MARCH 10, 2015
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)
A stretch of North
Carolina railroad reopened early Tuesday after it was cleared of equipment
damaged when a passenger train smashed into a truck the previous day, federal
transportation officials said.
Federal officials
also shed further light on the events that led to the crash that injured the
conductor and at least 54 passengers. Eyewitnesses saw the truck and trailer
occupy the crossing for 15 to 20 minutes, officials said. The state highway
patrol, which had at least one trooper accompanying the oversized load, had
said it spent about five minutes trying to negotiate the railroad crossing.
Kevin Thompson,
associate administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, said that
equipment from the Amtrak train had been moved and the track in the town of
Halifax reopened around 2:30 a.m. The owner of the track, CSX, is making
repairs to safety equipment at the crossing. Most people who were treated at
hospitals have been released.
Monday's collision
was the third serious train crash in less than two months. Crashes in New York
and California in February killed a total of seven people and injured 30. The
Federal Railroad Administration, which is leading the crash investigation, is
continuing to interview witnesses and review onboard recorders from the train
in the North Carolina crash.
The oversized
flatbed trailer involved in Monday's crash was transporting a modular building
loaded with electrical equipment — what troopers described as "an
electrical distribution center" — from Clayton, North Carolina, to New
Jersey, said Lt. Jeff Gordon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Highway
Patrol.
One of the troopers
escorting the truck was trying to help the driver negotiate a difficult
left-hand turn across the tracks onto a two-lane highway, Gordon said. But the
164-foot tractor-trailer combination, longer than half a football field,
couldn't navigate it, he said.
Gordon said the
truck driver had to reposition his trailer and back up to attempt the turn a
second time by making a wider swing through the intersection.
The northbound train
originated in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was bound for New York. As it
approached, it set off warning flashers and the crossing arms came down as the
truck was still straddling the tracks, Gordon said. The train hit shortly
afterward, about noon, he said. He said traffic backed up behind the truck
prevented it from backing off the tracks.
"I saw him jump
out of the truck when he knew he couldn't beat it. ... I heard the train noise
and thought, 'Oh, my God, it's going to happen,'" said eyewitness Leslie
Cipriani, who used her cellphone to shoot video of the crash.
The truck driver,
identified as John Devin Black of Claremont, was not injured. Authorities
identified the train conductor as Keenan Talley of Raleigh. He was among the
injured, but his condition wasn't known.
Gordon said the
tractor-trailer is owned by Guy M. Turner Inc. of Greensboro. A statement on
the company's website, later removed, said the company's thoughts and prayers
were with the injured. The company did not respond to an email requesting
comment.
Hours after the
crash, about a dozen of the train's 212 passengers began boarding a bus to
Richmond, Virginia, where they had the option of getting on another train.
"We're just
thankful that we're still alive. It could have been really worse. God was
really with us," said Lisa Carson, 50, of Philadelphia.
Steve Ditmeyer, a
former Federal Railroad Administration official who teaches railway management
at Michigan State University, looked at the crossing on Google Maps and said
the curve of the railroad heading toward the intersection would have made it
hard for the engineer to see up ahead, or for the truck driver to see down the
track. Furthermore, the tracks don't cross the road at a 90-degree angle.
"This is also
known as a bad geometry crossing," he said.