Washington Train Accident Lawyers

Inadequate Response To Track Conditions Cause Train Derailment

The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of an Amtrak (National Railroad Passenger Corporation) passenger train derailment was the BNSF Railway Company's (BNSF) inadequate response to multiple reports of rough track conditions that were subsequently attributed to excessive concrete crosstie abrasion. Contributing to the accident was the Federal Railroad Administration's failure to provide adequate track safety standards for concrete crossties. The abrasion allowed the outer rail to rotate outward and create a wide gage track condition.

"This is a case where the railroad failed to respond appropriately to warnings of a track problem and where Federal requirements could have provided strong guidance to prevent this accident," said NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker. "The Safety Board will continue to push regulators to take responsibility to make sure all safety measures are in place and acted upon."

On April 3, 2005, a westbound Amtrak train, consisting of a single locomotive unit and four passenger cars, derailed on the BNSF Railway Company's Northwest Division. The train was traveling through a cut section of the Columbia River Gorge near Home Valley, Washington. The train remained upright; however, the cars came to rest leaning against the outside curved embankment. Of the 115 persons aboard, 30 people sustained minor injuries.

The investigation determined that there were 19 consecutive concrete crossties that exhibited rail seat abrasions at the point of derailment. The abrasions created voids between the bottom of the rail base and the top of the concrete crossties, which allowed the rail to deflect downward and rotate outward under load. This rotation of the rail resulted in a gage widening as trains passed over the area and allowed wheels on the Amtrak train to drop between the rails. Read more at ntsb.gov

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