DAVISBURG, Mich. — A stretch of railroad track where a fatal train collision occurred Nov. 15 had a switch power outage last week but continued to function without interruption of service, a railroad company spokesman said Monday.
Jack Burke, a spokesman with the Canadian National Railway, said a Dec. 5 power shortage prompted the track’s warning lights, which are usually illuminated, to shut off temporarily.
But the outage immediately activated a backup power source, Burke said.
“There is a 20-hour backup battery, and when there is a power shortage that backup kicks in,” said Burke. “But under the backup, to conserve energy the light is not continuously lit but will come on when another train approaches.
“The system did exactly what it is designed and supposed to do,” he said.
Burke said he did not know what caused the outage.
Engineer Thomas Landris, 49, of Durand, and conductor Gary Chase, 58, of Okemos, died last month when their 89-car freight train, headed to Flint, collided with a southbound 94-car train that had pulled onto a side track to let the northbound train pass.
The two surviving workers on the southbound train — engineer Allen Yash, 52, of Fenton and conductor Jesse Enriquez of Detroit — remain hospitalized in fair condition.
The federal National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the fatal crash. The agency said earlier this month that it could be several months before a report on the crash is completed.
Earlier this month NTSB lead investigator James Southworth said no equipment or mechanical problems had been found, including with the signal system.