(The following article by Aaron Applegate was posted on the Virginian-Pilot website on September 29.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Trains are running on the track again. The mess is cleaned up, but so far there is no official explanation for why two CSX trains collided head-on Sept. 21 outside Franklin.
Officials at CSX and the Federal Railroad Administration, the lead agency investigating the crash, said they are still trying to figure out why the trains ended up on the same track, headed right at each other.
“We’re continuing to put the facts together. It’s a process that takes time,” said Robert T. Sullivan , a CSX regional vice president and spokesman.
Most CSX trains, including the two that crashed last week in rural Southampton County, are guided by dispatchers in Jacksonville, Fla., said Gary Sease, a CSX spokesman.
Dispatchers direct trains by communicating via radio with the crew, which is responsible for carrying out instructions.
The accident occurred in what is known as “dark territory,” which means there are no traffic signals along the track and crews rely entirely on dispatchers. For two trains to pass each other safely, one train normally pulls onto a track called a “siding” to let the other train pass, Sease said.
The sidings closest to the crash site are 10 miles north on the track toward Franklin and two miles south on the track toward Newsoms, he said.
The speed of the trains on impact is still unknown, he said. The tracks at the wreck site are rated for a maximum speed of 40 mph.
A Federal Railroad Administration spokesman said the investigation will take several months.
He said agency officials are interviewing crew members and dispatchers and examining event recorders – similar to a “black box” in airplanes – signal systems and tracks.
CSX, one of the largest railroad companies on the East Coast, operates 21,000 miles of track in 23 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces.
There were 41 head-on train collisions in the United States from 2002 to June of 2005, according to Federal Railroad Administration statistics. Eleven of those involved CSX trains.
Of the 41 head-on collisions, the agency lists 27 different reason for the accidents.
There are 10 different causes listed for CSX’s head-on wrecks.
Last week’s accident was Virginia’s first head-on collision since 1995, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s Web site.
The wreck happened about 3:30 a.m. along a single line running from Franklin to Newsoms.
One train, running empty with 31 cars, had been heading south to Weldon, N.C. Five of its cars derailed. The northbound train was headed to Portsmouth from a quarry outside Emporia. It was hauling 60 hopper cars loaded with 7,800 tons of crushed stone. Eleven of its cars derailed.
Each train carried three crewmen: an engineer, a conductor and a trainee. One crewman is still hospitalized, and the other five were treated and released shortly after the crash, Sease said.