(The following story by Jon Schmitz appeared on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website on March 17, 2010. Andrew Monheim was a member of BLET Division 700.)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The locomotive engineer who was killed Tuesday in the crash of two freight trains in North Versailles died of compression and blunt force trauma, the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office determined.
Supervisor Marty Coyne said today that an autopsy revealed no underlying medical condition that might have contributed to the crash that killed Andrew Monheim, 54, of Plum.
Mr. Monheim’s train broadsided another Union Railroad train at a track junction near the U.S. Steel Edgar Thomson Plant. The railroad is operated by a subsidiary of the steel company.
The impact of the crash threw Mr. Monheim to the ground and he was buried beneath 2 1/2 to 3 tons of iron ore pellets that spilled from the other train, Mr. Coyne said.
The Federal Railroad Administration has begun an investigation that will include reviewing videotape and the “black box” data recorders recovered from the trains.
The medical examiner has ruled the death accidental.