(Associated Press, February 26, 2013
TULSA, Okla. — One of two freight trains that collided in the Oklahoma Panhandle last summer, killing three workers and causing an inferno that nearly welded the locomotives together, sped past three signals warning it to slow down or stop, federal investigators said Tuesday.
The eastbound Union Pacific train passed a siding at 68 mph just prior to the June 24 collision near Goodwell instead of slowing as one of the Omaha, Neb., railroad’s freight trains approached from the other direction, investigators told the National Transportation Safety Board at a hearing in Washington.
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen National President Dennis Pierce told the panel that railroad engineers suffer from “task overload” and must navigate new technology and reams of bulletins and memos as well as watching where their locomotive is traveling.
“It’s obvious to most of us there are limitations on how many tasks a human being can safety accomplish, and engineers must multitask more than ever before… under intense scrutiny,” he said.
Full story: Seattle Times