(The following story by Sammy Fretwell and Rick Brundrett appeared on The State website on February 5.)
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Norfolk Southern Corporation has fired a Columbia railroad crew accused in lawsuits of failing to flip a switch that would have prevented a disastrous train wreck last month in Graniteville.
Company spokesman Robin Chapman declined Friday to name the parked train’s three-man crew but said the workers were terminated because they “failed to perform their duties properly.”
Lawsuits filed since the fatal Jan. 6 crash and chemical leak identify the crew as Benjamin Aiken, James Thornton and Mike Ford, all residents of the Columbia area. Each has at least 25 years’ experience with trains, according to railroad labor unions.
On Friday, they were either unavailable or declined to answer questions.
A Feb. 1 lawsuit and attorneys involved in the case say Aiken was the parked train’s engineer, Thornton the conductor, and Ford the brakeman.
Chapman confirmed that the terminated employees were an engineer, a conductor and a brakeman. Usually, the conductor is in charge of the train crew, the brakeman operates track switches, and the engineer drives the train.
Spokesmen for unions representing the three men indicated they will appeal the firings to Norfolk Southern or, if necessary, a national labor board. Attorneys for Aiken, Thornton and Ford either declined comment or were unavailable Friday.
“We don’t agree with Norfolk Southern’s decision to let (Aiken) go, and it’s under appeal,” said John Bentley, a spokesman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. He confirmed that Aiken was fired.
The crash, which caused the nation’s worst railroad chemical leak since the late 1970s, killed nine people and injured hundreds exposed to chlorine that poured from the wreckage. The incident occurred when a 42-car train ran off a main track onto a rail spur and crashed into a parked train.
Aiken, Thornton and Ford constituted the crew that parked the train on the spur hours before the second train hit it about 2:40 a.m. Jan. 6, according to lawsuits filed in Aiken County.
The crew’s job was to make sure a switch that diverted their train onto the rail spur was put back in place to keep other trains from going off the main line, lawsuits say. But the suits say the men did not return the switch to its normal position.
The men have been interviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash. It might be a year before the NTSB completes its investigation and pinpoints a cause of the crash.
The Federal Railroad Administration, in a safety advisory last month, said the likely cause of the crash was human error, rather than switch failure or sabotage. The agency is assisting the NTSB.
Chapman earlier said the railroad was conducting its own, internal investigation.
Aiken, 50, is a Richland County resident. Thonton, 56, and Ford, 48, live in Lexington County.
At least 15 lawsuits have been filed against Norfolk Southern since the wreck. Of those, at least six filed on behalf of wreck victims name Aiken, Ford and Thornton as defendants. They accuse Aiken, Thornton, Ford and Norfolk Southern of negligence.
One lawsuit filed this past week named only Thornton and Ford as crew members responsible for the crash. The suit, filed by the Hajek-Shapiro law firm of Virginia, said Thornton and Ford were under pressure from Norfolk Southern to quickly park the train the night of Jan. 5.
The suit, filed Tuesday, said the company was worried about violating a federal law that requires rest for railroad workers to avoid fatigue.
The crew of the parked train worked 13 hours that day. They went off duty about 7 p.m. Jan. 5, nearly eight hours before the crash, the NTSB said.
Bentley said Aiken, the engineer, “at no time came into contact with the switch” that was not reset.
Frank Wilner, spokesman for the United Transportation Union, which represents Thornton and Ford, said the union would fight for their jobs.
“There is an appeal process under the contract, and we will defend them through the appellate process,” Wilner said.
Local and federal authorities have repeatedly said they have no reason to believe foul play was involved. It’s possible the train wreck could have been caused by a faulty switch or vandalism, but authorities say they have no evidence of either.