(Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger posted the following article on its website on March 22.)
JACKSON, Miss. — Federal officials may have taken their sweet time to determine a cause for the April 10, 2005, head-on collision of two freight trains in Yazoo County’s Anding Community, but the cause of the accident demands immediate action.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that a fatigued crew was to blame for the collision near Yazoo City that killed four people.
While CN railroad officials have praised the employees as “very professional,” and the report did not dispute that, NTSB investigators testified that two had worked 12-hour late-night shifts for 18 months. On the day of the crash, the crew was working its sixth overnight shift in a week.
As NTSB noted, airplane crews are limited to 1,000 hours of flight time each year.
The Federal Railroad Administration has a proposal before Congress to give the agency authority to limit railroad employees’ work schedules.
Findings of the Anding accident would support that proposal as a public safety issue.