(The following story by Matt Sutkoski appeared on the Burlington Free Press website on July 7, 2009.)
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Twenty-five years ago today, disaster unfolded on the railroad tracks on low, swampy ground in Williston.
The Amtrak Montrealer with 294 passengers and crew, lumbering north early on a cloudy, muggy morning, pitched off the tracks a quarter-mile north of Redmond Road, a short distance from the present-day Chittenden Solid Waste District offices and recycling drop-off center.
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The wreck killed five people and injured about 200. It triggered one of Vermont’s largest emergency responses. The wrecked train was far from roads. Rescuers hastily built a road out to the crash site to bring in heavy equipment needed to rescue some of the injured passengers. It took most of the day to get everyone to safety.
Fortunately, the 1984 Amtrak disaster was the exception rather than the rule. According to Federal Railroad Administration data, Vermont train accidents for the most part have been rare and minor. The last time somebody died in a Vermont train-related accident was in 2001, according to FRA data.
Vermont experiences only a few train derailments each year, ranging from two in 2002 and 2007 to seven in 2003. “Our tracks are very safe,” said Robert Ide, Vermont’s rail program manager. “We have very, very few accidents, and we’re proud of our safety record.”
Most Vermont train derailments are relatively minor, though an Oct. 22, 2007, a train derailment in Middlebury forced the evacuation of much of the central business district because some of the derailed cars carried hundreds of thousands of gallons of gasoline.
Each major train accident results in lessons learned. The 1984 Amtrak disaster led railroad companies and regulators to more closely examine the condition of tracks after severe storms.
After the Middlebury derailment, emergency responders said the response to the 2007 crash was excellent, as it was in 1984, but there was room for improvement. For instance, local, state and federal agencies could coordinate their activities better, said Peter Coffey, deputy director for operations and logistics for Vermont Emergency Management. Instead of three agencies working on the same task, emergency teams could assign one task to a local agency, another to a federal agency and so on, he said.
A train crash can lead to a long job of rescue, recovery and repairs, Coffey said. The Middlebury crash led Coffey to realize fire, police and rescue personnel should be cycled out before they’re fatigued and a plan should exist to bring in other experts to replace people taking a break from a train crash response.