(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Jay Reeves on October 29.)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A train hauling pieces of space shuttle rockets derailed last year because of inadequate repairs to a railroad bridge and the enormous weight of the load, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.
The Federal Railroad Administration didn’t find any safety violations or issue any fines despite the weight and repair.
Six people were hurt when an M&B Railroad freight train loaded with shuttle booster segments caused part of a 652-foot-long wooden span to collapse May 2, 2007, near Myrtlewood in rural west Alabama.
The train was the first commercial load to cross the bridge after more than a day of repairs. The span had been closed when a worker noticed a piece of buckled track.
The repair work supported a test train, but investigators said the structure then collapsed under the weight of eight cars, each weighing as much as 505,600 pounds.
Most railroads allow cars weighing as much as 286,000 pounds, the report said.
“The bridge was not properly maintained to accommodate this kind of load,” said Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the railway safety agency. “It doesn’t mean the bridge couldn’t have carried a (normal) load.”
The train wasn’t considered overloaded because it was carrying the rocket segments for NASA in a special configuration, Flatau said. It consisted of 14 total cars, half of which derailed.
Michael Williams, a spokesman for Genesee & Wyoming Inc., which owns train operator M&B Railroad, said the company was reviewing the report.
The 888-foot-long train was traveling 4 mph when the engineer heard a loud “pop” behind him and the 10-foot-high bridge sank, causing the derailment, according to the report.
Workers who had just finished the repairs witnessed the accident, and one was nearly struck by a falling locomotive that landed about a yard away from him.
The train was carrying the rocket segments to Florida for shuttle launches.