(The following article by Cathy Woodruff was posted on the Albany Times Union website on October 16.)
ALBANY, N.Y. — The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating what caused a CSX freight train to derail in Amsterdam on Wednesday, sending 18 cars tumbling off tracks along the Mohawk River and interrupting Amtrak service for a day.
The FRA investigation will take place simultaneously with CSX’s own investigation, officials said, and will examine the railroad’s operating practices, signals, power and equipment in use at the time.
“Nothing has been found to be conclusive yet, but we are looking at equipment issues,” FRA spokesman Steve Kulm said of the investigation’s early direction on Friday.
The FRA will examine data collected by two pieces of event-recording equipment — the so-called black box recorder from the locomotive and a trackside “hot box” designed to measure wheel temperatures and detect problems with the wheel components as trains roll by, Kulm said.
There is an event recorder linked to the hot box, which is supposed to transmit information alerting an engineer to problems on the train as it passes, he said. The investigation also will explore whether any significant information detected was properly dispatched to the engineer, whether the engineer actually received the information and whether he had sufficient time to react, according to Kulm.
The tracks and switch gear at the derailment site last underwent a routine CSX inspection on Monday, said Meg Scheu, a spokeswoman for the railroad in Jacksonville, Fla. She said those inspections take place at least twice a week, and everything was found to be in order during the Monday review.
Wooden ties along that section of track in Montgomery County were replaced this summer, she said.
There were no injuries in the accident, which took place at 8:20 a.m. The train included eight engines, 47 loaded cars and 31 empty cars and was traveling from Cincinnati to Selkirk.
Scheu said the locomotives and cars should have undergone inspections before leaving the Cincinnati yard. Locomotives also are supposed to receive more extensive, service-oriented inspections every 90 days, she said.
Kulm could not estimate when the FRA will deliver its final report on the derailment. If the report indicates any potential violations of federal rail safety regulations, a separate document will be prepared outlining recommended violations to be considered for civil fines, he said.