(The following article by Josh Gelinas was posted on the Augusta Chronicle website on October 5.)
AIKEN, S.C. — A federal investigation of the Graniteville train disaster is almost complete, and final results might be published before year’s end, according to a lead investigator.
National Transportation Safety Board officials have traveled to the small mill town many times since the Jan. 6 train collision and chlorine spill that killed nine people and injured hundreds more.
“We’re very close,” said James Allen Southworth, the acting associate director of NTSB’s railroad division. “Certainly Graniteville is a high priority. I know the whole world is out there waiting on it.”
While he couldn’t provide a concrete time line, Mr. Southworth said he hoped to hand investigation results to the agency’s presidentially appointed board this year, ahead of the originally forecasted one-year time frame.
The investigation has focused on a track switch that was improperly aligned, Mr. Southworth said. The mishap sent a Norfolk Southern locomotive off the main track and onto a spur line, where it collided with a parked train outside Avondale Mills.
Investigators stated early on that a misaligned track switch likely caused the accident. They’ve been examining several factors that could have attributed to the oversight, including details about the three Norfolk Southern crew members who had been operating the parked train and were responsible for the track switch.
“There are rules in place that say you have to realign the switch to the main. Obviously that wasn’t done,” Mr. Southworth said. “I’m not at all interested in blame as much as I am probable cause.”
Norfolk Southern terminated the three employees who were in charge of the parked train, and the railroad acknowledged in recent court documents that its crew members were responsible for the track switch.
Norfolk Southern “admits that certain of its employees on Jan. 5, 2005 failed to restore the mainline switch at the Avondale Mill plant located in Graniteville, S.C. resulting in the diversion of Train 192 onto the industry spur track,” documents filed in federal court state.
But the NTSB’s investigation has hardly been limited to the crew. The agency re-enacted the early morning collision to gauge sight distance along track near the accident scene.
Officials also have combed over the wreckage and items such as the moving train’s breaks and horn, in addition to an examination of the actual track, Mr. Southworth said.
His agency conducted a technical review with Norfolk Southern, the Federal Railroad Administration and other involved parties Sept. 28 to ensure accuracy, he said. Local agencies that participated in the emergency response also have collaborated.
“We’ve had total collaboration from the top down,” Mr. Southworth said.
Aiken County Sheriff Mike Hunt said he’d reviewed multiple drafts of the investigation and was satisfied with the federal agency’s work.
“I’ve signed off on mine,” he said. “There really was no surprises.”