WASHINGTON, D.C. — CSX Transportation, which owns the track where an Amtrak train derailed and plowed down an embankment Monday, is imposing new passenger train speed limits on hot days, as federal investigators question whether heat and recent maintenance combined to buckle the steel track, the Washington Post reports.
Cleaning up from its second passenger train wreck in three months that is suspected to have been caused in part by heat, CSX Transportation said it is reducing the speed of passenger trains as it does for freight trains on sweltering days.
The restrictions will mean a longer commute on steamy summer nights for thousands of rail passengers who ride MARC and Virginia Railway Express. On the MARC Brunswick and Camden lines, for example, trains will be held to 45 mph between 1 and 9 p.m. on hot days rather than the current maximum speed of 70 to 79 mph.
All passenger trains running on CSX tracks will be affected, including Washington-Florida and Washington-Chicago trains. Trains along the northeast corridor between Washington and Boston would not be covered by the restrictions because that track is owned by Amtrak, not CSX. Amtrak reduces speeds to 80 mph any time the temperature exceeds 95 degrees.
When heat restrictions are in effect on a railroad, speeds are lowered and tracks are inspected daily. Following its former procedures, CSX on Monday held freight train speeds 10 mph below their maximum but imposed no speed restrictions on the Amtrak trains, which use its track and can travel faster than freights.
Sixteen of the 101 people injured and transported to area hospitals following Monday’s derailment in Kensington remained hospitalized yesterday afternoon. A Montgomery County police officer also was admitted at Suburban Hospital, where he was being treated for heat exhaustion.
One passenger, an 81-year-old North Carolina woman who suffered a fractured pelvis, was listed in serious condition yesterday. The others, who were listed in good or fair condition, had a range of problems, including chest pains, concussions and head and neck injuries.
“In pain,” responded Franklin De Laine, when asked how he was feeling yesterday at Washington Adventist Hospital. The retired District resident was riding on the train with his two sisters and a brother; all four ended up in hospitals. “We got tossed around,” said De Laine, who suffered injuries to his neck, hip, right hand and right arm and lost his glasses on the train.
Rail crews spent yesterday clearing the damaged Amtrak cars from the track, towing them toward Washington. Amtrak officials estimated the damage at $13 million, with at least three rail cars considered a total loss.
CSX workers used blowtorches and cranes yesterday morning to replace the damaged sections of the track. They expected to reopen the railroad last night.
MARC officials, however, decided not to run morning service today, saying they didn’t have enough time to prepare their rail cars. They intend to restore service on the Brunswick Line by this evening.
The engineer of Amtrak’s Capitol Limited told federal investigators that moments before Monday’s 2 p.m. derailment, he came around a curve and spotted a stretch of rail that had heaved to the side about 18 inches out of alignment.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board found track about 30 inches out of alignment, NTSB Vice Chairman Carol Carmody said. She said investigators could not determine whether the rail had warped before the derailment or whether the derailment pushed the rail out of alignment.
When he saw the trouble ahead, the Amtrak engineer applied emergency brakes, but the train was traveling about 60 mph and could not stop in time. The two heavy locomotives made it over the buckled rail, but six of the train’s 13 cars toppled onto their sides, violently tossing the unsuspecting passengers. Two of the cars derailed but remained upright.
The temperature of the steel rail was measured at 118 degrees before the accident — a level not considered excessive for that stretch of rail, CSX officials said.
Investigators are considering other factors that can lead to heat kinks, such as the difference in temperatures between morning and afternoon and whether maintenance disturbed the track in some other way.
A heat kink, a buckle in the rail caused by high temperatures, is a problem with continuous welded rail. In the 1960s and 1970s, railroads extensively replaced jointed rail with welded rail that ran as long as several miles. That eliminates the clickety-clack noise while improving safety, smoothing the ride and reducing maintenance costs.
But it also means that when the long rail is heated and the steel expands, pressure builds on the rail, and it can bulge out of place. A heat kink can form in seconds, converting rail that is as straight as a straw to something that resembles a cooked strand of steel spaghetti.
To prevent warping, railroads sometimes heat the rail with large propane heaters to condition it to higher temperatures, setting what is called the neutral temperature — the temperature at which there is no internal pressure. A CSX spokesman said that temperature was supposed to be set at 90 degrees. A rail temperature of 118 degrees, recorded just before the wreck, would not be considered excessive.
Maintenance can also contribute to heat buckling, although investigators stressed they had no idea yet whether there was any effect from work done by CSX crews along the stretch where Monday’s derailment occurred, about 10 miles from Washington near Beach Drive.
The crews used an automatic track tamper Thursday to push new ballast around and under railroad ties, smoothing the ride for trains and stabilizing the rail. But the tamper broke down in the middle of the job after workers had raised a long stretch of track by 1 1/2 inches.
Using large hand tools and pitchforks, the crew created a transition area of 20 to 25 feet, making the dip in the rail bed more gradual. That was where the derailment took place.
CSX and safety board sources said the crew apparently took the proper precautions. It issued a speed limit of 25 mph until workers could be sure the area was stable. Under the rules, at least 10 heavy trains must run over the spot before the speed restriction can be lifted. Sources said CSX waited until after 13 trains had passed.
Asked whether the safety board believed continuous welded track to be safe, Carmody said: “That’s something we’re looking at. There is a lot of continuous rail” throughout the country.
CSX Executive Vice President Alan F. Crown said yesterday that the passenger train speed limits are a temporary measure while the railroad takes an intensive new look at heat damage. He said he intends to have new heat policies in place by next summer.
Crown said the time has come for a new round of research on how to prevent heat kinks in continuous welded rail, which is the standard for mainline railroads now.
“We’re going to study this thing to death,” Crown said in an interview. “We’ll put anyone we have to on it.”