What caused the recent Amtrak derailment in Montana?
Worn and poorly-maintained train tracks that should have been replaced caused the 2021 derailment of an Amtrak train in Montana that killed three people and injured 49 others, federal investigators said Thursday.
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The train was traveling just below the speed limit of 79 mph (127 kph) when its emergency brakes were activated, the NTSB said. Amtrak spokesperson Marc Magliari declined comment on the track issues raised in the report. A spokesperson with BNSF Railway did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Amtrak's worst wreck in terms of deaths was the Sept.22, 1993, derailment outside Mobile, Alabama, when the Sunset Limited plunged off a bridge and caught fire in the pre-dawn hours. Forty-seven passengers and crew were killed and 103 injured in what became known as the Big Bayou Canot rail accident.
Amtrak's worst wreck in terms of deaths was the Sept.22, 1993, derailment outside Mobile, Alabama, when the Sunset Limited plunged off a bridge and caught fire in the pre-dawn hours. Forty-seven passengers and crew were killed and 103 injured in what became known as the Big Bayou Canot rail accident.
Equipment failures are increasingly responsible for derailments, and problems with equipment and train tracks accounted for nearly 60% of derailments nationwide last year. The number of derailments among major freight railroads has fallen sharply since 2000, data shows.
1650. England – Whickham, County Durham. Two boys die when they are run over by a wagon on a wooden coal train way. While such tramway accidents are not generally listed as rail accidents (note the lack of accidents listed for the next 163 years) this is sometimes cited as the earliest-known railway accident.
Since that time, a state investigation into the incident found the crash resulted from misaligned rails, inconsistently spaced railroad ties and loose joint bolts, worn bearings and mismatched truck springs on the rail cars that allowed them to lean, according to previous News-Leader reporting.
Queen of The Sea, Sri LankaThe Queen of The Sea train crash in Sri Lanka, caused by the Indian Ocean Tsunami which struck in December 2004, is regarded as the worst train disaster in railroad history after it caused the death of over 1,700 people.
#1 Sri Lanka Tsunami Train WreckThe train, dubbed the Queen of the Sea, was destroyed by the Indian Ocean tsunami on December 26, 2004, in what is now considered the world's deadliest rail tragedy. It was a holiday weekend in Sri Lanka due to the full moon and the Christmas holiday weekend.
The 38 derailed train cars were carrying substances including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, ethylhexyl acrylate and isobutylene — all materials that are widely considered to be toxic and that could have damaging effects to both humans and the environment.
What were the five chemicals the EPA found at the site? On Feb. 10, the EPA sent a letter to Norfolk Southern Railway Company reporting five toxic chemicals found in air, soil, or water surrounding the crash site. They are: vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylene glycol, isobutylene, and ethylhexyl acrylate.
Debate over vinyl chloride has simmered for years, but gained a new urgency after the Feb. 3 derailment of a 50-car Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine. Three days later, emergency crews released toxic vinyl chloride from five tank cars and burned it to keep them from exploding.
Amtrak Train Derailment in Moorpark, California – June 28, 2023. An Amtrak train derailment in Moorpark, California, left over a dozen people with injuries.