(The following article by Justin McIntosh was posted on the Marietta Times website on January 13.)
MARIETTA, Ohio — A dime-size defect in the track went undetected by inspectors only four days prior to the Dec. 19 CSX derailment.
That defect caused the early morning train wreck on Virginia Street, according to company officials Thursday.
On Dec. 15, CSX employees performed a visual inspection on the track that caused the derailment and found no problems. The company’s preliminary report on the accident, which was revealed Thursday night during a public meeting attended by more than 20 citizens, found that the track’s problem was in an area the size of a dime.
Neal F. Zimmers, vice president of CSX in Ohio, said it was a defect in the rail track which caused the eight coal-filled rail cars to derail about three weeks ago. The derailment sent the train bridge down onto Virginia Street almost fully intact and closed the roadway for almost two weeks. A permanent bridge is expected to be built by August or September, CSX officials said.
“It’s my understanding that, although from time to time we can find an internal defect, the derailment caused by one of these internal defects is very rare,” said Zimmers.
Tom Crawford, an engineer of track with CSX in Clarksburg, W.Va., said the defect was located in the ball of the rail on the inside of the gauge where it makes contact with the inside of the rail car’s wheel.
“That’s the most dangerous place you can have (a defect),” Crawford said.
“It caused that part of the location to be weak. When it broke, it broke straight through.”
Crawford said this type of defect can only be detected by an x-ray, which is done on the tracks only once a year. Visual inspections, like the one done on Dec. 15, are done more periodically, he said.
An inspection by CSX employees on Wednesday and Thursday found 10 defects in the train line, which averages about 12 a year, Crawford said.
Despite the explanation, citizens attending the meeting wanted more assurances from CSX that its rail cars would not derail in the future.
Allan Williams, of Marietta, said if the accident had occurred farther down the rail track on Harmar Street it would have been a big deal because of the houses located so close to the tracks.
“It also worries me that it could have been a chemical car,” Williams said.
“Marietta’s a small town. You get some of these chemicals coming loose and you have a real problem. I think this needs to be looked at and a warning system.”
Zimmers said CSX spends $1 billion a year on infrastructure and capital improvements, $500 million of which is spent specifically on track maintenance. As a result of this spending, CSX has seen a 16 percent improvement in accident prevention over the last couple of years, he said.
Crawford said CSX has about 27,000 miles of rail tracks and tests over 50,000 miles of rail a year, meaning many tracks are tested twice a year. The Marietta line though is tested only once a year, which is the federal requirement.
Most of the concerns raised Thursday night by citizens did not even directly relate to the Dec. 19 derailment. Several citizens questioned CSX officials about the vibrations, sounds and speed of the rail cars, suggesting the cars often go about 35 miles an hour.
“I know you guys tell us you have a means of tracking the speed on those cars. Well, I disagree with you, or somebody’s not doing their job,” said Betty Sue Vadakin, of 407 Harmar St., Marietta. “Because at 2:30 in the morning … they were doing nothing less than 35 miles an hour when they went in front of my house.”
Zimmers said a CSX week-long study into the speed of the trains several years ago showed none of the trains were exceeding the speed limit.
“But that was that week,” Zimmers said. “We’ll ask them to do it again.”
Councilman Tom Vukovic, D-4th Ward, said because he’s the council representative for the Harmar area he receives more phone calls relating to the rail cars than any other politician in the city. That’s why he was concerned the Thursday night meeting would be just another meeting where nothing’s accomplished.
“I have one resident who’s afraid to take a shower or bath when the train’s coming … because they’re afraid there’s going to be a wreck,” Vukovic said.
“I know you’re here at the mayor’s request, but the neighbors need to know your companies are going to consider the fact that it’s not just right now because it was a wreck.”
“Sooner or later somebody else’s number’s going to come up and there will be a wreck. We don’t know when the next undetected dime-sized fault is going to occur.”
Zimmers vowed to work closer with city officials and meet with citizens in public meetings more often.