(The following article by Shelly Whitehead was published by the Kentucky Post on June 18.)
BOONE COUNTY, Ky. — Over the last decade, nearly 500 people have died annually in train-car collisions, with devastating effect on both the victims’ families and the train engineers involved.
Trains moving at top speed can take up to 1 mile to stop, leaving engineers few options when faced with a pedestrian or stalled car on the tracks immediately in front of them. As a result, they often watch the deadly crashes occur right before their eyes.
The Norfolk-Southern employees involved in the Boone County crash that claimed three lives Tuesday will be offered counseling if they request it, according to a company spokeswoman in Norfolk, Virginia.
Norfolk Southern Public Relations Director Susan Terpay said in 2001 — the last year for which statistics are available — 421 people died in highway-rail grade crossing collisions like the one that occurred here Tuesday.
Terpay said 10 of those deadly crashes occurred in Kentucky, making the commonwealth 12th nationally in the number of such fatalities.
In each case, Terpay said the railroad employees involved responded differently in the crash’s aftermath.
“If they request any counseling, then yes, we provide it for them. We do it on a case-b-case basis,” Terpay said.
“But every case is different.”
Terpay refused to discuss any details of Tuesday’s crash or the response of the Norfolk-Southern employees involved. The railway system has more than 28,000 employees, she said, working across the eastern section of the country.
Emergency responders in Boone County will also receive counseling to help them cope with the emotional toll of the collision. Boone County Sheriff’s Department Major Mike Hall said firefighters and sheriff’s deputies who responded will meet with specially trained chaplains to discuss the accident as part of the county’s critical incident management plan.