(The following article by Don Jacobs was posted on the Knoxville News Sentinel website on August 22.)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A broken bolt lodged in a railway switch caused the derailment last year of a train in Farragut that forced the evacuation of 4,000 people in Knox and Blount counties, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Another train crew reported the malfunctioning switch 11/2 hours before the derailment, but Norfolk Southern’s policy didn’t restrict use of the railway pending a thorough inspection. That, the NTSB report recommended, needs to be changed.
“(Norfolk Southern) operating rules did not specify that an inspection of a possibly defective switch should be completed before trains are allowed to operate through the area,” states the NTSB report.
“NS procedures also did not address the reduction of train speeds after receiving a trouble call about the condition of the switch.”
Susan Terpay, spokeswoman for Norfolk Southern, said the company has 90 days from the Aug. 5 receipt of the report to respond.
“Our findings are the same as theirs,” Terpay said of the derailment probe.
“We’ve already put in place an emphasis on track inspections after a potential problem has been reported. We’ll look at it very closely before we allow any trains to pass.”
Terpay declined to reveal specific policy changes resulting from the investigation before Norfolk Southern officially responds to the NTSB report.
The NTSB report also recommended the Federal Railroad Administration implement a regulation mandating that trains either be stopped or slowed “upon receiving reports of potentially hazardous conditions involving a main track segment or switch.”
The crew of an eastbound train alerted a Norfolk Southern radio dispatcher at 9:45 a.m. Sept. 15, 2002, that the switch near Anchor Park in Farragut was not properly closing. The malfunction had triggered a warning signal to the oncoming train, the report states, so the crew stopped the train and examined the switch.
The train conductor manually operated the switch several times and determined it wasn’t properly aligned against the main rail. The malfunction left a gap that wouldn’t bother an eastbound train, but could derail one traveling west.
The dispatcher notified a track maintainer of the potential problem but informed him “he did not have to hurry because no trains were to arrive at the switch soon,” notes the report. The maintainer finished his breakfast, the report states, and arrived at 11 a.m. at the switch.
Movement of the eastbound train apparently had closed the gap on the switch, so the maintainer initially saw nothing amiss. He oiled the switch, but did not open and close it manually.
If he had, the report states, the maintainer would have seen the 3-inch long, 3/4-inch diameter sheared head of a bolt inhibiting the switch’s operation. Instead, the maintainer radioed the dispatcher he would watch the next two westbound trains travel over the switch.
“A visual inspection was all that was required,” Terpay said.
As the maintainer watched, the 142-car train pulled by three locomotives came through at 11:20 a.m., traveling at 38 mph. Twenty-five cars and two locomotives derailed at the switch, sending tons of metal into a twisted heap and puncturing a tanker carrying 10,600 gallons of sulfuric acid.
White plumes of sulfuric acid shot hundreds of feet into the air, prompting emergency officials to evacuate about 3,000 people in West Knox County. Winds blew the acid cloud across Fort Loudoun Lake, forcing the evacuation of about 1,000 people in Blount County. Most residents were kept from their homes for three days.
Terpay said none of the Norfolk Southern employees involved violated company policy and none has been disciplined.
A lawsuit seeking class action on behalf of the evacuated residents recently was moved from a Knox County court to federal court, said Knoxville attorney Gordon Ball. The lawsuit is pending.
“It appears the NTSB has found Norfolk Southern at fault, and I think that will be very useful in our action in federal court,” Ball said.
Norfolk Southern had reimbursed evacuated residents who filed claims with the railroad, but Terpay declined to reveal how much the company spent on that effort or the environmental cleanup.