150 Years of Train-Disasters

"The most important human factor in transportation is safety, and the safety record of high-speed rail is perfect"

former Amtrak president, before the ICE-crash

History

Train transportation began in the late 1820s. One of the early American railroads was the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) railway, where the engine was traveling at 15mph and pulling a carriage with up to 36 passengers.

Railway transportation appeared at that time to be safe due to slower speeds, shorter trips and lower density traffic. The first person killed in the American Railway System was an engine fireman in a locomotive boiler explosion on June 17, 1831. The first passenger fatality occurred two years later, on November 11, 1833 in New Jersey, when a train broke an axle near Hightstown and derailed at a speed of 25mph. Interestingly, two leading figures were on board of this accident train, Ex-President John Quincy Adams and the later Railroad Baron Vanderbuilt, who suffered critical injuries.

The year train disasters began was 1853. The first catastrophe was a head-on collision in Secaucus, New Jersey on May 6th. A series of major train accidents killed 234 people in that year.

In 1890, nearly 40 years after the first railway disasters, more than 6,000 people were killed and more than 35,000 were injured on U.S. railroads.

The explanations for such catastrophes have remained unchanged over the years. Derailments, head-on or rear-end train collisions, and crossing collisions caused by weakened bridges and tracks, were and are too often caused by human error, faulty maintenance and gross negligence.

Crossing Collisions

Only the devastating effects of crossing collisions have increased in the 20th Century. In the early days, trains used to collide with cows, which mostly did not create disasters. Today, highway-crossing collisions with big rigs are not uncommon and often produce catastrophes. On March 1, 1960 in Rosedale, California a passenger train hit a tanker truck carrying 6,500 gallons of crude oil. 14 people died in the derailed and ignited wreckage.

On July 6, 1967 in Magdeburg, Eastern Germany, a train loaded with children on their way to vacation camps crashed into a tanker truck. At least 94 people died in the explosion.

On January 16, 1996 in Wakefield, Massachusetts, a commuter train crashed into a loaded semi-tractor trailer. Thirty-six of the 500 passengers were injured.

On the night of March 15, 1999 in the rural area of Bourbonnais Township, Illinois, an Amtrak train crashed into a loaded semi-trailer. This disaster, which occurred 50 miles south of Chicago, claimed the lives of 11 people and injured 122.

One of the safety solutions to prevent these collisions might be the implementation of crossing barriers that would cover the entire distance of the road. This could be made feasible at least for major highways and main streets.

Nevertheless, train rides are safer than other modes of ground transportation. The risk of death on a one way trip is about 1 in 10 million. But even this system is not safe enough.

Train collisions can occur wherever train tracks exist.

It has occurred in densely populated areas, for example, a rear-end collision of two trains in Chicago on Oct. 30, 1972, near the 27th street station, where 45 people were killed and 330 were injured.

It has, and continues to occur in extreme remote areas, where no one anticipates such incidents.

On August 9, 1997 at 6am an Amtrak train derailed 5 miles north of Kingman, Arizona at 89mph. Of the 312 people aboard, 183 were injured, but fortunately no one was killed. Assuredly, this accident was an unexpected challenge for the rural communities, which responded with 8 volunteer fire departments, 8 medical groups and was supported by state and military helicopters.

The last disaster involving a high-speed train occurred in northern Germany in the remote town of Eschede (100 miles south of Hamburg). The 6,000 town residents in a county with less than 180,000 inhabitants, without big industry, freeways, airports, or other risks experienced one of the worst transportation disasters in Europe. It was initially handled by local volunteer fire departments, ambulance and rescue squads.

Train accidents can occur in areas that are virtually inaccessible for emergency vehicles and personnel, especially at night or in extreme weather conditions.

On September 22, 1993 at 3am an Amtrak train plunged into a swamp at Cabot Bayou near Mobile, Alabama. Earlier, a barge had collided with one of the steel bridge piers in dense fog. The impact distorted the tracks and weakened the bridge's support, but it did not trigger warning devices. The locomotive and at least three cars plunged into the muddy creek. Diesel fuel spilled and ignited. Forty people died in this incident. They were killed on initial impact, due to smoke and fire or drowned, trapped in their carriages. One Hundred Fifty people survived, but it took time for emergency services to reach the site, especially with heavy rescue equipment.

A crash site might be hard to locate outside populated areas, and furthermore in darkness and bad weather. Sometimes the response activities have to start with an organized search operation.

Access will often be a challenge even within city limits. To avoid congestion, it is essential to implement a traffic direction system as soon as possible (one way in, one way out).

Neighboring and outside emergency departments often lack specific knowledge in order to reach the scene. Therefore, a guidance/directional service should be established. In Eschede, police and city government vehicles awaited incoming fire and emergency vehicles from other cities and counties at a major highway intersection. These mutual aid services were then guided to staging areas in two established sectors.

The installment of procedures, traffic directions and staging areas similar to wildland fire operations should be considered.

Train accidents are an extreme challenge for emergency services. They have to respond to an incident that can combine all in one:

• Search
  
  
• Fire & Explosions:
  June 22, 1997, head-on collision of two freight trains in Devine, Texas. The emergency response activities of the local volunteer fire department were timely and adequate and the incident was managed successfully. However the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report stated "no access to an adequate amount of fire suppression foam equipment… such equipment is not readily available for rural fire departments, also hazardous materials are routinely transported through their jurisdictions". The NTSB recommended to the Texas Railroad Commission the "development of a system that would make fire suppression foam equipment readily available to… local rural fire departments… "
  
  
• Hazards and Hazmat:
  Diesel spills, trains on the same or neighboring tracks, high voltage wires
  
  
• Heavy Rescue
  
  
• Water Rescue:
  Oct. 28, 1906 Atlantic City, New Jersey, 57 people drowned when a train plunged from a drawbridge; Sept. 15, 1958 Newark Bay, New Jersey, commuter train plunged into the bay when it ran through an open draw, 48 people drowned
  
  
• Extrication
  
  
• Multi Casualties
  

Some train disasters claimed extreme numbers of casualties. On November 9, 1963, a freight train collided in Japan with a truck on a crossing. The derailed wreckage was then hit by two passenger trains traveling in opposite directions. The collision sequence, near the city of Yokohama, claimed the lives of over 120 people and injured 120 others. On June 4, 1989 in Ufa, in the former Soviet Union, an explosion claimed the lives of over 1,000 people. A natural gas pipeline lying close to the tracks was leaking. When two passenger trains of the Siberian Railway approached the location, the leaking gas ignited and both trains were engulfed in the fireball.

High numbers of casualties often occur in developing countries. Trains there are the only means of transportation and thus are totally overcrowded. Combined with outdated equipment and human error, it gives rise to disasters. In India, between 500 and 800 people died on June 6, 1981 in Bihar; over 300 died in Firocabad on August 20, 1995; even the neighboring country of Pakistan experienced similar calamities in two train disasters, on September 29, 1957 and on January 4, 1990.

High-Speed Trains

The newest chapter was opened by modern high-speed trains. Bullet-trains were implemented in Japan (Shinkansen) in 1964, in France (TGV) in 1981 and in Germany (ICE) in 1991. It can be expected that these "Supertrains" will run in the U.S. in the near future.

The latest bullet train in Japan has a near capacity of 1,300 passengers in 16 cars and travels as fast as 177mph. Japan's fastest train can travel up to 186mph.

Modern technology and the use of state of the art safety features appeared to protect this new mode of transportation. However, this impression came to a sudden halt on June 3, 1998 when in Eschede, northern Germany, an ICE train derailed and collided with a highway overpass at a speed of 120mph. The concrete bridge collapsed on top of some passenger cars. One Hundred One people were killed, 108 passengers suffered mostly critical injuries and only 5 persons survived unhurt.

Emergency Responders in the remote town of Eschede experienced a situation similar to an airplane crash. Some passenger cars were totally destroyed and disintegrated.

Other passenger cars did not allow access to trapped victims inside. Technical rescue operations were hampered due to the construction of modern trains. Pressurized windows were virtually unbreakable even with sledgehammers. Extrication tools like saws and the jaws-of-life slipped on the polished skin of the passenger cars.

Even today, one year after the catastrophe, the German Railway Company (Deutsche Bundesbahn AG) does not provide any educational materials or training courses on technical rescue to fire and emergency services.

Most fatalities, as well as some survivors, suffered extreme body mutilation, only seen before at airplane crashes. This created an extreme fright and distress on assisting locals and first responders. As a result, a comprehensive and organized critical stress-debriefing program was started for the first time in Germany.

Emergency Planning and Response

Due to the characteristic of railway transportation, a disaster can, and does occur everywhere, even in remote and rural areas with small and limited resources. The only way to meet the challenge is awareness, pre-planning and training. Make sure that you have a trained and well-maintained emergency plan in your jurisdiction. This will increase your ability to cope with a real-life disaster.

Investigate how you can reach the track system with your emergency vehicles. Do you have helicopters on hand, and does your emergency plan cover how to alert them? Do you have rescue equipment available to extricate trapped persons? Do you have enough foam to extinguish diesel fires?

Are your medical organizations prepared for multi-casualty incidents involving hundreds of victims? Do railroad companies provide you with information training and resources? Did you request these essential items? Do railway companies in your jurisdiction have self-propelled trains with fire fighting and extrication equipment available and staffed? This might be the best means to handle incidents in remote or inaccessible areas (i.e., tunnels). How long will it take to activate these resources?

Emergency planning and response in train disasters is aimed toward reducing chaos, confusion and casualties. Incident command system (ICS) is the on-scene key to reach this goal. A strong ICS structure established in the first minutes into the incident is essential for containing the hazards and ensuring survivability.

The first commanding officer has to make a comprehensive size up of the situation. Modern passenger trains are often more than 1,000 feet long. It can take the locomotive up to two miles to come to a full emergency stop. There might always be a widespread disaster area, especially if two trains are involved.

Passenger lists are often not available instantly. Thus, the immediate size up and evaluation of situation is necessary to request additional resources.

MORE IS BETTER. The volunteer county fire chief at the ICE-disaster in Eschede did an excellent job. He arrived on the scene fifteen minutes after the first 1-1-2 call (similar to 9-1-1 call) with no possibility to ascertain the number of victims. Therefore, he requested resources for the full 750 passenger capacity of the crashed train. Within the first four hours he had 1,900 emergency responders with over 400 vehicles, 34 helicopters and 88 ambulances on the scene or in staging areas in the remote town. Within three hours all but one of the 108 injured persons were extricated and en route to different hospitals and trauma centers.

It is essential to push the correct button early in the incident. Let all your colleagues and mutual aid converge. Every victim will be thankful for these resources. If the incident is controlled so that you do not need their assistance, you can relieve them with an abundance of gratitude.

However, I have never seen a disaster where there were too many responders in the initial phase. I have seen too often these calamities where additional resources were needed earlier, but notified too late.

After size up and resource request, the needs and assignments have to be communicated. One obstacle, seen in nearly in every major incident is radio communication. Different agencies (military, fire, public safety, helicopters, ambulances and rescue squads) operate on different radio channels and cell networks are especially overwhelmed in remote areas. One simple but efficient way to communicate is through the use of messengers.

If communication is established, the incident command system will work. Tasks sectors and resources can be coordinated. Personnel and equipment can be commanded, and the response and recovery activities can be controlled.

The incident commander has to consider the installment of distinct sectors and different on scene triage and treatment sites according to the location. In the Amtrak crossing collision on March 15, 1999 at Bourbonnais Township, Illinois, victims were being cared for on both sides of the tracks. As in the Eschede disaster in June 1998 the idea of moving all injured persons to one location was nearly impossible. Thus, in both incidents, separate geographic sectors for staging, fire suppression, extrication, triage and treatment were established.

Procedures to provide uninjured victims with shelter, crisis counseling and transportation, responders with staging and rehab areas as well as procedures to deal with the media should be prearranged, trained and available on a moments notice.

Teamwork is the key to success

On February 16, 1996, a commuter train collided with an Amtrak passenger train in Silver Spring, Maryland. Eleven people died on initial impact or in the subsequent fire, 15 people were injured and 179 survived unhurt. The NTSB reported that railway representatives early in the incident repeatedly tried to provide the fire and rescue command post with passenger lists and other information. Their assistance was rejected. Meanwhile, a recovery support train, sent by one of the railway companies approached the accident site without knowledge of the incident commander. IC staff evacuated the accident scene until it was determined that the approaching train was no longer a hazard.

All information, needs, assignments, personnel and resources have to be communicated and coordinated through a unified command system. This requires that all parties participate and work within and under the common leadership.

Rail crash scenarios need to be preplanned and response activities have to be trained on a regular basis with all agencies potentially involved.

Imagine what happens when a freight train carrying hazardous materials derails (like 1996 in Weyauwega, Wisconsin, in Ada, Oklahoma, in Los Angeles and at the Cajon Pass in southern California) and collides with a packed passenger train in the middle of a remote town.

There is always the risk that the "unthinkable" will happen. Every Emergency Professional knows the hazards, and has to prepare their communities accordingly.