The reports cite "absence of man on or at leading end
of movement" of the Wisconsin & Southern train as the primary cause of
the crash. In short, no one was there to tell the engineer when to stop.
The Wisconsin & Southern report concedes that its train
moved into the crossing without authority of a signal light and that is
reported as a contributing cause of the crash.
Both the engineer and conductor on the southbound Canadian
National train were injured in the crash and derailment. Neither crew member on
the Wisconsin & Southern train was injured.
"We're fortunate," Wisconsin Railroad Commissioner
Jeff Plale said of the small number of injuries. "It could have been an
awful lot worse."
Human error caused 687, or 39%, of all train accidents in
the U.S. in 2013, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. The tally
includes five in Wisconsin last year.
Of the national total, the absence of a person at the
leading end of a shoving movement was the third-most common, with a total of
65.
Human error has caused 444 train accidents in the U.S. so far
this year (2014). Twelve occurred in Wisconsin.
Of the national total this year, the absence of a person at
the leading end of a shoving movement was the second-most common, with a total
of 48.
Wisconsin & Southern Railroad's brief report of the
crash to federal regulators does not explain why its employee could not walk to
rejoin the train without getting picked up.
Weather was not a consideration. It was a warm summer
evening with clear skies and a temperature of 70 degrees at the time of the
crash.