(The Clarion-Ledger posted the following article by Lora Hines on its website on April 10.)
JACKSON, Miss. — Federal investigators continued to examine train cars from this week’s Amtrak derailment, as passenger service resumed Friday on the repaired rails.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are focusing on equipment and track as a possible cause of Tuesday’s crash, officials said.
One person was killed and dozens injured when Amtrak’s City of New Orleans derailed at 6:33 p.m., about 25 miles north of Jackson. The train was carrying 61 passengers and 12 crew members.
Investigators will be checking to make sure the track and train were in compliance with federal safety standards, said NTSB Vice Chairman Mark Rosenker. They also will examine track maintenance and inspection documents.
Rosenker said the engineer reported that he saw “some sort of misalignment in the rail. He applied his brakes. Six seconds later, he reported seeing the right rail roll over in front of him.”
Just before the train derailed, passengers said, Amtrak employees warned they were about to hit a rough section of track.
Canadian-based CN Railway Company owns the rails. CN spokesman Ian Thomson said the track was inspected with a “high wheel,” a vehicle equipped to drive on rails, two days before the wreck. No problems were detected.
But Paul Hedlund, a mechanical engineer and attorney who has represented plaintiffs in lawsuits involving six Amtrak crashes since 1987, said the inspection would not have been able to detect lose rail spikes.
Vibration can loosen the spikes that hold the rails in place, he said. “It only takes an inch of misalignment to derail a train,” he said.
Smooth cast-iron spikes have no grooves like screws to grip the material they hold.
“They come out suddenly and all at once when they’re loosened enough,” Hedlund said. “If Amtrak employees really felt bumpiness in the train car on previous rides, then the track bed needed to be smoothed to prevent vibration.”
The Association Press contributed to this report.